The judge sends the main suspect in the murder of Helena Jubany to pretrial detention

The judge investigating the 2001 murder of Helena Jubany has remanded Santi Laiglesia in custody without bail. The victim's family considers him the prime suspect in the murder. DNA evidence obtained thanks to advances in scientific analysis over the last two decades links Laiglesia to genetic material found on the sweater Jubany was wearing when she was killed. This evidence has been key in strengthening suspicions against him, placing him at the scene of the crime. The investigating judge now maintains that there is "clearly incriminating" evidence against him and that he could flee if released, as well as "pressure or influence" witnesses who will have to testify soon. This Friday's decision paves the way for a trial more than two decades after the murder. A move that, for the Jubany family, represents a "historic turning point" in the case, after having succeeded in 2021 in reopening an investigation that had been shelved in 2005. Helena Jubany's siblings and father waited all morning outside the Sabadell courthouse until they received the news of her imprisonment. The family's lawyer, Benet Salellas, celebrated that "it marks the beginning of breaking the cycle of impunity." Helena Jubany was murdered on December 2, 2001, and her body was thrown from the rooftop into the inner courtyard of a building while she was in a "deep sleep or coma" after ingesting toxic substances, after being undressed and burned. Ending "the imposed code of silence"

The investigating magistrate of Court Number 2 in Sabadell had summoned the main suspect in the case to testify this Friday following the results of DNA tests that point to him. Laiglesia was summoned for 9:30 a.m. and arrived accompanied by his lawyers. Family and friends of Montse Careta, his partner at the time of the crime, were waiting for him at the courthouse entrance. Careta committed suicide in 2002 while in pretrial detention under investigation for the murder. Laiglesia, a lawyer by profession, chose to exercise his right to remain silent and did not answer any questions. Neither from his defense, nor from the prosecution, nor from the investigating magistrate. He also offered no "reasonable explanation," the judge stated in her ruling, as to why traces of his DNA were found on Jubany's clothing. After the hearing, both the Public Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution representing the family of the murdered librarian requested that the investigating magistrate remand him in custody. "The lack of explanation only serves to incriminate," Salellas stated, while awaiting the magistrate's ruling. Salellas also said they want to end the "code of silence" imposed on those close to the suspects. All those investigated for the crime were Jubany's colleagues in the Sabadell Hiking Club (UES), as were many witnesses in the case. The statute of limitations has expired for those who were never formally investigated. The investigating judge believes that several people were involved in Jubany's death, but they have been excluded from the case for various reasons. Therefore, she believes that if Laiglesia remains free during the final phase of the investigation and the trial preparations, he could use this to "pressure or influence" these witnesses to testify in his favor. This Friday, Laiglesia was transferred to Brians 1 prison in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, where he was admitted before 6:00 p.m.

The evidence against Careta implicates him "partially"

In the ruling justifying the decision to send Laiglesia to prison, the judge details all the evidence gathered against him throughout the investigation and states that she has sufficient grounds to consider him responsible for the crime. In addition to the DNA evidence, the investigating judge believes there is evidence in the case relating to Montse Careta, Laiglesia's partner at the time, which is "partially applicable" to him. Careta lived in the building where Jubany's body was found, and the suspect spent many nights there. The ruling that sends Laiglesia to prison points out that Careta could not have carried Jubany's body up to the roof alone, and notes that the couple contradicted themselves when explaining where they were, what they did, and where they slept on the day of the crime. The judge added to her reasons the possibility that Laiglesia intervened in the anonymous messages Jubany received before she was killed, one of them accompanied by a juice containing benzodiazepines, the same substance detected in the victim's blood. Expert evidence had already linked the messages to the other person under investigation in the case, Xavier Jiménez, who is currently free on bail and testified before the judge in 2022. Salellas explained that once the investigation is complete, before the case goes to trial, the prosecution will have the option to challenge the judge's impartiality. However, the case against the third person under investigation, Ana Echaguibel, was dismissed this week after it was determined that the traces of female DNA found on Jubany's clothing did not belong to her. Before the investigation concludes, both the defense and prosecution have the option to request that the judge carry out further investigative steps to secure evidence for the trial, which must be held before a jury.