Three women killed in machete attack in La Macarena, Meta, Colombia.

NEWS:

Three women from the same family were killed in a machete attack in a rural area of La Macarena, in Colombia’s Meta department, during the early hours of Thursday, April 16, 2026, according to authorities.

The victims were a mother and her two adult daughters. Authorities identified the crime scene in the Alto Morichal area, a rural sector of La Macarena located about two hours from the municipal center. Police reported that the three women were found dead with multiple wounds after residents alerted authorities to violence linked to a reported confrontation after a gathering.

The attack was initially described by authorities as a triple femicide involving bladed weapons. Early police information and later reports referred to a machete, a knife and an ax as weapons connected to the killings. During the inspection at the scene, authorities also reported the seizure of an edged weapon and an improvised firearm as evidence.

Video linked to the case shows the three women on the ground after the attack. The images confirm the violent aftermath inside the rural setting, but they do not, by themselves, establish motive or prove which person carried out the killings.

Police initially focused on the former partner of one of the victims after accounts from the area pointed to jealousy and a reported dispute. A local community leader said neighbors had described the crime as connected to jealousy and claimed the attacker returned to the home around 1 a.m. with a machete. That account remains a witness-based version, not a final judicial conclusion.

The case changed after investigators began examining the role of José Tiberio Muñoz Leiton, 31, who was first treated as a survivor or witness. He arrived at the municipal hospital in La Macarena with serious knife wounds and was later transferred first to Villavicencio and then to Bogotá because of injuries to his face and other parts of his body.

Authorities reported that Muñoz Leiton had items belonging to the victims when he arrived for medical attention. The items described in the investigation include cellphones, identity documents, a shotgun and a knife with blood on it. Investigators also noted contradictions in his account, which placed him under suspicion in the triple killing.

Police also said Muñoz Leiton had an active arrest warrant tied to a 2019 homicide case. According to the account attributed to authorities, that earlier case also involved a bladed weapon and a man connected to a former partner of the woman Muñoz Leiton was reportedly with at the time.

Muñoz Leiton’s version, as reported in the investigation, was that he had been traveling by motorcycle with one of the victims after a meal at a neighbor’s property when they were intercepted by the woman’s former partner, identified in reports as Enilson Toledo. Muñoz Leiton claimed Toledo attacked them with a machete and that he escaped on the motorcycle despite serious wounds before reaching a nearby farm and then the hospital.

That version is now one of the central points under review. Investigators are examining why Muñoz Leiton had belongings from the victims and why his account allegedly contained inconsistencies. Authorities are also reviewing whether the crime should be treated as femicide, aggravated multiple homicide or an attempted robbery connected to money one of the women may have received through a virtual transfer.

Enilson Toledo, the former partner initially mentioned in the case, later presented himself voluntarily to authorities with members of the local community board and denied involvement. He said he learned about the killings after arriving at the home. As of the latest available information reviewed, he had not been publicly confirmed as formally charged in the case.

The departmental government said there were no active prior complaints or protection measures related to possible gender-based violence involving the victims. After the killings, officials activated institutional support for the victims’ relatives, including legal and psychosocial assistance, and announced a security council with a gender focus.

The case remains defined by confirmed killings, seized weapons, conflicting accounts and a major shift in suspicion. The women were killed in a rural home in La Macarena. The first version pointed toward a former partner and a jealousy motive. The later investigative turn placed the wounded man who arrived at the hospital, José Tiberio Muñoz Leiton, under scrutiny because of the victims’ belongings, the weapons reported in his possession and inconsistencies detected by investigators.

News story written by DarkGore.

For more on this case:

If you want to know more about this case, just visit the following URL: https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/terror-en-meta-hombre-habria-asesinado-a-su-expareja-su-suegra-y-su-cunada-con-un-machete/202620/