Discover the shocking true story that rocked Colombia—a tale of tragedy, outrage, and a system's failure. From a desperate emergency call to a hunt for justice, this case will leave you speechless. Watch to find out how one woman's fight for survival changed a nation. Subscribe for more real-life stories and comment below what part shocked you the most! #truecrime #Colombia #justice #investigation #history
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@paul_lando
0:05 - Discovery of a Disturbing Case
2:29 - Emergency Failures and Rosa's Rescue
5:06 - Systemic Negligence and Consequences
8:03 - Rosa Elvira Selly's Life and Struggles
11:45 - Family's Ordeal and Early Investigation
14:36 - Investigation Focuses on Suspects
18:16 - Javier Velasco's Criminal History Revealed
22:40 - Justice Served and Aftermath
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/033MgMUOXQEOYvZBJxmxir
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@paul_lando
0:05 - Discovery of a Disturbing Case
2:29 - Emergency Failures and Rosa's Rescue
5:06 - Systemic Negligence and Consequences
8:03 - Rosa Elvira Selly's Life and Struggles
11:45 - Family's Ordeal and Early Investigation
14:36 - Investigation Focuses on Suspects
18:16 - Javier Velasco's Criminal History Revealed
22:40 - Justice Served and Aftermath
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/033MgMUOXQEOYvZBJxmxir
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:06The abuse and death of a woman in plain sight ended up exposing one of the most
00:11scandalous cases of negligence ever seen in Colombia in the early morning of May
00:2824 2012 an operator on duty at the Bogota emergency center was having a pretty quiet
00:34night until a call came in that was unlike the others when he asked how he
00:39could help what he heard on the other end left him confused it was a woman she
00:45spoke very slowly her voice barely had any strength and she wasn't screaming or
00:50panicking she just spoke very calmly but it wasn't the kind of calm that comes
00:56from peace it sounded more like someone who had no strength left who had no
01:01energy the woman was trying to explain to him what was happening she told the
01:06operator that she was lying on the floor that she had no clothes on and that she
01:10had been a victim of abuse
01:16officer good morning I'm in a ravine please look for me yes what I'm in a ravine
01:26what's here in a ravine on 45th below their conveyor what happened to you
01:34did they see me yes were they driving a vehicle or what alone I'm all alone lying in a terrible
01:44place I can't move at all please help me yes the officer on the other end for some
01:52reason and this you'll see this happen constantly in this case and I'm telling
01:56you now you're going to be outraged by this story but anyway for some reason
02:02which to this day is hard to understand this operator didn't pay attention to
02:07this woman who was calling was it because of how calm she sounded her
02:13composure did it not sound real we don't know apparently he thought it was a
02:18joke or he just didn't process what he was hearing either way it seemed like
02:23this agent wasn't prepared for similar cases so that first call was useless
02:30a few minutes later around 4 50 in the morning the woman gathered the
02:34strength she had left and dialed 123 again we have to say that this second
02:41operator wasn't any better than the previous one I don't know what was going on
02:46with Colombia's emergency service that year in 2012 I imagine this must have
02:50improved but in this case it became clear this negligence in 2012 that someone
02:58would act like that fine it happens but two operators in a row who were
03:03incompetent that's already a shame this officer was hostile and even though the
03:09woman managed to give an approximate location the officer seemed to not quite
03:13understand or simply didn't want to understand what she was saying still this
03:18time the alert was registered and the dispatch center issued the notification
03:23and there she was alone somewhere in the city waiting almost an hour went by the
03:30sun was starting to rise and finally a team of firefighters arrived at the area and
03:35came across this scene as heartbreaking as it was shocking a woman lying on the
03:40grass half naked with several stab wounds she had bruised in on her neck clear
03:46signs that someone had tried to strangle her and she was slowly bleeding out they
03:51found her in Enrique Olaya Herrera National Park around 6 in the morning I
03:56mean just imagine the call had been made it 3 or 4 in the morning and at 6 in the
04:01morning the firefighters had just found her and there's a detail in this case
04:06that I find impossible to make sense of the thing is that this woman was 85 meters
04:13away from a police station which was inside the same park I mean 85 meters is
04:20less than a block the emergency system took more than two hours to reach someone
04:27who was bleeding out almost right under their noses with a police station just
