On theice difficult days for María José Henríquez Ponce (38), who is still trying to recover from the hard blow that the death of her husband, Carabineros lieutenant, Robert Ruiz Yáñez (35), An event that occurred on the night of Saturday, November 15, after an incident occurred inside the Second Police Station for Public Order Control (COP) of Carabineros, which operates in the town of Pailahueque, in the commune of Ercilla.
The police version stamped on a document indicates that that night The lieutenant was being interviewed by personnel from the Carabineros Internal Affairs Service (Saicar) for the loss of a rifle, and at that moment, the official struggled with the staff trying to snatch their service weapon, which he failed to do.
Then – the document says – the lieutenant went to the telephone operator’s office from whom he took the weapon. and shot himself in the head, injury that caused his death at the Hernán Henríquez Aravena Hospital in Temuco, to where he was transferred by land.
Widow of Carabinero killed in Ercilla COP: “My husband did not kill himself”
Table of Contents
María José Henríquez met her husband at a Halloween celebration in 2019 and They had been together for six years, enjoying their daughters (Matilda, 3 years old, and Dominga, who is 10 months old) on a plot in the community of Los Angeles.
In this interview, the widow of Carabineros lieutenant, Robert Ruiz Yáñez, not only He harshly questioned the police version regarding how your spouse was injured in the COP. He also asserted that Robert He had no reason to take his life. and that he hopes that justice will investigate what really happened that night of Saturday, November 15, inside that police unit.
-What was your relationship with your husband like?
– Our relationship was normal; If one had problems, they were typical of a family, of a couple. But nothing special. He didn’t have a problem wanting to commit suicide.
-How did you find out about your husband’s death?
-I found out on Saturday, I don’t remember the exact time, but at 9:30 at night on Saturday he called me by camera, by video call and told me that he was still in the unit and that they had not yet been dispatched. But he was waiting for that and was going home.
-Did he tell you that he was being the subject of some type of investigation?
-No no. On Friday he arrived home early. I told him, “love, so early.” I was surprised when it arrived. And he told me: “yes, they sent me away earlier so as not to run into the procedures on the 14th regarding Catrillanca” and because his mother was undergoing surgery on Friday at 12:00 p.m. at the Los Angeles hospital.
I left with the little girls, I left them where they were cared for and then I headed to my work. In the afternoon we met at the house at around 05:00 because he was seeing his mother, he went to his grandfather and then we met at the house for lunch, at 05:00 in the afternoon, quite late, but it was our time and he waited for me to eat.
And there he told me that a rifle had been lost at work. The truth that he told me was lost on a person; He gave me the name, but I don’t remember it, because when he talked to me about work issues I listened to him, but I felt like it was just a joke, the truth is that I didn’t pay much attention to him.
That day I didn’t notice him nervous, nothing, In other words, his behavior until Saturday was super normal.
Even on Friday we shared with a friend at night and the other day he got up, he had Saturday off and he said to me: “Honey, my cell phone, where is it?” And I tell him, “they were left outside last night, in the barbecue area.” I went to look for them, I handed them to him and he told me: “Honey, they are summoning me for the issue of the rifle because they were rounding up everyone for that issue.”
Every day he traveled from Los Angeles to Pailahueque, from Pailahueque to Los Angeles, because he wanted to see his daughters every day. The kinesiologist arrived and he said goodbye as always. He told me: “Love, I’m leaving because they’re waiting for me. Bye, love, see you at night.” Never anything strange, nothing strange, never nervous.
So, all the things that are happening and what they say, the truth is that it doesn’t fit me at all.
The day of the event
-What situations do not fit you in this story that has transcended and where it seems that there are more questions than answers?
– Look, my husband wrote to me that day when he left and said: “Honey, I got to the unit safely” and that would be the comment. He always let me know when he arrived at work, because it’s a journey of more than an hour, so it’s still complex, imagine an accident, so he always let me know.
And well, he was at work, during the afternoon we were talking on Instagram, on WhatsApp, and then he wrote to me at nine something, and he said: “Honey, haven’t they shipped us yet? I’m still here, but as soon as they ship me I’m going home.” Because that day was our pololeo night, so the little girls went to bed early and the two of us were going to be alone.
I told him: “I don’t believe you, send me a photo.” And instead of sending me a photo, made a video call, in which he did not speak, because he was clearly with more people, it was a table like this and he was sitting like on this side and he showed me with his cell phone, There were about four more police officers.
