On October 8, 2011, two children, six-year-old Ruth
and two-year-old José "disappeared" while visiting a park with their
father, José Bretón, who claimed that he had merely lost the children.
Investigations proved a different story indeed.
Bretón,
the father of the two children, was born in Córdoba in 1973, and was an
unemployed former army driver.
He was always the main suspect in a case
that had the police searching for their bodies for months, using both
trained dogs and also ground-penetrating radar.
While the children were never found, investigators did eventually find
the remains of a large bonfire on the estate owned by Bretón's parents
outside the southern Spanish city of Córdoba. The bonfire was so hot it
destroyed DNA evidence, but teeth were found in the ashes, which were
later identified by forensic experts as belonging to two children, aged
two and six years respectively.
Bretón was
arrested 10 days after reporting the children missing and has been in
jail ever since.
In previous court appearances, Bretón denied all
charges and told officers imperiously, "You have nothing on me."
Finally justice has been served in the case, as on Friday a jury has
unanimously found José Bretón guilty of murdering his two small children
and burning their bodies to cover up the crime.
A jury of two men and seven women delivered the verdict this week, after
hearing all the facts surrounding the disappearance of the two
children.
While Bretón remained cool during the court trial, and always claimed
that he simply lost his children, the prosecution presented a case that
he killed the children as revenge against his wife, who had recently
asked him for a divorce.
Psychologists
describe Bretón as "extremely cold and detached," and police officers
who had interrogated the man also remarked on his apparent lack of
concern about his own children and also his harsh verbal attacks against
his wife, Ruth Ortiz.
Reports from the psychologists described Bretón as "highly intelligent,"
with an IQ of 121 and that he showed "signs of being excessively
manipulative" and was "exceptionally clear minded."
He had apparently
told the police, "Outside I'm a nobody, but at home I'm the boss."
144 expert witnesses at the trial corroborated that Bretón had purchased
the sedatives Orfidal and Motiván to put his children to sleep.
Proof
was also shown that he bought large amounts of diesel fuel to incinerate
their bodies at Las Quemadillas, his parents' Córdoba estate.
It was from
that estate that Bretón made one last phone call to his wife, who did
not pick up the call, before going ahead with his dreadful plan.
As can be seen in the video (original article), Bretón listened totally
impassively as the judge pronounced his guilt and is now awaiting
sentencing. Both the public and private prosecutors are asking for a
40-year sentence.
To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/354344
