In his wrinkled hands, Jose de la Cruz held a tangled gold-colored necklace adorned with hearts and a pendant spelling out the word 'love.'
Jose de la Cruz, father of Mirna Cruz Lima and grandfather of Jacquelinne Palomo Lima and Alexis Palomo Lima, who were murdered by former policeman Hugo Ernesto Osorio Chavez in the site where authorities are excavating a clandestine cemetery discovered at his house and containing many bodies, most of them believed to be women in Chalchuapa, El Salvador May 27, 2021. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas
De la Cruz, 79, also lost his daughter Mirna Cruz Lima and grandson Alexis Palomo Lima inside that house, according to police, in an atrocity that has"My soul has left me," he said in an interview at his daughter's home, the walls of which were lined with diplomas and stacks of books on literature, physics and medicine.
The two women then got into his car and traveled to his home in the municipality of Chalchuapa, some 80 km northwest of the capital San Salvador, according to this account. El Salvador's national police chief, Mauricio Arriaza, said Osorio was removed from police ranks 15 years ago after he was convicted of raping a woman and a minor, crimes for which he was sentenced to five years in jail.