Thiago's swollen face: uncovering the lie behind an assault among friends in Pinamar

A 16-year-old teenager arrived at Esteban Echeverría’s Bicentennial Hospital with a non-surgical brain hematoma after a violent confrontation early Saturday morning in Pinamar. But what started as a story of a group attack turned out to be a completely different truth, uncovered thanks to surveillance cameras at the local port. Thiago’s swollen face would be the silent trace of a conflict between friends that was deliberately concealed for hours.

A story that didn’t add up: how the truth emerged

It all began with a seemingly clear version: a group of six young people had brutally attacked Thiago in the dock parking lot around 5:30 a.m. According to the initial account provided by both the victim and his two companions, the attackers had tried to rob them, insulting and attempting to hit them. Thiago’s parents relayed this version to the media with conviction, convinced of the seriousness of what had happened.

However, the investigation led by Prosecutor Juan Pablo Calderón started to find cracks in the narrative. The dock security cameras did not record any of those supposed attackers. An absence that would turn out to be the key to uncovering the truth.

The confession: when the phantom gang disappeared

It was in the monitoring center where everything changed. The minors were confronted with images from the early morning to try to identify the aggressors. At that moment, the 14-year-old teenager ended up admitting that the gang had never existed. Under the pressure of visual evidence and the reality of what was recorded, he confessed that it was his 17-year-old friend who had brutally beaten Thiago while he only watched.

According to the subsequent reconstruction of the events, the three young people had accompanied Thiago’s parents fishing at the dock. While the adults went to the fishing area, the teenagers decided to stay in the car. The two minors left the vehicle to walk around downtown, where they apparently consumed alcohol. Upon returning, they triggered an argument whose exact causes are still under investigation, resulting in the assault on Thiago.

“We didn’t see the young people who had attacked them. Now we know that the group didn’t exist and that’s why we couldn’t find them,” Calderón explained to the media. The discovery marked a turning point: Thiago’s swollen face was not the result of an organized gang, but of a fight among friends that was deliberately distorted.

The family perspective: between confusion and disappointment

Lucía, Thiago’s mother, initially told the media that her son had told her he was a victim of racist insults and blows from a group of unknown young people. “A group of six beasts appeared and started insulting them,” was her account. Sebastián, the father, also provided details about how they allegedly tried to rob the minors.

When the truth emerged, the father’s reaction was one of deep disappointment. “I want to die. I have no words. I am disappointed in them,” he said while dealing with the news that his lifelong friends, neighbors he had seen grow up since birth, were responsible for the assault. Sebastián explained that the three young people were “from the neighborhood, neighbors, next door” and that he had known them since they were little.

According to the father’s account after learning the truth, the youths said they “were just horsing around” when the situation got out of control and “lost control,” resulting in the swollen face and the brain hematoma that required immediate hospitalization.

The conclusion of the investigation: unanswered questions

Prosecutor Calderón acknowledged that the exact trigger for the assault remains unclear. What has been clearly demonstrated is how a lie constructed jointly by three minors managed to keep authorities investigating in the wrong direction, while a teenager remained hospitalized with serious injuries.

Thiago’s swollen face continues to be the clearest evidence of an episode that revealed deep fractures among friends and raises questions about why the minors decided to lie during the initial hours of investigation.