The murder of a man who disappeared in Reus twenty years ago has been solved.
The Mossos d'Esquadra and the National Police arrest a woman and identify a man, who died in 2022, as the alleged perpetrators of the crime.
BarcelonaInvestigators from the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) and the National Police have solved a crime twenty years later, with just three months left before the statute of limitations expired. This is the violent death of a man who disappeared in Reus (Baix Camp) on September 6, 2004. A woman has been arrested and another man, who died of natural causes in 2022, has been identified as the alleged perpetrator.
The investigation began in September 2004, when a woman reported her brother missing. The perpetrators allegedly faked a voluntary departure by making his usual vehicle disappear and making people believe—through false calls—that he was in France. It wasn't until 2021 that the body of a man was found buried, tied up, and covered with a blanket and a tarp in a rural area of Riudecols. Three years later, thanks to a comparison with the genetic profile of the victim's daughter, it was confirmed that he was the missing man.
The key turn in the investigation, however, came on February 20, when the man's sister went to a Mossos d'Esquadra police station to explain that an acquaintance of her brother had revealed the names of the people who had killed him to a relative, which he promised. With the information and evidence gathered, and in coordination with the National Police, the case was solved.
Investigators have concluded that the victim's ex-partner, along with his new partner, tricked him into taking him to an isolated farmhouse with the aim of murdering him with a knife. The objective was to take over the fire extinguisher company he ran. After the murder, they wrapped the body in bedclothes and took it to a nearby wooded area, where they buried it.
The property where the alleged perpetrators lived at the time was located just 700 meters from where the body was found. Upon examination, injuries to the humerus and two ribs were consistent with a knife wound, which matched the cuts in the clothing. The investigation has finally determined how the death occurred and identified the alleged perpetrators. The woman was arrested, brought before a court, and remanded in custody.