Jubany case: The prime suspect's DNA matches that on Helena's sweater, and he is being asked to testify again.
The Prosecutor's Office requests to reopen the case against a woman who had already been investigated.
Barcelona"A haplotype (genetic marker) genetic profile was found on the lower back of the sweater that matches that of Santiago Laiglesia." This is an excerpt from the National Police report, which indicates that there is DNA from one of the main suspects, Santi Laiglesia, on Helena Jubany's sweater. It is a greenish-brown garment. that the 27-year-old was wearing on December 2, 2002, the day she was thrown from the roof of a building in Sabadell and murdered. Twenty-two years later, an important step has been taken in solving the crime.
Using new forensic laboratory techniques, the National Police has been able to conclude that Laiglesia's DNA, who remains under investigation in the case and is the one the victim's family considers the prime suspect, appears on Jubany's sweater. In November of last year, the forensic police already indicated that Laiglesia's DNA was compatible with one of the samples collected, and now the new report, to which ARA has had access, has reaffirmed this. The first reactions have already arrived following the confirmation of this compelling evidence: the Prosecutor's Office has requested that Laiglesia be summoned to testify again so that he can explain himself in light of the new evidence. Benet Salellas, the Jubany family's lawyer, also spoke out: "After more than twenty years of tireless persistence by Helena Jubany's family, we have learned who the male DNA on her sweater belonged to. Now we can finally guarantee that we will have a trial," he stated.
But requesting Laiglesia's statement hasn't been the only move by the Prosecutor's Office, as the report submitted by the National Police opens a new line of investigation: the Public Prosecutor's Office has requested that the case be reopened for Ana Echaguibel, who was originally listed as under investigation, but the case was eventually closed for her. This move is also due to the traces detected on Jubany's sweater, as the forensic police have found other genetic samples that, so far, have not yielded any matches, although they have not been compared with Echaguibel's DNA.
More samples
The laboratory's provisional results have already ruled out the existence of DNA from the second suspect, Xavi Jiménez, who wrote some of the anonymous letters the girl received before her death, but they did detect the genetic profiles of two women. First, the Sabadell judge investigating the case asked the police to seek DNA samples from Montse Careta, the fourth (and last) person investigated for the murder. Careta committed suicide in 2002 in Wad-ras prison, but samples from her body were preserved. Now, however, the National Police report rules out the existence of Careta's DNA on the sweater.
This has led the Prosecutor's Office to request—as the private prosecution had already done—that Echaguibel be investigated and to attempt to obtain DNA samples from him, since the judge has so far refused to do so, and therefore it has not been possible to verify whether his genetic profile is on the sweater. It should be noted that the murder has been going on for more than twenty years, and the statute of limitations has expired, except for those previously investigated. According to legal sources, the Echaguibel case was closed on October 7, 2005, and will expire if it is not reopened before October 7 of that year.
The Jubany family has always considered Laiglesia to be the prime suspect in the murder. The suspect was Montse Careta's partner, whom the first judge in the case preemptively sent to prison, where she committed suicide. Careta lived in the apartment building from which someone threw the victim, and Laiglesia spent many nights with her. The three were part of the same group, the Sabadell Hiking Union, to which Jiménez and Echaguibel also belonged.
