A young singer who shot to fame after his appearance on The X Factor was kidnapped and killed while he was on his way to perform at a concert. The body of Zair Guette, 25, was found on Friday morning in a grassy field in the rural town of Ginebra, about 30 miles northeast of Cali, Colombia.
Guette had suffered a gunshot wound, his hands were bound, and he had been gagged. His manager, Teddy Guevara, 35, was also found dead nearby with multiple gunshot wounds and a zip tie around his neck. Authorities located Guevara alive and rushed him to a hospital, but he also died on Saturday morning.
Brutally Murdered
Before his death, Guevara, a father of two, told police that they had been ambushed by multiple assailants and taken to an unknown location, where they were repeatedly tortured. Originally from Barranquilla, Colombia, Guette launched his music career by performing songs from the legendary Mexican mariachi singer Vicente Fernández.
This paved the way for tours in Spain and Italy, but he built his strongest fan base in his native Colombia.
Guette competed on Colombia’s edition of The X Factor and also took part in the musical reality shows A Otro Nivel and Yo Me Llamo.
Reports suggest that his name was among 25 people listed as targets in a pamphlet circulated in Barranquilla several weeks ago by a criminal group seeking revenge for the 2023 massacre of Rafael Vega and his sons, Ray and Ronald Vega Daza—all members of the Vega Daza crime syndicate.
The pamphlet alleged that Guette’s music career was funded by Jorge ‘Castor’ Collazos, the leader of the rival gang Los Costeños, who had reportedly ordered the execution of the Vega Daza family.
Community Shocked after Gruesome Death
Singer Engell Melody shared on social media that Guette had received threats in Barranquilla. “He had already spoken to those people, they had left him alone,” he wrote.
A law enforcement source told the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo that Guette had an earlier contract to perform in Bogotá.
While in the capital, he received a phone call inviting him to perform in Cali. “The first versions would indicate that the singer did not receive any advance payment for that alleged contract,” the source told El Tiempo.
“An investigation is being carried out to determine whether that call was part of the plan to hill him,” the source added.
Investigators are working to track down the cellphones of Guette and Guevara, hoping they might contain crucial information that could help identify their killers.