04:31steps away when they were putting her on the stretcher she was still conscious and
04:38she said something that would be important for everything that would come
04:41after does she said I knew the person who attacked me so it wasn't a random
04:48attack someone close to her had attacked her this woman was named Rosa Elvira
04:53Selly and her case was going to change Colombia forever I think that just by
05:07listening to that first part there's no need to even clarify that this rescue was
05:11absolutely outrageous from beginning to end beyond what they had done to this
05:16woman which was already terrible the way the system responded that morning was a
05:20disaster at every step and we're not talking about a single failure but
05:25several when Rosa called for the first time and the call wasn't handled as it
05:30should have been the dispatch center eventually issued the alert anyway and the
05:36units in the area began a search the medical service had also been notified
05:40but that's when the hospital canceled the first ambulance the reason they gave was
05:46that they didn't have a precise location for the victim and the search went on
05:50for almost an hour with the authorities patrolling the area without finding
05:54anything and this is the operators fault because the operator in the first call
05:59and also in the second already seemed to have no patience they didn't ask her the
06:04right questions to find out the woman's exact location fire department team was
06:09the one who found the exact spot as we mentioned and only around 6 in the morning
06:14an ambulance was sent which arrived at the scene 20 minutes later but what
06:19happened when the rescuers arrived is also incredible instead of taking Rosa to the
06:26nearest hospital for some reason that still doesn't have an official explanation
06:32they decided to transfer her to Santa Clara Hospital and it has to be said Santa Clara
06:38Hospital is practically on the other side of the city it's not the hospital
06:42that's on the corner or that's nearby because there was one nearby Rosa was
06:48inside that ambulance for another hour and a half she entered the hospital at 7 50 in
06:54the morning that is more than three hours after her first call to 1 2 3 and when
07:01Rosa arrived at the hospital they didn't take care of her right away either they
07:05left her on a stretcher then they moved her to a wheelchair and she waited there
07:10for another hour with internal bleeding and completely alone at 9 in the morning her
07:16body couldn't take it anymore and she suffered a cardiorespiratory collapse it was at
07:22that moment on the verge of death that they finally took her to the operating room and
07:28when the doctors were able to see Rosa's real condition on the inside they realized the brutality
07:33of what had been done to her her internal organs were destroyed if this entire emergency response
07:39system we're talking about the operators the ambulance the police etc even the hospital as well if they had
07:48done their job well Rosa Elvira might have had a different outcome each one of those mistakes
07:55on its own could be seen as a system failure but altogether that's what doomed this woman
08:03as Rosa's situation became public and the media started covering the case social pressure on the
08:09authorities grew quickly people in Bogota were outraged and rightfully so but to understand why this case hit
08:17Colombia so hard we first need to answer a key question who was Rosa Elvira Sely really
08:38Rosa Elvira Sely was 35 years old and made a living as a street vendor in the streets of Bogota
08:44she sold
08:45candy and other products at her informal stand it wasn't an easy life to be honest but Rosa was the
08:52kind
08:52of person who didn't just sit still waiting for things to change on their own at 23 years old she
08:59had her
08:59daughter named Juliana whom she raised on her own and that marked her for life in a very specific way
09:05she
09:07wanted her daughter to have more options than she had she was very clear about that over time sales
09:14were not enough and the frustration over the study she had left unfinished grew bigger because Rosa had
09:20left high school without finishing and that weighed on her not just for herself but also because she wanted
09:26to be able to demand that her daughter study and finish a degree and she understood that to be able
09:33to do
09:33that she had to set the example first so she made a decision that honestly isn't easy to make she
09:40was
09:40going to work during the day and study at night to finish high school and eventually get a university
09:46degree she wanted to be a psychologist or get a stable job with the government her friends and
09:52family described her as a cheerful and responsible person someone who was always willing to help others
09:58her sister Adriana and her mother Maria Aurora they admired her lot she wasn't a confrontational
10:06person she didn't have problems with anyone she was a woman who worked raised her daughter and
