The judge orders a comparison of Santi Laiglesia's handwriting with the anonymous letters Helena Jubany received.

BarcelonaWith the main suspect in pretrial detention for just a week, the investigation into the 2001 murder of Helena Jubany has reached its final stages, and the prosecution is seeking to exhaust all options for gathering evidence before the case goes to trial. The judge in Sabadell presiding over the case has ordered, at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office, that the police conduct a handwriting analysis of Santi Laiglesia and compare it with the anonymous messages Jubany received before her death. Throughout the investigation, these anonymous messages have been the subject of expert and philological reports comparing the handwriting and language used with virtually all the individuals suspected of the crime. In fact, these tests had already linked the messages to the other person under investigation in the case, Xavier Jiménez. Until now, however, none of these tests had been carried out on Laiglesia, whom the family considers the prime suspect in Jubany's murder. Now, he will be transferred from prison to the courthouse so that handwriting experts from the National Police can take samples of his writing and conduct a comparative analysis. The investigating judge has also summoned four witnesses to court next Wednesday to repeat their statements. These four had already testified after the judicial investigation was reopened in July 2020 and before it was shelved again in March 2021. Since their testimonies were taken during this period of inactivity, the prosecution believes they could now be considered invalid and has asked the judge to order them to be repeated. Meanwhile, the Jubany family has asked the judge to summon two more witnesses to testify. These are the owner and an employee of the pharmacy where the benzodiazepines found in the victim's blood were allegedly purchased. These drugs, according to the investigating judge, left her in a "state of deep sleep or coma" before she was thrown from a rooftop. Their testimonies were scheduled for February 2021, but were never taken because the witnesses contracted coronavirus, and the case was subsequently closed.

"Pressuring" witnesses

Both the handwriting analysis and the statements of these six witnesses will be added to the evidence gathered over years of investigation. One key piece of evidence is the DNA evidence linking Laiglesia to the genetic material Jubany was carrying when she was murdered. The statements of witnesses from the victim's circle may also provide new clues or details not yet included in the case. In fact, one of the arguments the judge used to justify Laiglesia's imprisonment was that he could "pressure or influence" witnesses in the case to testify in his favor. All those investigated for the crime, as well as many witnesses in the case, were Jubany's colleagues in the Sabadell Hiking Club (UES), which this week decided to initiate proceedings to expel Laiglesia. The statute of limitations has expired for those who were never formally investigated, and the investigating judge believes that several people were involved in Jubany's death, but have been excluded from the case for various reasons.