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True crime cases in Peru

10case filesUpdated Jul 14, 2026

Casepin holds 10 case files in Peru. By legal status, 2 marked unsolved, 1 marked cold and 7 marked solved.

2unsolved 1cold 7solved

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Files: 10
Unsolved: 2
Cold: 1
Solved: 7
Span: 1879–2017

Map of the 10 case files in Peru, pinned by legal status — 10 files in PeruPins coloured by legal statusExplore live

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Credit: Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons infobox portraitPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListen
Santa Beatriz Hippodrome (now Campo de Marte), Santa Beatriz, Lima, Peru · 1933
Assassination of Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro
On April 30, 1933, Peruvian President Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro was fatally shot from behind while riding in his open-topped car at the Santa Beatriz Hippodrome in Lima. The gunman, APRA militant Abelardo Mendoza Leyva, was killed at the scene by presidential guards; a Republican Guard member was also killed in the attack.
Credit: MayimbúCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListen
Japanese Ambassador's Residence, San Isidro District · 1996
Japanese Embassy Hostage Crisis
On 17 December 1996, 14 Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) militants seized the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru, taking hundreds hostage; the 126-day siege ended on 22 April 1997 with a military raid that killed all 14 militants, one hostage, and two commandos, followed by years of investigations into alleged extrajudicial killings of surrendered rebels.
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Tarata Street, Miraflores, Lima, Peru · 1992
Tarata bombing
On July 16, 1992, Shining Path detonated a 400-kilogram car bomb on Tarata Street in Miraflores, Lima, killing 25 people and injuring over 150, in one of the deadliest attacks of Peru's internal conflict.
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Uchiza, Upper Huallaga Valley, Peru · 1989
Murder of Todd Smith
American journalist Todd Smith was killed in Peru's Upper Huallaga Valley in November 1989 while investigating ties between Shining Path guerrillas and cocaine traffickers, becoming the first foreign journalist killed in Peru's internal conflict.
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Royal Plaza shopping center, Independencia/San Martín de Porres border, Lima, Peru · 2017
2017 Lima shooting
A mass shooting beginning on February 17, 2017 at the Royal Plaza shopping center in northern Lima, Peru, killed six people during the attack, including the perpetrator, and injured nine others; a wounded municipal inspector later died of his injuries, raising the death toll to seven.
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San Isidro, Lima, Peru · 2009
Murder of Marco Antonio
Peruvian stylist and television host Marco Antonio Gallego Gonzáles was tortured and killed during a robbery at his San Isidro apartment in July 2009; three people were later convicted.
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Matsés territory, Requena province, Loreto Region, Peru · 1964
Matsés massacre
In October 1964, the Peruvian government under President Fernando Belaúnde ordered Air Force bombing raids against Matsés (Mayoruna) indigenous communities in the Loreto region, allegedly in response to an ambush of lumberjacks; the number of dead and injured remains unknown.
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El Polo Shopping Centre, near the U.S. Embassy, Lima, Peru · 2002
2002 Lima Bombing
A car bomb exploded outside a shopping centre near the U.S. embassy in Lima, Peru, three days before President George W. Bush's visit, killing nine people and injuring thirty-two.

About these files

Case files in Peru

The files run from 1879 to 2017. The 1990s hold the most, with 3 files. The oldest is Assassination of Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro, from 1933.

By type, the largest groups are murder and homicide cases (5), kidnapping and abduction cases (2) and robbery and burglary cases (2).

None of these files has creator coverage attached yet; each one can still be heard as a narrated case file.

Every file is written from cited sources and pinned where it happened, and every person named carries the legal status the record gives them. If you hold information about an unsolved case, contact the investigating agency named in its file rather than posting it publicly. Families and anyone involved can request a correction from any file.

This page updates from the published files, so counts and statuses change the day a record does. Open any file for its timeline, its sources and the coverage worth your time, or play it as a narrated case file.

Every file

Every case file in Peru

10 files

Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro — Credit: Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons infobox portraitPublic domainSource
SOLVED AudioAssassination of Luis Miguel Sánchez CerroSanta Beatriz Hippodrome (now Campo de Marte), Santa Beatriz, Lima, Peru · 1933
Calle Thomas Edison 210 (2) — Credit: MayimbúCC BY-SA 4.0 Source
SOLVED AudioJapanese Embassy Hostage CrisisJapanese Ambassador's Residence, San Isidro District · 1996
COLD AudioKilling of Fernando de Romaña Azalde and Julio Domínguez Barsallo (Caligula case)Kilometre 17, Cieneguilla–Huarochirí highway / Monterrico, La Molina · 1992
SOLVED AudioPutumayo genocidePutumayo River basin, Amazon region (Peru/Colombia border area) · 1879
SOLVED AudioTarata bombingTarata Street, Miraflores, Lima, Peru · 1992
SOLVED AudioMurder of Todd SmithUchiza, Upper Huallaga Valley, Peru · 1989
SOLVED Audio2017 Lima shootingRoyal Plaza shopping center, Independencia/San Martín de Porres border, Lima, Peru · 2017
SOLVED AudioMurder of Marco AntonioSan Isidro, Lima, Peru · 2009
UNSOLVED AudioMatsés massacreMatsés territory, Requena province, Loreto Region, Peru · 1964
UNSOLVED Audio2002 Lima BombingEl Polo Shopping Centre, near the U.S. Embassy, Lima, Peru · 2002