Police launch manhunt in Venezuela and investigate dual killings in Ecuador

Authorities in Sucre, Venezuela, are conducting an intensive search for José Tomás Reyes, known as ‘El Zapatero’, following the murder of his partner, Yolanda María Planes Núñez. The 55-year-old victim, a municipal worker, died from fatal head injuries sustained on September 29 in Marigüitar. Preliminary reports suggest Reyes may have been under the influence of narcotics at the time of the attack. Security forces, led by the CICPC, are monitoring border areas near Anzoátegui state, where the suspect has family ties.

In Quito, Ecuador, police are investigating a potential connection between two separate homicides involving a grey Duster vehicle. The first incident occurred on September 27 in Conocoto, where an unidentified man was shot multiple times. Two days later, on September 29, taxi driver Roberto Carlos Ruiz Landeta was killed in the Carcelén district. Surveillance footage from the taxi driver's murder shows suspects fleeing in a vehicle matching the description of the one used in the Conocoto shooting.