Taxi driver confesses to murdering, burying young woman

A 51-year-old motorcycle taxi driver has confessed to the brutal killing and burial of a 19-year-old woman in Lima, Peru, after she went missing for over a week.

Esteban Chicche Sullo admitted to police that he lured Mercedes Sánchez Querevalú, a young mother of one, to his home on April 6 under the pretense of settling a debt. After striking her on the head with a stick, he took her unconscious body to his residence.

Authorities say Chicche confessed to sexually abusing Mercedes before dismembering her body into eight parts and burying her remains in a one-metre-deep pit at a neighbouring, unoccupied property.

According to investigators, the suspect initially kept the body in his room for 24 hours before dismembering it in his bathroom. He disposed of her clothes and phone, cleaned the scene with bleach, and used a ladder to climb into the neighbouring yard to bury the remains.

Her body was discovered on April 14 in San Juan de Lurigancho. Police believe she may have been assaulted as she tried to escape.

Mercedes, who left behind a two-year-old daughter, was reported missing by her mother the day she failed to return home.

The investigation is ongoing, and authorities are piecing together the full timeline of events in what has been described as a deeply disturbing case.