Lincoyán Nery Cáceres Peña died that day at 13:45 hours, at the Copiapó Regional Hospital, due to traumatic brain injury, as certified by the Medical Death Certificate signed by the forensic pathologist.

According to the judicial proceedings initiated regarding his death, Lincoyán Cáceres was detained on May 4, 1989, by order of the Chañaral Criminal Court during an investigation into a common crime.

He was admitted to the city's Social Readaptation Center at approximately 12:05 hours, held incommunicado; and at 18:05 hours that same day, as recorded in the Gendarmerie Guard's Logbook, he was sent urgently to the Copiapó Local Hospital because he "appeared to be having an epileptic seizure." Three days later, he was transferred to the Copiapó Regional Hospital, where he passed away.

According to his medical records at this latter hospital, Lincoyán Cáceres was admitted "unconscious, immobile, and in a deep coma."

In the judicial investigation, both the forensic pathologist and the attending physicians agreed that Lincoyán Cáceres presented a severe traumatic brain injury with multiple cranial fractures, and that his injuries, caused by a blunt object, were attributable to third parties.

Other detainees who were in the incommunicado section of the prison testified during the proceedings that one hour after Lincoyán Cáceres's arrival, they heard blows and moans.

At the time this case was reviewed by the Superior Council, the judicial investigation was still pending, and a Gendarmerie official had been charged with the quasi-delict of homicide of Lincoyán Cáceres.

Considering the evidence gathered and the investigation conducted by this Corporation, the Superior Council reached the conviction that Lincoyán Nery Cáceres Peña died as a result of the blows inflicted upon him by State agents while he was deprived of his liberty. For this reason, it declared him a victim of human rights violations.