The truth is that I don’t know the names, I only saw that they were police officers. He looked at me like he was waiting for me, but at no time was he nervous, I don’t know, upset or anything, I mean, he was as always, normal.
-And what time was that more or less?
-That was at 9:30. I have the record of my WhatsApp cell phone and everything, about an hour before the fatal event occurred. But at 10:08 I called him on the phone. Because? Because they start saying from the gate of my house: “Hello, hello. I said at this time in my house, I haven’t invited anyone. The dog was barking a lot, I go out and They were policemen from Saicar and they were in a white car, they did not arrive in a police car and I start talking to my husband at 10:08 a.m.: “Honey, the police are outside the house. What happened?”
I sent him a WhatsApp audio where I tell him why he doesn’t answer the phone just when I need you. And he didn’t answer me. He didn’t get the messages and I started calling him via video call, he didn’t answer me. Then I called him on his cell phone because one cell phone only worked on WhatsApp and the other cell phone shared the internet with that cell phone, so he always had two cell phones.
And we called the other cell phone and the other cell phone was off. In other words, it started playing and then they turned it off. And then he didn’t answer me again.
I went out, I had the police come in and at that moment I imagined that my husband was already going home and since there is an area on the route where there is no good signal, so I said: Oh, his signal is gone, he is on his way. I opened the door to Carabineros, they entered my home, they told me that they came with an order from the military prosecutor to carry out a search of my home.
-Did you allow this review?
Yes, I allowed it because I have nothing to hide. So, obviously I didn’t care. What I am looking for is for the facts and the truth to be clarified. I never had a denial for the Carabineros to enter my house. I signed the order, entered my house, they began to carry out the inspection.
They were afraid of my dog. I have several dogs, the others were in the kennels. And this dog was loose and they asked me, please, if I could lock her up. I told them that I couldn’t confine her because I had all the kennels occupied, so the dog had to be loose. And they asked me if I could confirm it while they searched the yard, all the places, the warehouse, the kennels, the pump room, everything. And while they were doing that, I was holding the dog outside.
My baby was sleeping inside and At that moment I feel my baby start to cry and I run to my house, I leave the dog loose, I run and my baby was under the bed, he had fallen.
My baby was left with a bump on his face and I told them “I’m not going to be away anymore, I need to be with my daughter.” I was alone with my two daughters. My other little girl slept in her bed and in the end I stayed with my daughter inside. They checked the inside of the house, outside, everything, everything, even the washing machine with dirty clothes.
-And what were they looking for?
– They were looking for a rifle, because among the people who were suspicious was my husband, according to them. That’s what they were looking for, a rifle, which they didn’t find. Suddenly the captain who was in charge of this inspection told the girl, no more, no more, we are leaving.
And I don’t know why I have a hunch. I don’t know if that’s the case, but I think at that moment they found out that my husband was already mortally wounded.
Carabinero who died in the Ercilla barracks was investigated for the theft of a rifle
— BioBioChile (@biobio) November 19, 2025
-Did they call him?
-They wrote him a WhatsApp, because he went out checking his phone. I don’t know if it was a WhatsApp, an email, I don’t know, but he came out checking his phone and told her: “No, that’s it,” they said goodbye and left.
I stayed with my baby and during that time I went to bed to continue waiting for my husband because I thought he was on his way. When a commander called me, whose name I don’t remember, and told me: “María José, I’m calling you because Robert had an accident, but is stable. He is in the Victoria hospital and if you can come as soon as possible.”
We arrived in Victoria and they didn’t let me see my husband because they were preparing him to put him in an ambulance to take him to Temuco. We came behind the ambulance, with an escort because we were coming very fast.
-Was the institutional helicopter never used?
-Helicopter was never, ever used, that is, those things that tell the truth that are clearly false because a helicopter was never used. My husband was transferred in an ambulance from Victoria to Temuco.
At the Regional Hospital they treated him and in about 20 minutes the doctors arrived at a room where they had us as family and informed us that Robert had two hours to live. That there was no chance of him still being alive and that they were going to prepare him so that we could be with him in his last moments. Well, I was with him the whole time, I touched his hand… and At 3:32 my husband passed away. I still can’t believe it.
