25 out, in the presence of the IACHR, that the tests and autopsy were not done according to international 134 standards. It also said that some measures were either not taken or not taken promptly. 111. Indeed, once they established that this was a murder case, the authorities should have preserved specific pieces of evidence in the event rape was suspected, as dictated by the United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary 135 Executions, particularly inasmuch as the body had what appeared to be bite marks and the underpants the victim was wearing were torn and bloodstained. The police reports also make reference to the fact 136 that the alleged victim “showed signs of having been tortured.” However, despite all this and as shown in the section on “established facts”, the authorities themselves determined during the course of the investigation that “unfortunately when the crime scene was processed at the time the body was removed, someone failed to ask that the autopsy include testing for [...] to establish whether [the victim] had been raped.” 112. As for the evidence collected, the IACHR observes that the clothing that María Isabel Véliz Franco was wearing and the towels found at the crime scene had been returned to her mother and were in her possession, before the necessary expert tests could be done, which meant that they would have been contaminated. This is an example of negligence in preserving evidence and problems in the chain of custody. Police authorities went to the funeral home to ask that the mother return these items of 137 evidence, which she did. 113. As shown in the section on “established facts”, hairs found on the articles of clothing and towels were analyzed and tested for the presence of blood and semen. Results were obtained, but there is nothing in the IACHR’s record of this case to indicate that those hairs were compared. According to the 138 State, those comparisons will be made once a suspect in the case is named. 114. Amnesty International has observed that in their investigations into murders of women in Guatemala, the authorities do not accurately document or consider all the elements of the crime, which reduces the chances of an investigation being thorough and impartial. Amnesty International has described the case of María Isabel Véliz Franco as emblematic of these problems and omissions in the investigations conducted into murders of women in that country. It wrote that “serious deficiencies in the protection of the crime scene, collection and preservation of evidence and failure to determine signs of sexual assault during autopsies means that crimes of sexual violence are frequently missed or 139 ignored.” It also observed that: The failure to systematically collect and preserve evidence crucial to a proper investigation into María Isabel Véliz Franco’s death illustrates the serious deficiencies which persist in the forensic examination services that have been frequently reported to Amnesty International during the course of its research into the killings of women in Guatemala. The forensic services’ failure to carry out a fluids analysis and preserve samples of specimens such as seminal fluid, blood, skin or hair 140 seriously reduced the possibility of identifying and prosecuting those responsible. 134 IACHR, Hearing Minutes No. 5, Case 12.578, María Isabel Véliz Franco, Guatemala, March 20, 2009. 135 The victim’s oral, vaginal and rectal fluids must be saved, as must all foreign and pubic hairs. United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, U.N. Doc. E/ST/CSDHA/.12 (1991), U.N. Doc. E/ST/CSDHA/.12 (1991), paragraphs 29-30. 136 Report of Prosecutor Cándido Francisco Asencio Bremer to the Judge of First Instance for Drug Trafficking Crimes and Crimes against the Environment, dated March 3, 2002. 137 Report 3321-2001-E.E.C.-G6, dated December 29, 2001, sent by Marleny Madgady López to the Public Prosecutor’s 138 The State’s communication of April 16, 2009. Office. 139 Amnesty International, Guatemala, No Protection, No Justice: Killings of Women in Guatemala, AI AMR 34/017/2005, June 9, 2005, pp. 8 and 9. 140 Amnesty International, Guatemala, No Protection, No Justice: Killings of Women in Guatemala, AI AMR 34/017/2005, June 9, 2005, p. 14. Amnesty International referred to the case of the disappearance and murder of María Isabel Véliz Franco in Continúa…