Wheelchair-bound ex-Argentina footballer is accused of killing his wife after she fell to her death from a seventh-floor balcony

Former Valencia and Boca Juniors star Fernando Caceres has been accused of being involved in the death of his former partner after she fell to her death from the seventh floor of their apartment in the Argentine city of Ramos Mejia, according to reports in Argentina. 

Raquel Candia, 45, is thought to have been alone in the house with the 54-year-old ex-defender, whom she had lived with for 11 months. 

Candia was found in the building’s inner courtyard having allegedly fallen from the apartment on its seventh floor, and residents were described via local media as having heard ‘screams’ in the hours leading up to her death. 

As per Canal 26, other neighbours are said to have seen Candia’s fall, and her death is now under the investigation of the La Matanza district Homicide Prosecutor Carlos Arribas, with support from the Scientific division of the Buenos Aires Police. 

Arribas was previously involved with Caceres when investigating the former player’s shooting in 2009. 

The ex-Celta Vigo star was left in a wheelchair with life-changing injuries after being shot in the head when he was caught up in an attempted robbery while driving his car in the Buenos Aires suburb of Ciudadela. 

Raquel Candia is thought to have falled from the seventh floor of the apartment in Ramos Meija

During his playing career, Caceres turned out for Celta Vigo (pictured) and a number of other Spanish and Argentine sides

On Monday, Caceres was found by the police in the apartment allegedly with blood and hair on his person, his home in disarray. 

As per Spanish outlet Marca, Caceres was not in his wheelchair and was sitting on the bed when met by the police. 

In the wake of the tragedy, the 54-year-old has been accused by a number of Candia’s relatives of playing a role in his partner’s death, with one of her brothers dubbing the crime ‘a femicide’ and Caceres ‘a bad person’. 

‘It was a rather aggressive relationship on his part,’ Candia’s sibling said, via Marca. ‘There are witnesses and neighbors here who told us that there was violence previously and that they approached the balcony and pushed her and she fell off the cliff… It’s a femicide… 

‘Fernando Cáceres always mistreated her, he’s a bad person. It’s inhumane.’

Candia’s cousin, who spoke to media at the scene of the accident, said she believed that her relative’s death was not an accident, and that the family were keen to put their faith in the police. 

‘It wasn’t her. We have to investigate what happened,’ she said, with another of Candia’s brothers, Miguel, making the point more strenuously, via La Nacion. 

‘There is someone to blame,’ he said. ‘My sister did not kill herself, my sister was killed.’ 

Another relative added: ‘It is clear that she was killed. She is not going to kill herself because she would never do something like that, to be clear. 

With the national team, Caceres took part in the 1994 World Cup (pictured right, with Diego Maradona far-left)

Candia’s mother Adela told the media in the wake of the tragedy that her daughter had been set to move out of the apartment

‘The police do not tell me anything. There must be a protocol, but they do not let me in to see her.’

Candia’s mother Adela also confirmed that the couple were due to split at the time of her daughter’s death, adding that although she ‘didn’t know much (…) she was moving away.’

Adela added that Candia had a difficult relationship with an unnamed former partner, the father of her three children.  

Arribas’ first public statement stressed that nothing was ruled out as the police began their investigation. 

‘We are not ruling out any hypothesis, it is very premature,’ Arribas shared. ‘We are working on the scene of the crime. We have nothing on a third person.’ 

Caceres began his career at Argentinos Juniors in the late 1980s, playing for his country’s standout sides including River Plate and Boca Juniors before making the move to Spain to join Valencia in 1996. 

The centre back featured for the side, as well as Celta Vigo, and Cordoba, before returning to home soil and finishing up his 21-year career at his boyhood side. 

Internationally, Caceres was part of the Argentina side which claimed the 1993 Copa America title, and travelled to the USA to take part in the 1994 World Cup.