10:11studied that was her life on the morning of May 24th Maria Aurora and Adriana noticed that Rosa
10:18hadn't returned home she had gone out the night before after her night classes at Manuela Beltran school
10:26where she was finishing high school no one had heard from her since then there were no calls there were
10:33no messages either there was nothing and then the news came that she was admitted to a hospital while
10:40Rosa was fighting for her life in intensive care Adriana had to face a system alone that simply wouldn't give
10:47her
10:47any information she found out more about what was happening with her sister through the media then from
10:56the prosecutor's office itself she had to go from office to office from the prosecutor's office to
11:02the police station and back talking to officials who treated her with indifference or directly
11:08revictimized her questioning Rosa instead of helping the family at some point they asked that Rosa appear in
11:17person for certain procedures and it should be clarified that at that time Rosa was in intensive care fighting for
11:24her life
11:25Adriana even said that she felt the authorities already knew her sister wasn't going to make it out of this
11:31and they were just giving her the runaround
11:35Rosa spent four days in intensive care the doctors did everything they could but the injuries were too severe
11:41sadly on May 28 Rosa passed away she was with her mother and her daughter Juliana when she died it's
11:49hard it's tough
11:50even I find the story difficult I'm telling you the truth Adriana was at that moment in some office doing
11:57paperwork and she didn't make it in time to say goodbye to her sister when Adriana went to the National
12:03Institute of
12:03Legal Medicine to find out exactly what they had done to Rosa the first autopsy report it said that she
12:10had died from
12:11a stab wound and Adriana obviously was not satisfied with this because she felt that description didn't reflect what had
12:18been done to her sister so she requested her
12:20a second review and in this second review it was much more thorough and also much more terrible
12:27the cause of death was peritonitis as a consequence of internal injuries several of her organs were destroyed
12:34and inside her body they found traces of grass and wood if this isn't one of the most brutal attacks
12:42we've ever covered on this channel it's among the worst honestly all of Colombia was outraged from the media
12:52and human rights organizations to feminists and the general public this made the authorities feel a lot of pressure
13:00to find the person or people responsible for the incident so the investigation got underway immediately
13:06and at that moment the question everyone in Bogota had was who could have done so much harm to Rosa
13:13she before losing consciousness she had said that she knew her attacker
13:25the investigation into the crime against Rosa Elvira had two initial places they needed to look into further
13:32on one hand there was the crime scene which was the park on the other hand there was the school
13:38where Rosa studied
13:39at the crime scene investigators found several things for example a motorcyclist's reflective vest
13:45this vest was cut in half and it had the motorcycle's license plate number
13:51they also found handwritten letters addressed to Rosa where a man expressed his love for her
13:57and he asked her for forgiveness for what he was going to do to her in other words this also
14:02confirmed
14:03that it was a premeditated act this was not an impulsive attack something else needs to be said about
14:09how the investigation worked in Colombia at that time especially when the victim was a woman
14:14almost automatically the focus of the investigation shifted to the victim's love life
14:19and the reasoning was that if a woman had been attacked most likely it was because of that
14:24it was someone she was or had been in a relationship with
14:28the investigators started there they looked into the father of Rosa's daughter as well as past relationships
14:36and other possible conflicts with friends or suitors of the victim
14:40because several acquaintances had mentioned that Rosa
14:45supposedly she mentioned that she was seeing someone
14:48but when when they looked into it they realized that this person
14:55it was a story that Rosa used to get rid of men who insisted too much
14:59I know that most of my audience here are women and you can confirm that this is a strategy
15:07that many women use so that men stop bothering them that's the truth
15:12it was a shield it was a way to create distance I mean there was no real relationship
15:18when they started investigating the people around her at the school where she studied
15:22they found the clue that put them on the right track
15:26Rosa had attended her classes on the night of May 23rd
15:30so whatever happened to her occurred after she left school and several witnesses
15:35she had been seen leaving accompanied by two classmates
