A seventeen-year-old girl was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, a case that shocked many in Uruguay yesterday Thursday, where 11 femicides are officially counted since the beginning of the year.

Valentina Cancela Sarmoria was found yesterday afternoon half-buried in the sand, on the beach of Punta del Este (southeast), a tourist destination.

Her ex-boyfriend was taken by the police to the scene of the crime where he confessed how he murdered her, showing no remorse. The young woman had been missing since the previous one.

The pair were caught on CCTV arriving at the beach on Tuesday afternoon. But the young man left alone.

Yesterday he was charged with aggravated manslaughter and remanded in custody.

The prosecutor leading the investigation into the case, Jorge Vaz, will ask for the heaviest sentence, which is ten years in prison for crimes of this nature when committed by minors, Javier Benez, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, told the press.

According to the autopsy findings, Valentina Cancela died of suffocation.

As of July 30, the interior ministry had registered 24,473 complaints of domestic violence and 11 femicides.

According to the director of the National Institute for Women, Monica Botero, this number is close to the annual average. Every year in the country are recorded by AD 25 femicides.

The young woman’s death was recorded a few days after that of a 23-year-old woman, who was kidnapped and murdered during a car accident caused by her ex-partner, a former police officer, 25 years old.

In 2017, Uruguay amended the penal code to designate femicide as an aggravating circumstance in homicide cases.