“They are trying to justify a suicide”
-There is a version of the events stamped in an official document. Do you believe in that version?
-The truth is that I don’t believe it. Do you know why? Because we had many plans. I understand that people will say that we all have plans. But my husband didn’t have depression. No.
If he had wanted to kill himself, perhaps he would have killed himself at home any day. He didn’t have a problem like that. Now Carabineros told me, but maybe he had financial problems. I mean, who doesn’t have an economic problem? I owe money, everyone owes money, I don’t know who doesn’t owe money.
So, It was not a reason to kill yourself. They also asked me if he was being blackmailed by some woman, as if he almost had a lover or something. I told Carabineros that my husband didn’t have time to have a lover. My husband was from work to home, from home to work.
I find that it is trying to justify a suicide, And I’m sure it wasn’t like that. The next day when we left the funeral home, that is, the same morning on Sunday, we approached Pailahueque, the facility where my husband worked in the police unit.
I went to pick up the car. They didn’t want to give it to me because according to them the key was there, it wasn’t there, if they were there it wasn’t, and then they were in Temuco, which was going to take 1 hour and a half, knowing that I was in a hurry to be able to go to Los Angeles because I had to go see the issue of the park where my husband was going to be buried.
Like what They tried to delay the topic so that I wouldn’t wait and couldn’t take the vehicle. I understand that that same day, Sunday night, they carried out expert reports on the car, even though they had already carried out an expert report. On Sunday morning when we arrived in Pailahueque, The area where my husband is supposed to have committed suicide was not cordoned off, It was not, that is, it was not delimited as an area of the site of the event. There was one person working normally.
-Was there no protection at the site of the event?
-No. No, and that seemed very strange to me. The truth is that I didn’t take photos of it, today I think why I didn’t. But the truth is that I didn’t take a photo and all the family members who were there realized that.
Those things seem strange to me. Outside the scene of the incident, according to them, there is a camera. I asked for the cameras and they told me they couldn’t deliver them to me, that I had to request them through a lawyer, and the version maintains that my husband supposedly took the service weapon from the telephone operator and in that place they said that there are no cameras.
Outside that place is the camera and the other version is that the operator came out with his weapon, my husband snatched it from him and shot himself. That area should have been bloody, but there wasn’t. I believe that the corresponding procedures were not adopted. I am not a police officer and I do not know the protocols they have, but I believe that within a police unit no police officer should die.
“I think they charged his car.”
-What do you think happened?
-I think they charged my husband’s car. and when he realized that… the truth is that there were many people who hated my husband in his unit. There is a lot of envy among officers. There are many things that are covered, everything is covered.
Only a police officer attended the wake, and at this time I am not going to give more details because he told me that he was not going to work and that he had not been there those days. It’s like everything is super quiet, there’s a lot of cohesion to not talk about it, no one wants to give you information.
This official started crying. He said goodbye to me and told me “I am a corporal, a simple corporal, I am from the dog.” and my lieutenant was a very good person.”. It was totally different from all the other officers who treat us like the hole.
-And did he shed light on what could have happened?
-No, not really, because nobody wants to talk about anything. And there was also a commission that accompanied me at the funeral, but only one person came up to greet me and no one wants to provide information, nothing.
-What is your call to those officials who may have background information on what happened?
-Please be able to provide the real information. All I want is let the truth be clarified, I want to know the real facts, I don’t want them to try to say that it was suicide to justify it and to leave us on the street, because we as a family today are totally helpless.
-Because?
Because if he committed suicide, we would be left on the street, We do not have any protection, we are only going to receive perhaps some savings that he had and would be. When I say we are left on the street it is because you and your husband get used to dividing expenses. We have two daughters. I work too, but today we are alone.
-Are they not going to receive any type of help from Carabineros?
–Only the insurance that my husband had. There are many things that come to us as a family. It’s so hard to try not to cry right now. I have tried to be very strong, I think that my husband is giving me that strength today because I have to fight for my daughters.
-Did your husband have reasons to take his life?
-No… We even had a trip planned, today we would be in the south. Nothing, even that day he told me: “bye, love.” So, totally normal. In other words, I believe that when a person wants to commit suicide, there is something else. There is a different farewell. But that was totally normal.
-And he was driving the Mercedes vehicle that you have.
-Yes, yes.
-And there, supposedly, according to this version, the ammunition was found. What do you think about that situation?
