Man, 70, who killed his pregnant wife then hid in Argentina rainforest for 22 years returns to civilisation after 'statute of limitations expires'

A man convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife has remerged from a rainforest in Argentina after spending 22 years in it avoiding police detection.  

Ramon Angel Abregú, now 70, looks poised to avoid any further jail time after emerging from hiding. 

Abregú escaped from prison months after being jailed for 20 years for shooting his wife, Eva Falcón, in the city of Río Grande in Argentina’s southernmost tip in January 2000. 

He spent the next 22 years evading police detection, hidden in a rainforest in northern Argentina. 

On the day of the attack, local news sources detail that Abregú attacked Falcón – who was seven months pregnant – with a 9-millimeter caliber gun at her home. 

Ramon Angel Abregú, now 70, escaped from prison months after being jailed for 20 years for shooting his wife, Eva Falcón, in the city of Río Grande in Argentina’s southernmost tip in January 2000

Abregú remained hidden in the jungle, in the Chaco Salteño, and managed to re-enter the Tierra del Fuego province without being detected by any authorities on Wednesday, according to Argentine newspaper Clarín 

Pictured: The clinic where Ramon Angel Abregu, 70, killed his pregnant wife Eva Falcón in Rio Grande, Argentina, in January, 2000

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Wounded, Falcón reportedly managed to escape and took refuge in the guard room of the Cemep Clinic, where Abregú caught up with her killing her with four more shots.

In February the following year, it is understood Abregú escaped from a Margen Sur prison hiding in a truck headed for Chile. 

All these years Abregú remained hidden in the jungle, in the Chaco Salteño, and managed to re-enter the Tierra del Fuego province without being detected by any authorities on Wednesday, according to Argentine newspaper Clarín. 

They said he appeared in court to request the prescription of the case, while his lawyer, Alejandro De la Riva, disclosed Abregú passed through two Argentine and two Chilean border crossings ‘furtively’ and without documents.  

‘The statute of limitations is 20 years, which is the time in which he managed to remain a fugitive living in hiding. He served his sentence that way,’ De la Riva reportedly explained to Fuegian media. 

But the process may not be that simple and some legal issues surrounding what happened remain to be resolved, sources from the intervening criminal prosecutor’s office told Clarín.

‘The precepts of international law treaties adopted by the country govern and could be applied to deny this person’s freedom,’ they said. 

Despite having one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, the Chaco Salteño is an important agricultural frontier with over six million hectares of forest. 

It hosts significant ethnic and cultural diversity, including small scale livestock farmers and indigenous peoples.