Following a disappearance on December 19, 2025, in Bogotá, Colombian prosecutors have charged two suspects with aggravated forced disappearance after a taxi driver vanished inside a local barbershop where blood and suspicious packages were later discovered.
What began as an invitation for a complimentary haircut on December 19, 2025, ended in a criminal investigation that has gripped investigators in Bogotá, according to details revealed on a legal podcast hosted by defense attorney Juan José Castro Muñoz. Jaiber Alexander Vega, who worked as a taxi driver and rideshare operator, left his home in the Bosa locality after telling his partner he needed to move his vehicle, according to an account provided by his niece Laura, an attorney specializing in procedural law.
Along the way, Vega encountered an acquaintance employed at a local barbershop. He went to that barbershop because Hernán told him: ‘Come on in, work is slow. I’ll give you the haircut for free.’ He went and, unfortunately, he never came back out, Laura recounted on the broadcast.
Security Footage and Forensic Evidence at the Bogotá Barbershop
When Vega failed to return home and the dog he had brought with him wandered back alone, his family launched an independent neighborhood search. Relatives reviewed security camera footage from the surrounding streets, which traced the missing driver entering the barbershop around 10:00 a.m. but never recorded him leaving.
The recordings introduced alarming visual evidence to the inquiry. Surveillance angles captured a fluid seeping outward from beneath the establishment’s front entrance shortly after Vega entered.
Minutes later you can see how a liquid, apparently blood, comes out from under the barbershop. Laura, niece of Jaiber Vega, via Semana
According to the family’s account, a woman attempted to mask the doorway by placing a planter outside before scrubbing the interior. Subsequent forensic analysis confirmed that blood recovered from the floor matched Vega’s profile. Investigators also noted that video equipment recorded individuals exiting the building during the early morning hours carrying large bags. They were taking out bags, changing clothes and coming back out to take out more bags, Laura stated.
Criminal Charges Filed Against Karen Dayana Díaz Rivera and Hernán Darío Caro
As the probe progressed, the office of the Attorney General arrested Karen Dayana Díaz Rivera and Hernán Darío Caro, who operated the barbershop where Vega was last seen. Prosecutors formally charged both suspects with aggravated forced disappearance.
Neither defendant entered a guilty plea during initial hearings, and both remain held in pretrial detention. Authorities executed more than 30 biological examinations inside the commercial property, with every test aligning with the genetic profile of the missing driver.
Unfounded Organ Trafficking Rumors Amid the Ongoing Search
The protracted absence of Vega’s remains generated widespread speculation within the neighborhood during the initial weeks of the investigation. Family members acknowledged that unverified theories circulated widely while authorities worked to secure the crime scene.
The rumors were that possibly it was organ trafficking. That scared us a lot because then we weren’t battling two criminal people, but perhaps against a complete organization. Laura, niece of Jaiber Vega, via Semana
Relatives later clarified that the organ-trafficking speculation arose spontaneously among panicked family members rather than from official investigative conclusions.
Unresolved Questions and the Search for Vega’s Remains
Despite the forensic matches inside the barbershop and the detention of two suspects, the investigation faces a central obstacle: the physical body of Jaiber Alexander Vega has not been recovered.
My grandmother is still waiting for answers. We haven’t found a single clue as to where he might be. That’s the idea with this process: to know what happened and why it happened, Laura said, underscoring that the family’s primary objective remains locating the missing driver and establishing a complete accounting of the events of December 19.