A forensic expert, three police officers and a music producer have been jailed for covering up the 2015 murder of Venezuelan rapper Cancerbero.
Cancerbero, who was named the best Spanish-language rapper by Rolling Stone magazine, was drugged and stabbed to death by his manager Natalia Amstica.
Amestica and her brother then threw his body from a tenth floor window.
The five people sentenced Tuesday were convicted of helping the siblings stage the crime scene, so Cancerbero's killing appeared to be a suicide.
They were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 20 years.
Natalia Amestica and her brother Guillermo were sentenced to 25 years in prison last February for murder.
The death of Cancerbero, whose real name was Tyrone Gonzalez, on January 19, 2015, shocked the Venezuelan rap scene.
It was ruled at the time that the 26-year-old star killed his friend Carlos Molnar in a knife fight before jumping out of a window.
But in December 2023, Natalia Amestyka admitted to the stabbing Both Molnar and Cancerbero.
In a video statement released by the Venezuelan prosecutor last year, she recounted what happened that night.
Natalia Amestica claims she was angry with the rapper after learning that Cancerbero no longer wanted her as his manager.
She described how Cancerbero came to her apartment in the Venezuelan city of Maracay on January 19, 2015.
He was accompanied by his friend Carlos Molnar, who was also Natalia Amestica's long-time boyfriend.
“She had the opportunity to make tea for them,” she explained in the video, adding that she added a powerful sedative to their drink.
When her drugged accomplice, Carlos Molnar, entered the kitchen, she stabbed him in the neck, back and arm.
Cancerbero witnessed Amestica attack her boyfriend, but under the influence of the drugs Amestica planted on him, he collapsed on the couch.
Améstica then proceeded to stab him twice.
“In desperation, I then called my brother Guillermo to help me resolve the situation,” she said in her video confession.
Her brother arrived with the three officers from Venezuela's intelligence agency, Sebin, who have now been sentenced.
“They ended up arranging the scene in a way that made it look like a murder-suicide,” says Natalia Amestika.
She said that the officers “stabbed Carlos (Molnar) several times, and my brother Guillermo stabbed him four times. The rest were stabbed by Sebin officials.”
She said in her confession: “Then we were told how to throw him out the window to complete the murder-suicide scene.”
Her brother Guillermo said that a forensic investigator who arrived at the scene suspected him, noting that he appeared to have been “manipulated.”
According to Guillermo Améstica, the forensic expert demanded a bribe of $10,000 (£7,880) in exchange for helping the siblings cover up the crime and to make it look like Cancerbero had attacked Molnar before jumping out of the window.
The fifth man sentenced Tuesday was Marcos Pratolongo, a music manager who provided security at some Cancerbero concerts.
At the time of his arrest, the Venezuelan prosecutor said Pratolungo was in possession of the keys to Cancerbero's apartment, from which important evidence had disappeared.
The prosecutor posted on social media on Tuesday that Pratolongo was convicted of complicity in Cancerpero's murder but did not provide further details about his role in the crime.
