#argentinian crime
Yiya Murano, whose real name was Bernadina Maria Mercedes Aponte Murano Bolla, is better known as the poisoner of Montserrat, was an argentian woman who murdered 3 people before being convicted and imprisoned for just 16 years.
Murano, who was born on the 20th May 1930, appeared to all who knew her to be an extremely cultured person, and very financially stable, however, looks can be deceiving. In reality, she lacked education and was always struggling for money, due largely to the fact that she used to spend all the money that she had, and more, on jewelry and clothing to give off that illusion of grandeur.
Carmen Zulema del Giorgio de Venturini, Murano’s cousin had an accident on March 24th, 1979, she fell down the stairs of a building in Hipolito Yrigoyen street where she was living, and died. Doctors simply put this down to a heart attack and moved on.
However, it was not long before her daughter Diana would notice something strange. Something was missing from the deceased’s apartment, a promissory note for 20 million pesos. When asked about the day that Carmen had died, the building’s doorman claimed to have seen Yiya Murano visit Carmen, carrying with her a ‘mysterious’ package, which was later discovered to have been filled with a type of cornflour cookie that was very common in Argentina at the time. She reportedly also asked for a copy of her cousin’s keys, claiming that she needed to collect her notebook in order to contact her family. Not long after she had entered the home, she left once again, this time clutching some papers and a small bottle. According to the doorman the woman then said aloud in an almost angry tone, “Oh my God, this is the third friend of mine to die in a short time.”
This was enough information for another look to be taken at Carmen’s death, and an autopsy was carried out. Testing of the tissues showed signs of Cyanide, which was enough for them to look into two other deaths that had taken place in that very same year, the deaths of Nilda Gamba and Leila Formisano de Ayala. Nilda Gamba, who was Yiya’s neighbor, died on the 10th of February 1979 (I couldn’t find what was originally put as her cause of death) and Leila Formisano de Ayala died of a fatal heart attack just a few days later. Once they did look into these tragic deaths they discovered that both corpses showed clear signs of cyanide poisoning, the source of which would be traced back to cookies that Yiya had taken to the two women. This and the fact that Yiya owed both of the women money told investigators that Yiya was the person to blame
Yiya was arrested at her home in April 1979, a month after her last murder, but due to the affection with which she was viewed by the judges, (it is reported that judges actually intervened in order to get her released early) she was released after just 16 years in prison.
