Just Who Killed Maradona?

Published February 14th, 2021 - 12:03 GMT
 Maradona (right) underwent emergency brain surgery to remove a blood clot in November. (AFP)
Maradona (right) underwent emergency brain surgery to remove a blood clot in November. (AFP)
Highlights
A judge approved a request to access the soccer icon's two smartphones

Diego Maradona's mobile phones will be opened up this Friday so prosecutors probing his death can obtain his last messages.

A judge approved a request to access the soccer icon's two smartphones earlier this week.

Investigators trying to establish if Diego's death was a manslaughter caused by medical negligence confirmed today that work on the phone would begin on February 19.

The two iPhones seized from the bedroom where he died last November will remain under lock and key at a state prosecutors' office in San Isidro near Buenos Aires until then.

Sources close to the ongoing criminal probe said investigators would be seeking to discover if Diego had expressed concerns about his health and who he messaged and spoke to in the days before his death from heart failure at a rented home near the Argentinian capital.

Heart surgeon Leopoldo Luque, Diego's doctor, and his psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov were already under official investigation before the 'suspect' list grew to five at the start of the week.

The three additional people placed under formal investigation have been named as Carlos Diaz, a psychologist treating the former Barcelona and Naples star, and nurses Dahiana Madrid and Ricardo Almiron.

Sources close to the ongoing criminal probe said investigators would be seeking to discover if Diego had expressed concerns about his health and who he messaged and spoke to in the days before his death from heart failure at a rented home near the Argentinian capital.

Heart surgeon Leopoldo Luque, Diego's doctor, and his psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov were already under official investigation before the 'suspect' list grew to five at the start of the week.

The three additional people placed under formal investigation have been named as Carlos Diaz, a psychologist treating the former Barcelona and Naples star, and nurses Dahiana Madrid and Ricardo Almiron.

Luque told a business partner on WhatsApp after Diego collapsed before it was known he had died: 'The fat man's going to end up kicking the bucket.'

He is also said to have told Cosaschov when she confirmed efforts to revive Diego were failing as he drove to the scene: 'Let me know if they're annoyed with us.'

Luque has denied any wrongdoing despite criticism of his supervision of Maradona's care following his release from hospital after a brain blood clot op.

Local reports say the same software technology used to access data from the phones belonging to Luque and Cosachov, including decipher-encrypted and password protected information, will be employed to analyse Diego's two mobiles.

In a shocking last video of Maradona taken just days before he died, the Argentina icon slurs his words and admits: 'I'm bruised'.

The former Naples and Barcelona star, his head still bandaged after an operation on a brain blood clot, appears to struggle to find his words at times as he sends a message to his doctor from the kitchen of the rented home where he died.

Maradona admits: 'I'm bruised but okay. You know I don't like intimacies but when I'm with good people I come out of my den.'

Showing he still had a sense of humour despite his obvious discomfort, he signed off by joking his message was meant for a retired Argentinian footballer whose name is almost identical to that of his controversial medic Leopoldo Luque.

Speaking as he tucked into a bowl of soup alongside ex-girlfriend Veronica Ojeda, who was filming the selfie video, he said: 'A kiss Luque. Leopoldo Jacinto Luque.' to laughter from his ex sat beside him.

His cook Romina Milagros Rodriguez, who revealed at the weekend she was asked to give Maradona mouth-to-mouth after he suffered cardiac arrest, could be seen in the background.

The astonishing footage, published by Cronica TV, has been described in Argentina as the last footage of Maradona before he died on November 25 from heart failure.

This article has been adapted from its original source.


© Associated Newspapers Ltd.

You may also like

Subscribe

Sign up to our newsletter for exclusive updates and enhanced content