Where Are Fernando Báez Sosa’s Killers Now? Inside Their Lives 5 Years After Beating Him to Death in Less Than a Minute

NEED TO KNOW

• Eighteen-year-old Fernando Báez Sosa was beaten to death outside a club in January 2023

• The perpetrators, a large group of rugby players, singled him out, and one called him a racist slur during the fatal attack

• Now, eight members of the group are in prison

Fernando Báez Sosa was an 18-year-old law student who was brutally beaten to death by a mob of eight rugby players.

He was a law student from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who was traveling with friends to Villa Gesell in January 2020 when they decided to spend a night out at the Le Brique nightclub, La Nacion reported at the time. At the club, he and his friends got into an argument with a group of young rugby players from Zárate, Buenos Aires.

Although the group from Zárate was forced to leave, Fernando and his friends also decided to exit the club, the Sistema Argentino de Información Juridica wrote in their report. Some of the men from the other group then started attacking Fernando and his friends.

The beating lasted less than a minute, but Fernando was left unconscious from trauma to his head. Nearby officers attempted to resuscitate him and transported him to a local hospital, but they were unable to save him.

Shortly after his death, local police arrested 11 suspects, but eight people were eventually charged in connection with Fernando’s death. By 2023, all eight men were found guilty of varying charges, with five being labeled “co-perpetrators” and three as “secondary participants,” Clarín reported at the time.

The case, which has since been called the crime of Villa Gesell, is told in the Netflix docuseries, 50 Seconds: The Fernando Báez Sosa Case. The show, which premiered on Nov. 13, includes interviews with Fernando’s family, investigators and the killers’ families and friends.

Here’s everything to know about what happened to Fernando Báez Sosa and where his eight killers are now.

Who was Fernando Báez Sosa?

Fernando, who was born in 2001, was the only son of Paraguayan immigrants, Graciela Sosa and Silvino Báez.

The family of three lived together in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires, where he attended a local high school on a scholarship, according to Clarín. Fernando excelled at both school and sports and played soccer and volleyball.

After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires to pursue a law degree. Fernando and his girlfriend, Julieta Rossi, whom he met in high school, passed the Common Basic Cycle and planned on continuing their education together, as her mom told Infobae in January 2020.

What happened to Fernando Báez Sosa?

Fernando, Julieta and his friends were on vacation in Villa Gesell, a tourist destination on the coast of Argentina, in January 2020. After arriving on Jan. 16, the group of friends planned to spend a few hours at Le Brique nightclub on Saturday, Jan. 18, the Sistema Argentino de Información Juridica wrote.

They arrived at the club around 1:30 a.m. and stayed for a few hours. Around 4:30 a.m., one of Fernando’s friends bumped into one of the young men in the rugby group. The two groups got into a verbal altercation, which caused the rugby players to get kicked out, while Fernando and some of his friends willingly left.

Since a few of Fernando’s friends were still inside the club, they decided to get food nearby and wait for them. However, around 4:45 a.m., two of the rugby players — Enzo Comelli and Ciro Pertossi — found Fernando and his friends.

Out of the 11 men in the group, eight reportedly started specifically beating Fernando. While some of them continued attacking Fernando, the rest of them blocked his friends from helping him and stopping them. The attack lasted between 45 and 50 seconds.

“They were a beating machine, they didn’t care about anything,” an eyewitness told local television channel Todo Noticias, according to the BBC.

The attack was recorded by several people — including one of the suspects — and quickly circulated on social media. According to the footage, Máximo Pablo Thomsen told Fernando to “stand up and fight,” while another attacker, Matías Franco Benicelli, called their victim a racist slur.

Prosecutors later alleged that five of the eight rugby players “approached Fernando Báez from behind, taking advantage of the fact that he had his back turned and was defenceless, and … by virtue of their numerical and physical superiority, they surrounded him, rushed at him and began to strike him with their fists to his face and body,” per the Buenos Aires Times.

What was Fernando Báez Sosa’s cause of death?

After Fernando was attacked, local officers arrived at the scene and attempted CPR, according to the Buenos Aires Times. He was transported to a hospital in Alta Gracia, but he had already died from his injuries.

Fernando was later determined to have died from head trauma and internal injuries he received during the fight.

“They kicked him several times on the ground on his face and head, causing him internal and external bodily injuries, which caused his death almost immediately, by causing a cardiac arrest due to neurogenic shock caused by severe head trauma,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment, per the Buenos Aires Times.

How did investigators catch Fernando Báez Sosa’s killers?

It didn’t take long for local authorities to detain all 11 members of the rugby group, largely because of videos they obtained from both the attackers and eyewitnesses. After a year of investigating the crimes, prosecutors charged eight people in connection with Fernando’s death.

The group went to trial in January 2023 on charges of aggravated homicide, with five of them — Máximo Thomsen, Ciro Pertossi, Luciano Pertossi, Matías Benicelli and Enzo Comelli — as “co-perpetrators” and three of them — Lucas Pertossi, Blas Cinalli and Ayrton Viollaz — as “secondary participants,” The Guardian reported at the time.

All eight men were found guilty in February 2023. The five “co-perpetrators” received life in prison, while the three “secondary participants” were sentenced to 15 years.

There were three additional members of the group — Juan Pedro Guarino, Alejo Milanesi and Tomás Collazo — who were also suspected in the attack but were never charged due to lack of evidence.

Where are Fernando Báez Sosa’s killers now?

As of November 2025, all eight of the rugby players convicted in the killing of Fernando are serving their various sentences in prisons across Argentina. Shortly after the 2023 sentencing, Fernando’s family’s attorney, Fernando Burlando, expressed his discontent that only five of the eight received life sentences.

“Eight convictions, I believe this is just the beginning, the first step towards a response that truly touches Fernando’s heart. We understand, and always understood, that it was a contemplative justice,” Burlando said at the time, according to Clarín. “Nobody showed Fernando any leniency, but the gang received leniency that they didn’t. There was irrational mercy shown to three defendants.”

Meanwhile, both of Fernando’s parents have shared their grief and anger in various interviews — including in the Netflix docuseries 50 Seconds: The Fernando Báez Sosa Case.

“Fernando is the only victim here,” his mother, Graciela, told reporters in 2023, per The Guardian. “They killed him in the worst way possible, kicking him, while he was begging for them to stop.”

One year after the crime, his father, Silvino, wrote on social media that his “son was beaten for racist reasons,” per The Guardian. “It was hate. Maybe they felt superior because they’re blond and Fernando had dark skin.”

Read the original article on People