Waldo César Alfaro Retamal died that day at 23:20 hours, at the Escuela de Artillería military facility, due to "acute anemia secondary to a complicated incised wound of the left thigh, suicide," as recorded in his Death Certificate.

The Autopsy Protocol specified that the wound severed the skin, the subcutaneous cellular tissue, and completely severed the femoral artery and vein vessels, which caused secondary massive hemorrhaging; it was of an incised nature, 7 cm long, and was located in the inguinal region, slightly below the crural arch, with a path parallel to the crural arch.

According to witness statements, Waldo Retamal, a militant of the Partido Socialista and a nurse at the Linares hospital, was arrested on July 6, 1974, by a military patrol at his home. He was accused of abandonment of duties and the clandestine maintenance of a medical arsenal. He was taken to the Escuela de Artillería to be interrogated. Three days later, he was released.

On July 10, 1974, he was arrested again by the military and taken to the regiment. On this occasion, according to eyewitnesses who heard his screams of pain, he was severely beaten and subjected to interrogations under torture.

The following day, he was found dead from blood loss inside the cell where he was being held incommunicado. According to the Autopsy Protocol, he had a handkerchief in his mouth that completely filled the oral cavity and was held tightly by his teeth; and over the wound, as recorded in the ocular inspection report of the Prosecutor's Office that investigated his death, "he had a cloth with which he surely tried to plug it."

The investigation contains no record of the discovery of the object or means that caused the wound and that, ultimately, caused the hemorrhage. Notwithstanding this, the Prosecutor's Office subsequently dismissed the investigation, considering that no crime had been sufficiently proven.

Considering the evidence gathered, the Superior Council of this Corporation reached the conviction that in the death of Waldo César Alfaro Retamal, whether it was by suicide or not, the torture and mistreatment to which he was subjected by State agents while he was deprived of his liberty had a decisive influence. Consequently, it declared him a victim of human rights violations.