Five jailed for covering up murder of rapper Canserbero

A forensic expert, three police officers and a music impresario have been jailed for covering up the 2015 murder of Venezuelan rapper Canserbero.

Canserbero, who had been named best Spanish-language rapper by Rolling Stone magazine, was drugged and stabbed to death by his manager, Natalia Améstica.

Améstica and her brother then threw his body from a 10th floor window.

The five people sentenced on Tuesday have been found guilty of helping the siblings stage the crime scene so Canserbero's murder appeared a suicide.

They have been given jail terms ranging between 15 and 20 years.

Natalia Améstica and her brother Guillermo were already sentenced to 25 years in prison back in February for murder.

The death on 19 January 2015 of Canserbero, whose real name was Tirone González, shocked the Venezuelan rap scene.

It was ruled at the time that the 26-year-old star had killed his friend Carlos Molnar in a knife fight before jumping from a window.

But in December 2023, Natalia Améstica confessed to stabbing both Molnar and Canserbero.

In a video statement released by the Venezuelan attorney general last year she recounted what had happened on the night.

Natalia Améstica claims that she was angry with the rapper after she had learned that Canserbero no longer wanted her as his manager.

She described how Canserbero came to her apartment in the Venezuelan city of Maracay on 19 January 2015.

He was accompanied by his friend Carlos Molnar, who was also Natalia Améstica's long-term boyfriend.

"The chance arose to make them a tea," she explained in the video, adding that she spiked their beverage with a powerful tranquiliser.

When her drugged partner Carlos Molnar entered the kitchen, she stabbed him in the neck, in the back and in the arm.

Canserbero witnessed Améstica's attack on her boyfriend but, under the influence of the drugs Améstica had slipped him, he collapsed on the sofa.

Améstica then proceeded to stab him twice.

"In desperation, I then called my brother Guillermo to help me resolve the situation," she said in the video confession.

Her brother arrived with the three officers from Venezuela's intelligence agency, Sebin, who have now been sentenced.

"They finished arranging the scene in a way to make it look like a murder-suicide," according to Natalia Améstica.

She said that the officers "stabbed Carlos [Molnar] a few more times, my brother Guillermo stabbed him four times. The rest, the Sebin officials did".

"Then we were told how to throw him out of the window to complete the murder-suicide scene," she said in her confession.

Her brother Guillermo said that a forensic detective who arrived at the scene became suspicious, remarking that it appeared "manipulated".

According to Guillermo Améstica, the forensic expert asked for a bribe of $10,000 (£7,880) in exchange for helping the siblings cover up the crime and to make it look like Canserbero had attacked Molnar before jumping out of the window.

The fifth man sentenced on Tuesday is Marcos Pratolongo, a music impresario who provided security at some of Canserbero's concerts.

At the time of his arrest, Venezuela's attorney general had said that Pratolongo was in possession of the keys to Canserbero's apartment, from which important evidence had disappeared.

The attorney general posted on social media on Tuesday that Pratolongo had been found guilty of complicity in Canserbero's murder but did not provide further details of his role in the crime.