Ronald Toro Ardila has told police that a woman named Gocha hired him to finance the murder of Peruvian candidate Susy Aponte Polo.
The 29-year-old suspect confirmed his police statement matched testimony given by hitman Luis Obispo Diaz, who was arrested shortly after shooting Aponte Polo, known as China Polo, at noon on Saturday, September 19 in the town of Caraz.
Toro, speaking to officers from the Criminal Investigation Division in Caraz alongside his lawyer, stated that Gocha is a Peruvian woman living in Lima named Geraldine, whom he suspected worked as an escort.
Toro recalled meeting Geraldine after providing her two taxi rides from Pacasmayo Avenue in the Callao district to the Cine Star at the Mall del Sur in San Juan de Miraflores. He added that he had not seen her for three months and claimed his friendship with her had caused friction with his domestic partner.
Arrest of the suspect and digital wallet payments
Police arrested Obispo almost immediately after the shooting on September 19. During the initial police intervention, investigators discovered that the gunman paid for his hotel room in Caraz using Yape, a Peruvian digital wallet app, under an account registered to Ronald Toro Ardila.
Officers from the Criminal Investigation Division tracked down Toro and arrested him in the early hours of Sunday, September 20, while he was working as an app-based taxi driver in the Santiago de Surco district of Lima.
During his police interrogation in Caraz, an Andean town in the Ancash region, Toro initially lied to officers by claiming he did not know Obispo. However, investigators confronted him with digital receipts showing Yape transfers in his name used to purchase two mobile phones in the nearby city of Huaraz days before the murder, as well as paying for the hitman's lodging, meals, and transportation in Caraz.
Financial accounts and family connections
Faced with the financial evidence, Toro attempted to distance himself from the murder by claiming he knew nothing about the plot and blaming his half-sister, 18-year-old Venezuelan national Alexandra Toro Moctezuma.
Toro explained to officers that his half-sister had lived in Peru for two years with an irregular migration status without valid identity documents, which prevented her from opening financial accounts. Because Toro held legal residency status, he maintained bank accounts with major Peruvian financial institutions including Scotiabank, BCP, Interbank, and Mibanco.
Toro admitted that as the primary Scotiabank account holder, he gave his account details to his half-sister so she could process transactions through the Plin digital payment app, primarily to make payments and receive money transfers.
Security camera footage at the hotel
Investigators then presented Toro with security camera footage from the Caraz hotel where Obispo stayed alongside three other Venezuelan nationals, consisting of two men and one woman.
Toro identified one of the men in the security footage as Adrian Azuaje, a delivery worker who is the partner of his half-sister Alexandra. Toro claimed he rarely communicated with Azuaje or his half-sister, saying they only spoke occasionally through the WhatsApp messaging application.
Obispo also identified the two men inside the Caraz lodging with Alexandra Toro as Adrian Azuaje and a Venezuelan man known by the alias Morocho.
New security footage obtained by the Criminal Investigation Division showed that all four suspects arrived together at the Caraz hotel on Wednesday, September 16 to execute the assassination plan against Aponte Polo.
Detectives established that despite Toro's efforts to deny involvement, he actively financed and monitored his compatriots from Lima to carry out the contract killing of the journalist.
Suspect background and vehicle ownership
Toro was born in Merida State, Venezuela, on October 3, 1996, and moved to Peru seven years ago. He is the father of a young child and resides in a rented house with his 25-year-old Venezuelan domestic partner, Solenny Garcia Rivas, and her minor son.
Toro told police he worked as a driver for the Yango ride-hailing app across various districts of Lima, operating a silver Toyota Etios with license plate CD0-157. He claimed he was purchasing the car under an informal, verbal rent-to-own agreement with compatriot Samuel Azuaje, whose second surname he could not remember, without signing any written contract.
However, entries in Peru's Public Records registry showed that the vehicle actually belongs to Venezuelan national Victerth Sequera Puentes and his partner Mabel Felix Davila.
Toro noted that he paid 500 soles weekly under the vehicle agreement and made approximately 150 soles in daily earnings from driving.
Judicial requests and medical updates
Prosecutor Raul Godo Sedan has formally applied for judicial authorization to lift telecommunications secrecy on two mobile phones belonging to Toro. The measure will allow investigators to audit his frequent contacts and identify the woman known as Geraldine or Gocha who hired him.
Meanwhile, police sources reported that hitman Luis Obispo Diaz was discharged by medical staff at the Victor Romero Guardia Hospital in Huaraz, where he was treated for three gunshot wounds.
Following his medical release, authorities transferred Obispo to the Criminal Investigation Division headquarters in Huaraz as legal proceedings progress.