15:39whose names were Mauricio Ariza and Javier Velasco
15:42both of them automatically became suspects
15:45since they were the last people seen with Rosa alive
15:48but also because let's remember
15:51that Rosa said she knew her attacker
15:54so it made sense to think that these two could be involved
15:57but remember she said
15:59Rosa said I know my attacker
16:02she didn't say it in the plural
16:04it must have been just one person
16:07the media started publishing the names immediately
16:10this created enormous pressure on the two men
16:13and also on the police to solve the case quickly
16:18Mauricio, one of these men, was known as a close friend of Rosa
16:22it was known that at some point
16:24they had dated
16:26and he jokingly said that Rosa was his future wife
16:29but when Mauricio made this comment
16:32Rosa would cut him off and tell him that she was in a relationship
16:36obviously we know that Rosa wasn't in any relationship
16:39but that's what she used to turn down all these men
16:42even one of her friends
16:44for the investigators
16:46that made him the main suspect
16:48they looked for him
16:49but before they found him
16:50Mauricio turned himself involuntarily to give his side of the story
16:55according to Mauricio
16:57that night after class
16:59Rosa said she was going home
17:01but he and Javier invited her
17:03to have a drink
17:05she accepted because they were classmates
17:07and one of them was a trusted friend
17:09we're talking about Mauricio
17:11they went to a bar in the Chapinero neighborhood
17:14they spent some time together
17:16and when it was close to midnight
17:18Rosa said she had to leave
17:20that she had to get home
17:21because her daughter needed her
17:22and she also told them that the next day
17:25she had to work very early
17:26so she needed to rest
17:27at that moment
17:29according to Mauricio's version
17:30Javier offered to take her on his motorcycle
17:33and Rosa
17:34trusting a classmate
17:36so she agreed
17:37this version was very interesting to the police
17:39because it fit directly with the evidence of the motorcycle
17:42found at the crime scene
17:44but we're not talking about the motorcycle
17:46we're talking about the vest
17:48this made Javier the main suspect
17:51but on the other hand
17:52there was the possibility
17:53that Mauricio was just trying to divert attention
17:58toward his partner
18:00although that same testimony made him look just as suspicious
18:04the investigators needed to interrogate Javier
18:07to hear his version of events
18:09the problem was that Javier hadn't shown up
18:12he hadn't come in to give a statement
18:13and nobody knew where he was
18:16while they waited for him to show up
18:18the investigators started to review the history of both men
18:22and what they found about Javier was one of those things that
18:28when you know it
18:29you can't believe the system let it slip by
18:40when the prosecutor's office thoroughly investigated the history of Javier Velasco
18:45they began to question how someone with his background
18:47had managed to evade justice for so many years
18:50and it was outrageous
18:52because I tell you this story has been outrageous from the start
18:55I am outraged
18:56it's very hard for me to feel
18:59it's like after so many years telling these stories
19:02I already have a shield
19:03my skin is very thick
19:05and it's hard for me to get that way
19:07I don't know
19:09I don't know if I should use the word sentimental
19:11to get emotional about stories
19:14but this case is so outrageous
19:16it's unbelievable
19:17and it was outrageous
19:19to analyze how he took advantage of the system's flaws
19:22to get away with every one of his crimes
19:25we're not just talking about
19:27theft, abuse, harassment or fraud number
19:31his first encounter with the law was for a homicide accusation in 2002
19:37and it was when a domestic worker named Dismila Ochoa Ibáñez
19:41she was found on the street with no vital signs
19:45Javier was arrested as the main suspect
19:47during the interrogation he confessed to doing this to the woman
19:51he said she was a woman he cared for very much
19:55and that she had attacked him first
19:57that he had only defended himself
20:00but the autopsy showed that the victim had 17 machete wounds
20:04Javier then cleaned the scene
20:07hid evidence
20:08and because of how sick he was
20:10he slept next to the body
20:12the next day
20:13he left it out on the street as if it were trash
20:17despite all that
20:18he was released
20:19the National Institute of Forensic Medicine
20:21determined that during the incident
20:23Javier was under the influence of substances
20:26and did not understand what he was doing
20:28he was detained for a couple of months
20:30spent some time in a psychiatric hospital
20:33and then they released him
20:34with no follow-up
20:35no assessment of how dangerous he was
20:39without doing anything
20:40and what did Javier Velasco do then
20:42after regaining his freedom?
