JThe deaths of two South American scientists – Camila Behrensen, 24, and Pablo Guzmán Palma, 25 – are being investigated for homicide after their bodies were found in a burning apartment in Kansas City, Missouri, the morning of October 1. , the Kansas City Star reports. Both Behrensen and Guzmán Palma were predoctoral researchers and graduate students at the nearby Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
“We are devastated by the tragic deaths of two of our predoctoral researchers,” the organization said in a statement. Tweeter. “These scholars were members of our class of 2020 and vibrant members of our Stowers Institute community. Our deepest condolences go out to their families at this difficult time and, most importantly, out of respect for both families, we want to honor and remember the joy, optimism and exceptional work that these two people embodied and of all they have accomplished.
Behrensenoriginally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, earned his bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from Universidad Argentina de la Empresa in 2020. His research focused on metabolism, using Drosophila as a model system. At Stowers, she was a member of molecular physiologist Kausik Si’s lab, and in her spare time was an avid middle-distance runner.
“Ms. Behrensen’s hope was to continue her studies and focus her research on how cells know who they are,” according to a statement Stowers shared with The scientist. “She dreamed of one day obtaining her postdoctoral degree and leading a research group by creating her own laboratory.”
As a child growing up in Chile, Guzman Palma originally wanted to be an astronomer, but instead made a career out of looking down at constellations of cells revealed by microscopy. According to his Stowers profile, he was “fascinated by the shapes and colors of plant cells, by the way microorganisms move under the lens”.
After earning graduate and post-graduate degrees in biochemistry at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he focused on spinal cord regeneration, Guzmán Palma joined the lab of developmental biologist Matt Gibson at Stowers . There, he began to probe the ways in which “cells interpret and integrate various types of cues and signals during development,” reads his profile.
Police were called to an apartment fire early in the morning of October 1, where firefighters had found two people – Guzmán Palma and Behrensen – “suffering from apparent trauma” unrelated to the fire, according to a statement to the Star by Kansas City Police Officer Donna Drake. The couple were pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
According to Star, detectives have since obtained a search warrant for an Alexa (Amazon’s virtual assistant) device found in the apartment as part of their homicide investigation. In a warrant application seen by the Stardetectives believe “the suspect spent a significant amount of time” at the site, and that “detectives further believe there may have been verbal communication between the two victims and the suspect during the commission of the homicides”.
The Associated press reports there is a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, and police have now asked residents living near the apartment to share video footage. Based on independent monitoring of data by the Starthe two deaths mark the 125th and 126th homicides in Kansas City this year.