Abandoned lover accused of killing his ex 'cut off his thumb so he could unlock the phone'

Fernando Cronenbold allegedly killed his ex Patricia Rendon Rodriguez in Argentina, buried her in a shallow grave and then used his severed thumb to open his cellphone< /p > Patricia Rendon Rodriguez was found dead in Cartel, Argentina (

Image: @angelapatricia.rendonrodriguez/Newsflash)

A rejected lover accused of killing his ex in revenge cut off her thumb so he could unlock her cellphone to tell her friends she was fine, a court has heard.

Defendant Fernando Cronenbold was reportedly furious when his ex Patricia Rendon Rodriguez, 31, announced that she wanted to start a new life with another man.

Prosecutors in Cipolletti, Argentina say he killed her and buried her in a shallow grave.

He then used his severed right thumb to crack open his cell phone so friends and family would think she was still alive, they claim.

Cronenbold was arrested in his ex's car with bloodstained clothes as he tried to flee a police checkpoint.

But after first confessing to the murder, the spurned man then made a bizarre claim that Patricia was executed by drug dealers for a debt.

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Fernando Cronenbold was reportedly furious when his ex announced that she wanted to start a new life with another man (

Picture:

news flash)

He claimed he tried to pay off the traffickers, but they killed his ex and told him he and their six-year-old daughter would be next.

They then forced him, he claims, to bury his ex.

Prosecutors say, however, that even though Patricia's phone was sending messages after her death, it was in the same area as Cronenbold's phone.

The clothing store owner was last seen alive on June 28.

Her body was found in a shallow grave 60 km from her home in Catriel, Argentina, two days later.

Patricia, originally from Bolivia, was due to fly later that day to Buenos Aires to apply for a visa to travel to Rome in July.