20:44in August 2007
20:45he abused his two step-daughters
20:47one of them was 11 years old
20:51that case was stalled
20:52or buried in the prosecutorial system
20:54for almost five years
20:56allowing Javier to remain on the streets
20:59in August 2008
21:01he was caught trying to attack
21:03a sex worker named Marcella Jimenez
21:05because she had refused
21:07to do certain things that Javier asked her to do
21:10and fortunately Marcella survived
21:13there were complaints
21:14there were arrest warrants
21:15in some cases there were open investigations
21:17and Javier was still free
21:19he kept going to school
21:20he continued with his normal life
21:23this happened because the prosecutor's office information system
21:26at least at that time
21:28I don't know if this has changed
21:29called SPOA
21:31worked in a completely fragmented way
21:33I mean
21:35the department in charge of homicides
21:37didn't have access to the records of other units
21:40so they never saw if this person had a history or any prior records
21:46which Javier obviously did have
21:48no one ever connected all these cases for what they were
21:52the crimes of the same perpetrator
21:54who was escalating in violence over time
21:56and without that profile being built and documented
22:00there was never a legal justification to keep him permanently imprisoned
22:04we have to say that if it were Rosa's case
22:06if it hadn't become so publicized
22:08probably no one
22:12would have reviewed Javier's history this thoroughly
22:15public pressure was what forced them to do the job
22:18they should have done years earlier
22:39with all this information at hand
22:41the search for Javier started immediately
22:44and it didn't take much to find him
22:46on June 1st 2012 he was captured in a house in the Kennedy neighborhood
22:50going about his daily activities as usual
22:55something happened that sums up pretty well how this case was being handled between May 24th and 25th
23:02the investigators had collected the evidence they were interested in from the crime scene
23:07and had left the rest of Rosa's belongings
23:10they were left there without being removed
23:12and without any supervision
23:14they stayed like that for 8 days
23:16and it was Adriana
23:18the sister
23:19who after Javier's arrest
23:21went to the place to collect her sister's things
23:24among the bushes she found Rosa's pants
23:27soaked in red liquid
23:29and also her watch
23:31the forensic analysis
23:33left no doubt about who was responsible
23:36the handwriting on the letters found that the scene matched Javier's handwriting
23:40the motorcycle's registration was in his name
23:42and the DNA samples also linked him directly
23:45there was no doubt that he was responsible
23:48after being at the bar with the other friend
23:50Rosa Elvira trusted Javier and got on the motorcycle with him
23:53instead of taking her home
23:55he took another route
23:56to a dark area of the park
23:58where he attacked and abused her mercilessly
24:01among her belongings
24:03more letters addressed to Rosa were found
24:05declaring his love for her
24:07and it must be said that he had been obsessed with her for a long time
24:10and these letters confirmed it
24:14the worst part of this story is that
24:16despite all the evidence in Javier's criminal record
24:18his defense tried to revictimize Rosa
24:21by saying that her behavior that night was questionable
24:25just imagine
24:26I know everyone has the right to a lawyer
24:28and to a fair trial
24:30but this was already a slap in the face for everyone in this case
24:35they also tried to use the illegal substances argument
24:38just like it had worked for Javier in the past
24:40in that 2002 case
24:42to at least try to get his sentence reduced
24:44but the trial
24:47it showed that Javier was lucid and completely fine
24:51at the moment he committed the crime in December of 2012
24:56the sentence was handed down
24:58the original sentence was
25:0060 years
25:01one of the highest that could be given in Colombia
25:04for this type of crime
25:06given that the actions committed were extreme
25:08but he was granted a reduction
25:10for accepting criminal responsibility
25:12and the sentence was set
25:14at 48 years
25:15the man went to prison
25:16the principal of the school
25:18Manuela Beltran
25:20the place where Rosa studied
25:22they offered to pay for Juliana's university studies
25:25Rosa's daughter
25:26which was a nice gesture
25:27but the family was never the same again
25:31and that there was real justice
25:33because of what happened to Rosa Elvira
25:36that's it for today's case
25:38I look forward to your comments below
25:40really
25:42a case that's truly outrageous
25:45it's been a while
25:47since I've had to cover a case like this
25:49covering such an outrageous case
25:51it is hard to report
25:52I'm telling you the truth
25:54and this way we'll meet again
25:56in the next story
Comments