Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch became one of the most notorious figures in Argentine criminal history after a series of offenses committed between 1971 and early 1972. He was arrested on February 4, 1972, when he was only twenty years old, and has remained in prison for more than five decades.
Born in Buenos Aires Province in 1952, Robledo Puch operated mainly in the northern suburbs of Greater Buenos Aires. Investigations connected him to a series of robberies and killings committed alongside accomplices during a period of less than one year. His case attracted enormous public attention because of the number of offenses attributed to him and his young age at the time of his arrest.
In 1980, the Criminal Court of San Isidro sentenced Robledo Puch to life imprisonment, together with an additional indefinite imprisonment measure. The judgment found him responsible for eleven homicides and seventeen robberies, as well as other offenses. Contemporary and later Argentine reporting differs slightly in how the sexual offenses are summarized: judicial and press accounts have described one rape, an attempted rape and other related charges, rather than simply listing two completed rapes.
The sentence made Robledo Puch one of the most prominent convicted multiple murderers in Argentina. His case also became notable for the exceptional length of his imprisonment. In 2022, Argentine reports marked fifty years since his arrest, describing him as the longest-serving prisoner in the country’s penal system. Later reporting continued to identify him as the prisoner with the longest continuous incarceration in Argentina.
Robledo Puch has sought release on several occasions, but Argentine authorities and courts have repeatedly rejected requests for conditional freedom or alternative forms of detention. His continued imprisonment is therefore directly connected to the terms of his sentence and the legal requirements governing possible release.
His story returned to public attention in 2018 with the release of El Ángel, a feature film directed by Luis Ortega and starring Lorenzo Ferro as Robledo Puch. The film was inspired by the criminal case and by the research of Argentine journalist Rodolfo Palacios. It presented a dramatized interpretation rather than a documentary reconstruction of the events.
The case remains an important reference point in discussions of Argentina’s criminal justice history. Robledo Puch's name has been repeatedly cited by Argentine media as one of the country's most notorious convicted multiple murderers, while his extraordinary length of imprisonment has made his case unusual even within the country's history of long-term incarceration.
As of 2026, Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch remains imprisoned in Argentina. His more than five decades behind bars make his case one of the longest continuous periods of incarceration documented in the country's modern criminal history.
SOURCES
Agencia Noticias Argentinas — Robledo Puch reaches half a century in prison
Clarín — Carlos Robledo Puch: the “Angel of Death” and his legacy
LA NACION — 50 years since the arrest of the “Angel of Death”
LA NACION — El ángel, the film inspired by Robledo Puch
