Fuentes soon obtained a second piece of evidence that suggested Schaefer might be in Argentina: the names of three of Schaefer’s inner circle—Peter Schmidt, Renate Freitag, and Friedhelm Zeitner—appeared on a log of ferry departures from Argentina to Uruguay. With this second mention of Argentina, Fuentes was persuaded: it was time to take a look for herself. So in mid-January 2004, she approached Editor Rodríguez to propose a trip to Buenos Aires. Because the flight was inexpensive, Rodríguez said yes. With the log and a photo of Schmidt as her only clues, Fuentes and a cameraman traveled to Buenos Aires.

By analyzing the dates in the travel log, they determined that Schmidt and the others were traveling to Uruguay every three months, most likely to renew their tourist visas. Excited to find that their arrival in Argentina coincided with the date of the Schaefer associates’ next probable trip, Fuentes and her videographer staked out the ferry landing, surveying everyone boarding the ferry for 10 days. Schaefer and his entourage never appeared.

But using her time to keep researching, Fuentes discovered something else: a man named Peter Schmidt had purchased a truck in Buenos Aires, and to do so he had provided an address. This Peter Schmidt lived in a small town called Chivilcoy, in southern Argentina. Though there was no guarantee that this was the same Peter Schmidt they were looking for, this was another enticing lead. The trip was already getting expensive, but Fuentes had a feeling this was worth following. With permission from her supervisors back in Santiago, Fuentes and her cameraman went to Chivilcoy.

Fuentes