New lead in search for missing La Plata student takes investigators to Córdoba

A new lead has taken the search for Mariano Martínez from La Plata to Córdoba, where a witness says the missing student photocopied his résumé and then delivered it to a sushi restaurant.

Martínez, 21, disappeared on Monday after abruptly leaving the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the National University of La Plata, where he was in his third year of architecture. He had told a classmate to handle an assignment scheduled for that day and said he was feeling emotionally unwell before leaving. His whereabouts have remained unknown, although his cellphone is still switched on.

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When they sent us the camera footage, we received messages from classmates saying that some classmates had travelled with him toward the city. He crossed Avenida Brasil at Constitución station. That is the last information we have about him on Monday.

The last confirmed trail known to his family had placed him on buses between Punta Lara and La Plata. His father, Gustavo, said security-camera footage showed Martínez crossing Avenida Brasil at Constitución station. Messages from classmates also suggested he may have travelled with them toward Buenos Aires.

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The photo is from Tuesday. The date is there. The DDI sent us the photo to confirm whether it is him. They told me, ‘I am going to send you a photo and you confirm whether he is your son.’ I already told them yes. This is very positive.

That trail changed when Martínez’s parents received a photograph from the La Plata police investigations department. The image, dated Tuesday, apparently came from a security camera at a Córdoba business where a young man went to print a résumé. Gustavo said he believed the person in the image was his son and called the development “very positive.”

The reported sightings continued at a sushi restaurant in Córdoba’s Cofico neighbourhood. An employee named Sofía said a young man approached the business on Tuesday between 6:30 and 7 p.m. to submit his résumé. The family is using those accounts and the image to determine whether Martínez travelled to Córdoba after his disappearance.

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The girl said it was him. She made the copy and he submitted the résumé two blocks away at a business. She said it was him, that he went there the day after his disappearance became known on social media.