Victory at last for a Colombian father’s 30-year pursuit of his daughter’s killer

In the early hours of April 11, a fugitive named Jaime Saade will finally reckon with the life he escaped on January 1, 1994. On that New Year’s Day, after leaving Nancy Mariana Mestre on the steps of a Barranquilla hospital clinging to life, Jaime Saade vanished. For three decades, Martín Mestre, the father of the 18-year-old woman who fought for nine days before dying, relentlessly pursued Saade, who was convicted of murder in absentia. In 2019, Mestre finally caught up with Saade in Brazil just as the statute of limitations was about to expire. Now 82 years old, Mestre will sit quietly in his Barranquilla apartment, waiting with satisfaction while a plane brings Saade to meet justice. April 11 will mark the first night in 30 years that this father can sleep peacefully without the burden of seeking justice for his daughter’s killer.

“I plan to put an end to this story, but you never know,” Mestre said on the phone a few hours before the extradition. Mestre added the caveat due to the numerous ups and downs in a 30-year journey filled with countless setbacks and a handful of minor triumphs. He understands that nothing should be taken for granted, even today. For 26 years, he felt stuck without tangible results. Week after week, he persisted in court to keep the arrest warrant from expiring. Like Forrest Gump, he shared his story tirelessly and used social media to gather information. An army reservist, he took an intelligence course to learn tracking tactics and tirelessly searched online for clues about Saade’s whereabouts.

Oblivious to it all, Jaime Saade had fled to Brazil and changed his name to Henrique Dos Santos Abdala. Now in his fifties and married with two children, he lived in Belo Horizonte having successfully evaded a 27-year prison sentence for murder that was due to expire in July 2023. But Mestre, using fake profiles to join Facebook groups with people connected to Saades, finally found clues that the murderer was in Belo Horizonte. He alerted Interpol and Henrique dos Santos was arrested in early 2019. The call informing him of the capture brought Mestre to tears, as he stood in his yard thanking God. At that moment, he felt a sense of victory wash over him.

The extradition case, initially appearing certain, went to Brazil’s Supreme Court. With two judges in favor and two against due to the amount of time elapsed, Saade benefited from the tie and was freed. Mestre nearly gave up. “Throughout my 30-year journey, I’ve always come across these little angels who’ve lent me a hand. Margui [a Colombian lawyer named Margarita R. Sánchez who’s a partner at Miller & Chevalier in Washington, D.C.] came into the picture when it seemed like every door was closing,” Martín recalls.

Margarita Sánchez learned about the case from a friend. Remembering Nancy’s murder, she decided to assist Martín. The U.S.-based law firm where she works took on a pro bono legal battle against the Brazilian Supreme Court to secure extradition. They successfully argued against a legal loophole and time limit for the crime. In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court overturned its initial ruling in April 2023 and approved the extradition to Colombia, noting that the crime of femicide has no statute of limitations.

Since then, Saade took part in an escape attempt in Brazil and legal actions in Colombia to avoid extradition, all in vain. On April 11, a judge will decide how long he will be imprisoned for the murder of Nancy Mestre, a young woman about to graduate from high school who tragically died on New Year’s Day while out for a walk with the man who fatally shot her.

Mestre doesn’t know what life will be like without the mission and burden of seeking his daughter’s killer, but he feels a semblance of peace.

– ”Would you like to meet Saade face-to-face?”

– “There’s no need. I already know everything — he’s the killer.”

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