Quick Facts
Biography
Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch (born January 19, 1952), also known as "The Death Angel" and "The Black Angel", is an Argentine serial killer. He was convicted of 11 murders, one attempted murder, 17 robberies, one rape, one attempted rape, one count of sexual abuse, two kidnappings and two thefts. He killed his victims in a variety of ways, such as stabbing, shooting, strangling, bludgeoning to death with rocks and slitting their throats. He has been in prison since 1973.
Early life
Robledo Puch family moved to Borges 1956, Olivos, Buenos Aires when Carlos was 10 years old. They rented an apartment on a first floor, above a hardware store. Carlos was a shy kid, from a working class family.
Criminal Activity
On 15 March 1971, Robledo Puch and his accomplice Jorge Antonio Ibañez assaulted the discotheque Enamor, they stole 350.000 pesos. Before fleeing, Carlos killed the owner and the night watchman with a Ruby pistol while they slept.
On 9 May 1971, at 4 am, Robledo Puch and Ibañez broke into a Mercedes Benz spare parts store in Vicente López. In one of the rooms, they found a couple with their newborn baby, Robledo Puch killed the man with a shot and injured the woman. Ibañez tried to rape the injured woman, who survived and later testified at the trial. Before fleeting with 400.000 pesos, Carlos shot the crib where the newborn was crying, but he missed.
On 24 May 1971, both criminals killed a night watchmen in a supermarket.
On 13 June 1971, Robledo Puch executed with 5 shots a 16 years old teenager after Ibañez raped her in the backseat of a stolen car. On 24 June 1971, they drove to the same place and repeated the crime, Carlos executed a 23 years old woman with 7 shots after Ibañez tried to rape her.
On 5 August 1971, Ibañez died in car accident. Robledo Puch was driving and fled unscathed from the scene.
On 15 November 1971, Robledo Puch and his new accomplice, Héctor Somoza, stormed a supermarket in Bolougne, riddling the serene with a 32-caliber Astra pistol they had obtained a few days earlier in the robbery of an armory.
Between 17 November 1971 and 24 November 1971, they broke into two car dealerships and murdered the watchmen, stealing over 1.000.000 pesos.
Arrest
On 1 February 1972, Robledo Puch and Somoza broke into a hardware store, they killed the watchman and tried to open the safe with the keys. In a confuse situation, in which Robledo Puch apparently startled, he shot Somoza. Trying to hamper the task of recognition by the police investigators, he took a torch and burned the face of his deceased accomplice. After opening the safe with the same torch, he picked up the booty and fled the scene. He was arrested on 4 February 1972 when his identity card was found in Somoza's trouser pocket. He had just turned 20.
Trial, reclusion and present day
He was tried and condemned in 1980 to life imprisonment, the maximum sentence in Argentina, to be served in the high-security jail of Sierra Chica, near the city of Olavarria. His last words before the court were "This was a Roman circus. I was judged and sentenced beforehand."
His psychiatric expertise file presented in the trial reads:
"Roble Puch comes from a legitimate and complete home, absent from unfavorable hygienic and moral circumstances." "There were also no economic constraints of importance, reverses of fortune, abandonment of the home, lack of work, personal misfortune, illness, affective conflicts, overcrowding or promiscuity."
In July 2000, he became eligible for parole; however, he didn't submit a petition.
On 27 May 2008, Puch asked to be paroled. However, a judge denied his petition considering he is a threat to society.
On November 2013, he requested a review of his sentence or to be executed by a lethal injection, although the death penalty is not legal in Argentina. The request did not prosper because the Supreme Court denied such benefit.
On 27 March 2015, the Supreme Court of Justice rejected an appeal filed by Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch against the aforementioned sentence that denied him parole.
He spent 45 years in jail, as of February 2017, which makes him the oldest detainee in Argentina.