A request admitted, but not yet ordered
More than two years after Loan Danilo Peña vanished, the federal court in Goya is examining fresh search measures at two lagoons in 9 de Julio, Corrientes, which had already been combed earlier in the investigation. Federal judge Cristina Pozzer Penzo told Infobae that she granted a request from the family's legal representatives to assess new steps at those bodies of water, while stressing that drainage has not been ordered and that specialists must first give their opinion. The magistrate said the investigation and the requests from the querella continue, and that it is now up to the technical experts to weigh in.[S1]
The request targets lagoons identified as number 1 and number 4, according to lawyer María Belén Russo Cornara, who represents Loan's family. In remarks to the outlet NG Federal, reported by the Corrientes publication El Litoral, she said the petition asked the Federal Court of Goya and judge Pozzer Penzo specifically to drain those two lagoons. She noted that the areas had already been inspected, but that the water had never been emptied, and explained that combing had taken place while drainage did not go ahead for various reasons.[S1]
The measure has not been granted definitively. Russo Cornara said the request was admitted only in part and that it must still be determined whether the proposed steps can actually be carried out. She explained that the matter was sent to the Comando Unificado Corrientes so that it can assess viability, with the aim of ruling out that any element linked to Loan remains in those places.[S1]
Carrying out a drainage would not be simple. According to El Litoral, the operation could cause hydraulic and ecological effects, one of the reasons it was not carried out during the more than two years of investigation. For the querella, moving on those areas would complete measures left pending during the first operations. Russo Cornara said all avenues that could indicate what happened to Loan and where he is need to be exhausted.[S1]
Sediments, environmental DNA and artificial intelligence
Among the alternatives under consideration is environmental DNA, tied to the analysis of water and sediments in the lagoons. Russo Cornara said this tool makes it possible to look for biological material that can persist in the environment over time, both in water and in sediment. Her account matches what Pozzer Penzo told Infobae, who said the aim is to work on sediment from the lagoon beds.[S1]
The court's step does not amount to a direct drainage order but a prior stage of consultation with specialists and institutions including the Instituto Correntino del Agua y el Ambiente and the Comando Unificado Corrientes, according to C5N. Authorities must weigh both ecological impact and hydraulic risk, since emptying the lagoons could affect or flood neighbouring fields, particularly amid rising rivers and streams in the province. The Comando Unificado Corrientes has 30 days to rule on the feasibility of the task and of other complementary techniques.[S2]
Among the procedures being studied for lagoons 1 and 4 are magnetometric surveys, extraction of sediment from the bed and the use of environmental DNA, a technique aimed at detecting biological material that persists in water. Judicial sources say the goal is not only to search for remains but to widen the examined area in order to discard hypotheses and try to find objects of interest to the case, such as clothing or the boy's boot, which has not yet appeared. The court also approved moving ahead with a geospatial expert analysis assisted by artificial intelligence tools to compare images taken since 1 June 2024 and detect possible alterations to the surface of the terrain.[S2]
Parallel proceedings and pending disputes
Alongside these measures, the main judicial process continues at the Tribunal Oral Federal de Corrientes, where seven defendants are being tried over the alleged offence of taking and hiding the 5-year-old boy, in addition to a file involving ten other people over the manipulation of testimony and obstruction. Judge Pozzer Penzo also rejected a request from the defence teams for a new reconstruction of the events, considering that it required the participation of adults and minors without contributing new elements.[S2]
The prosecution has appealed the dismissal of eight defendants in the branch of the case that investigated a possible human-trafficking purpose, while Loan's family keeps up its demand for justice and its insistence that the accused break what it calls a pact of silence. The investigation into what happened to Loan and where he is remains open. Loan was 5 years old when he was last seen on 13 June 2024, after taking part in a family lunch in the Algarrobal area of the Corrientes locality of 9 de Julio.[S1][S2]
