It was only a few minutes before midnight, when the Urban guard received a notice. It was August 24, 2019. Several neighbors had been living with a man for several days. strong stench coming from one floor of his building6º 2ª rue Mosen Amadeu Ollé, 34, in Barcelona. The agents tried to access the property but no one opened it, so through the coordination room they alerted the son of the octogenarian couple who lived in the house. When he arrived, he opened the door with a copy of the keys and the police made him wait on the landing while they inspected the apartment. There was no light because the wires had blown, so they guided their steps with a flashlight and in the living room they located the lifeless body of marriage, Manual and Foot. His body, in an armchair, with around ten stab wounds. His, on the ground, with 14 other stab wounds. “Experience allows us to deduce that there is some sort of connection between the perpetrator and the victimsby the number of stab wounds. It doesn’t take 14 to kill someone,” said Corporal Bosch, Mossos Homicide Group who investigated the crime.
He did so in response to questions from the prosecutor, during the third session of the trial of accused of killing the coupleMarcos F., seller of health products, already convicted for scamwho had met them a few months before, when he had managed to close several sales. He now faces two requests for permanent prison reviewable by two murders with teaching and betrayal But until he is placed in the dock, the Catalan police have opened several lines of investigation. The day after the bodies were discovered, officers returned to the apartment to continue the visual inspection. “Daylight was needed to search for objects, materials, footprints, take photos and obtain as much information as possible to begin work,” the researcher said.
THE crime scene It was a family home, where the octogenarian couple lived. The apartment was very tidy, as was the dining room, where their bodies were located. But one detail caught the attention of researchers: On the table were two bank documents which consisted of a series of movements and also the Manuel’s portfolio. The house phone had 44 missed calls. Then they would verify that as of August 15, no one would use it.
The first hypothesis ruled out is that of domestic violence, that of homicide-suicide. “The weapon was not found there. [ninguno de los cuchillos del piso era compatible con las lesiones]“It is impossible for this to happen,” said the corporal when questioned by prosecutor Félix Martín. Concerning a possible theft, in the room at the end of the corridor, agents located a piggy bank with 350 euros. Seven invoices of 50 but also a few handwritten notes each time Piedad or Manuel added a new invoice. The total amount must have been double. What was missing, the deceased had in his pocket.
“In principle it may not be a theft, but other items may have been stolen. We are moving forward as the investigation progresses,” Mosso said. And that’s it The accused took the victim’s belongingss. Various jewelry, including, a medal engraved with the date of birth and initials of his only sonFernando. The suspect of having killed them pawned it the day after the crime, August 17, 2019, although this information will be collected by the Catalan police some time later, with the investigations already advanced and with Marcos F. under fire spotlights.
First, in parallel with the work of forensic doctors, investigators attempted to determine the date of death of the marriage, given that their bodies were found in an advanced state of decomposition. The testimonies of neighbors – who, although they try to help, can be imprecise, as confirmed by the corporal – were joined by the recordings from various security cameras in the areaas well as the call log. On the morning of August 16, Manuel went to his bank, a Caixabank branch, to collect a new bank card. The reason? A week earlier, he had canceled the previous one after detecting several movements that he had not made.
The person who stole Manuel’s card was the seller, now accused of killing them: Marcos. First of all tried to withdraw money from an ATM near the couple’s home. He didn’t get it because he entered the PIN wrong. Then he did the same thing in Sant Boi (Barcelona), and the same thing happened. “Your phone positions you where the extraction attempts were made», Certified Mosso, during his testimony at the Barcelona court. On August 7, its owner canceled it, but the card “mysteriously returned to Manuel’s wallet.” The Mossos found it inside, during visual inspection, after the couple’s murder.
Officers also investigated a neighbor, after the scientist found remains on the victims’ doorknob that later turned out to be not what they appeared to be: blood. Additionally, the property’s housekeeper certified that she cleaned them on August 22. The bodies were found on the 24th, and they would have been killed on the 16th, so that’s ruled out. The same thing happened with the workers who, days before, had carried out maintenance tasks in the building – and with those who extracted DNA samples, just in case. By then they had already finished and no one was in the building when they killed Manual and Foot. “There was no type of connection, nothing incriminating.” The couple’s son was traveling for several days in Croatia. He demonstrated this with accommodation and food bills, so he was also off the investigators’ radar.
They were others bills that led police to the only suspectsor, who now sits on the bench: Marcos F., who had sold the couple a foot massager and an electric chair, among other items. The documents included his phone number. When officers analyzed the victims’ communications, they found that they had exchanged 50 calls with this number over the past few months. A contact which ended “in mid-August”, coinciding with the date of the crime.
Shortly before, on the 9th of this month, Manuel called Marcos because he realized he had stolen his card. They talked for 20 minutes. Three days later, the accused carried out searches with a view to purchasing burundanga. August 14 was the last time he called the couple. two days later [el del asesinato] and without notice, he showed up at the house, as demonstrated by the positioning of your mobileand remained there three hours. “We conclude that the death occurred between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on August 16, 2019. Marcos will take over. [entonces] jewelry and will sell them on the 17th, 21st, 27th and 30th of this month, said the Criminal Investigator. It was like that Mossos They came to the conclusion that Manuel and Piedad’s killer “could not have been anyone other than” the accused. The theory of the accusations is that he did it to avoid detection, after having stolen them.
The trial will continue tomorrow, Thursday, with the expert opinions. The accused is expected to testify during the final session.
