Rafael PiornoThe pediatrician and member of the PP of the Almeria neighborhood of Aguadulce, belonging to Roquetas de Mar, who was murdered, had not responded for days. Piorno lived alone and his two children live outside the province. One of them called him every day and, receiving no response, he became alarmed.
Anxiously he called his father’s neighbors, who have the key to the property, and upon entering the house last Sunday morning They found Piorno’s body soaked in blood and tied up.He had received three fatal stab wounds.
The semi-detached house where Piorno lived is equipped with an alarm. Enrique Granados Street is residential, relatively quiet, but there is movement from the neighbors and a parallel street with several restaurants. No one heard anything. No screams, no noise, and of course no alarm.
The Civil Guard has taken charge of the investigation. Several of its members were out searching for evidence Monday morning and afternoon. No details have been released so far, other than the fact that it was a violent death.
But who would want to kill Piorno and why? Neighbors consulted by EL ESPAÑOL emphasize that it was a person “known in the city and outgoing.” At first, they thought it could be a natural death because Piorno was 76 years old. However, after knowing the details, the neighbors are afraidThey agreed to speak to this newspaper, but they did not want their names, or even the numbers of their properties, to be mentioned.
Piorno is Cuban and arrived in Spain several decades ago with his wife, also Cuban. They both shared a passion for medicine. He was a primary care physician and pediatrician at the Roquetas de Mar Health Center for many years.. “He was the pediatrician of most of the children in Aguadulce,” one of the neighbors still remembers with dismay. Another neighbor was precisely his patient in his childhood. “I remember him with great affection. It’s not fair,” he said, saddened by the situation.
The semi-detached house where Rafael Piorno lived and the one where he was murdered.
Being a pediatrician at the city health center already meant meeting a lot of people. But he was also active in political life. He has stood several times in the municipal elections of Roquetas de Mar for the PP. In the last elections of 2023, he was number 21 on the list. So it was something more testimonial than real in the sense that it was impossible for him to become a councilor. The PP won with an absolute majority with 15 councilors, almost tripling the number of votes of the PSOE, the second force in this city of Almeria.
Gabriel Amat is the mayor of Roquetas de Mar. He is one of the classics because he has just turned 80 and has been leading the government of this city for three decades. Neither the PP of Almeria nor the City Council of Roquetas de Mar wanted to make a statement. to the media until the Civil Guard investigation is completed.
He lived alone and the cottage was for sale
Piorno was a widow and had another partner, although this relationship eventually broke down and I lived aloneHe was already retired from the SAS, but he continued to provide pediatric consultations privately, at his home.
I had the chalet for sale and a large sign outside the house confirms it. Irene, one of her neighbors, says she wanted to sell the property to “buy a house in Alicante and go live with one of her children.” Irene’s husband is a nurse and worked with Piorno. In fact, they are the guilty that the pediatrician lived on Enrique Granados Street. “He liked the plans of the house we were going to buy and decided to buy another one on the same street,” he says.
More than 20 years have passed since then. Piorno was therefore a known neighbor. Furthermore, all the people interviewed by EL ESPAÑOL agree that it was extrovert, who liked to talk a lot, have conversations and finally that he was a very sociable person.
The neighbors need answers and that’s what the investigators are working on. All theories are on the table. There’s talk of a possible attempted robbery, that he showed the house to potential buyers and that they ended his life… Nobody knows what could have happened but two things are clear: that the neighborhood is afraid and that Piorno’s murder has caused consternation in the city Almeria, which is in the final phase of the high tourist season.
