Zair Guette, 24, who rose to fame in Colombia after competing on the country’s version of X-Factor, was found with fatal gunshot wounds and with his hands and feet tied together
A singer and former “X Factor” star was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered after leaving a concert.
Locals stumbled on the body of Zair Guette in a remote area of Barranco Bajo, Colombia on February 14 and contacted the emergency services. The 24-year-old singer was found gagged, with his hands and feet bound. Forensic pathologists found multiple blows, injuries, and bullet wounds to his body, with his cause of death found to be a gunshot wound to the head.
The locals who found him also found his manager Teddy Vergara Álvarez seriously injured nearby. Vergara told how armed men had intercepted them as they left a concert. The men allegedly took them to a remote spot, beat them, and tortured them. Vergara believes he survived by playing dead. He was taken from the scene in Barranco Bajo to a hospital in nearby Ginebra, Colombia. He was later transferred to a larger facility in Buga.
Guette was from Barranquilla and boasted 175,000 followers on Instagram. He was encouraged to pursue a career in music by his grandfather after hearing him sing in the shower. He began his career in Mexico singing Mexican folk music and later toured Europe, including Italy and Spain.
He became famous in his native Colombia after participating in the reality shows “An Otro Nivel”, “El Factor X”, and “Yo Me Llamo”. He famously left the judges speechless in his audition on “El Factor X” – a spin-off of “The X Factor” – in 2021.
His sister Saray Guette said on social media: “They took you from us, and with you, they stole the happiness of an entire family. They’ve left us with an eternal sorrow in our hearts and music because I can proudly say you took regional Mexican music to great heights. You achieved so much, not even counting everything you still had planned.” The authorities are investigating the motive.