-The truth is that I believe that my husband, knowing that they were going to review him, that is, they were going to investigate him for this to all those who cited him because it was not just my husband, because There were many more officers who were summoned for this issue.
Knowing that, do you think that someone in their right mind, knowing that they are going to be interviewed for that reason, is going to leave those ammunition in their vehicle? I mean, that doesn’t apply. Does not apply, does not apply. I really can’t believe it, I mean, I don’t believe that.
-With respect to the injuries he has, are those injuries compatible with what really happened or is there also an unclear situation?
-I think there is an unclear situation. Do you know why? Because when I went to the Legal Medical Service (SML) to see my husband, in the expert opinion they did I had like a seam about 3 inches from my ear. If I want to shoot myself to kill myself, I put the gun here or here, but I don’t do this (gestures).
-Were you summoned to testify by the military prosecutor?
-Not yet.
-Are you going to testify?
-Yes, I don’t have any problem because I don’t hide anything, I have nothing to hide, I am very willing to participate in any interview.
– This case is in the Military Prosecutor’s Office. Do you prefer that this case be investigated by the Public Ministry?
-That’s what we’re going to ask for.
-Are you going to ask for that?
-We as a family are going to do it. And as a wife I will be waiting for a response all the time, because there are many comments, but people don’t know my husband. He applied four times to be Carabinero. He worked too hard to get to the institution. and then lose his job due to the loss of a rifle. No, it wasn’t necessary.
-What do you expect from justice?
– That the facts be clarified and that they tell the truth, that the Carabineros stop covering things up, because my husband gave everything for the institution. He gave everything. And I feel like they left him aside, that they forgot about him. And the truth is that it is super hard for me to know that my daughter’s father is never going to return, because they are not going to return him to me.
I work in the red zone
-What did you think of your husband working in the so-called red zone?
– It scared me a lot. But he was happy in his job. He was happy with what he did. Many of your colleagues know this. And I feel like today they left him alone.
-And what opinion do you have about the conflict that exists there in the area in Collipulli, Ercilla?
-The police officers who work in the area are exposing his life every day. I hope that no woman loses her husband, no wife of police officers loses her husband. I think they also have to have pressures regarding their work. But I reiterate again, my husband did not kill himself.
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— BioBioChile (@biobio) November 18, 2025
-Did the institution at any time hint to you that your husband may be involved in something illegal?
-It is that clearly when they say That they found those ammunition in my husband’s car, it is clearly that they are accusing him of a crime.
-And you don’t believe that?
-I don’t believe that. I don’t believe it. I need to know the truth, see the cameras, see everything they are saying that appears in the report. I need you to show me the images, for me to see that it is really like that. So no, there really are no words to describe the damage they have done to my family, my daughters and me as a wife.
-How many people did they interrogate?
-That’s not clear to me.
-How many times did they check your house in Los Angeles?
-On Sunday after arriving from the park where he was buried, I remember they were waiting for me at the house to a new review which the military prosecutor had decreed to be done during daylight. Yes, it was done. Obviously I have nothing to hide. I reiterate, we as a family have nothing to hide and my husband even less so.
They went to my house, checked everything again. The exterior and the interior. And they found nothing. Yesterday a neighbor spoke to me and said: They were checking the land behind his house because they requested permission from a neighbor to the owner of the land behind my house. And they found nothing.
-Did your husband ever tell you if there was any problem in the area with his colleagues?
-They were things that were typical of always, what happens in that area. But nothing relevant to alert you. Nothing. But yes, at work with colleagues, there is a lot of envy, mistreatment, The police know that what I am talking about is true and it makes me very sad that they are not able to say things, why? Because they are going to lose their year of service, because they are going to be discharged, because they are going to be screwed.
Here this question is like this: Carabineros, if you can screw yourself, you will screw you, within the institution. I told the colonel when I spoke with him, I told him: I have nothing to lose, I am not part of the institution. So I’m going to go to the end. I’m going to know the truth.
My husband was a family man, he would never have left his daughters alone, especially not me, he always told me. Love, I will never leave you alone. Well, the truth is that I try not to cry because I feel that today I have to be strong for my daughters. This has been very hard for me and I still don’t believe it.
I still think that my husband is going to arrive at night. First of all, I want the truth to be known because my husband did not commit suicide. And the truth is that I believe that there was third party intervention.
