On October 4, 1973, the following five detainees, who had been held at the Carabineros unit in Pilmaiquén, were killed:

Valentín CARDENAS ARRIAGADA, 29 years old, agricultural worker, union leader, and Communist Party militant;

Juan Segundo MANCILLA DELGADO, 40 years old, driver;

Alfredo Segundo PACHECO MOLINA, 24 years old, driver, leftist sympathizer;

Eduardo PACHECO MOLINA, 29 years old, agricultural worker, leftist sympathizer; and

Teobaldo José PAILLACHEO CATALAN, 57 years old, agricultural worker, Communist Party militant.

On October 3, 1973, around 07:00 hours, Carabineros from Pilmaiquén arrived at the home of brothers Alfredo Segundo and Eduardo Pacheco Molina in Mantilhue in a pickup truck belonging to the National Electricity Company (ENDESA), detaining both of them, along with their stepbrother Juan Mancilla Delgado, in the presence of their family.

Teobaldo Paillacheo Catalán, for his part, was arrested that same day at 10:00 hours at the Chiscaihue Settlement, also in front of witnesses, alongside another peasant.

All were taken to the Carabineros unit in Pilmaiquén and transferred to Entre Lagos, only to be returned to Pilmaiquén later. Around 21:30 hours, they were removed from the station, and nothing further was heard of them.

Based on the evidence gathered, it appears most likely that they were executed on the banks of the Pilmaiquén River. Their bodies were not found, with the exception of some of Mancilla’s clothing. In any case, death certificates were issued for some of them by order of the corresponding Military Prosecutor's Office.

The Commission is convinced that the execution and concealment of the bodies of the five individuals identified above involved the responsibility of State agents and constituted violations of the fundamental rights of the victims, based on the following:

– The existence of witnesses to the detention of all the victims and hearsay witnesses regarding the time the detainees were removed from the Carabineros unit in Pilmaiquén;

– The existence of death certificates that indicate Pilmaiquén as the place of death and October 9 as the date; and the circumstance that the registration was carried out "by order of the Military Prosecutor's Office dated November 22, 1973." As in other situations in the region, these certificates were issued without any record of the existence of the bodies, which is irregular;

– Regarding Mancilla, there is testimony indicating that remnants of his clothing were found in the river and were handed over to the carabineros themselves;

– An official from the Fourth Military Court, based in Valdivia, informed the relatives that the victims were dead because they had attempted to escape;

– Although information regarding these events was formally requested from the Fourth Military Court of Valdivia and the Carabineros of Chile, the Commission did not receive a satisfactory response.

– Regarding Cárdenas Arriagada, the corresponding civil court declared him presumptively dead.