Spanish TV star Koldo Losada found dead, partner suspected

After receiving an ominous warning via Facebook from his husband, the body of Spanish TV star Koldo Losada was found in their Bilbao home, together with the corpse of their dog, Gaston, on Wednesday. 

Losada's long-term partner, Jon Ezkurdia, has been arrested, suspected in the killing of his partner.

Losada and Ezkurdia have apparently been together for 20 years.  However, Ezkurdia was arrested Wednesday night in Bilbao on suspicion of murder, after his husband's body was found in a pool of blood in their apartment by friends.  Their white Westie terrier, Gaston, was also found dead, apparently strangled.

Losada, 54, is well known to millions of Spaniards from his appearances in several popular TV series, including Cuéntame, Águila Roja and Amar en Tiempos Revueltos.  After being together for many years, the couple married two years ago.  However, friends of the couple said that they were going through difficult times and were apparently in the process of separating.

The couple were often seen together in a bar called "La Gallina Ciega" (the blind hen), which is run by 54-year-old Ezkurdia. However, apparently the bar has been closed since September this year.

La Vanguardia (in Spanish) reports that Ezkurdia posted a rather cryptic and sinister status on Facebook a couple of hours before Losada died, together with a photo of himself wearing a clown's makeup, with a wide, red painted mouth and black eyes.  The message, posted at 5:34 pm on Wednesday, read, "The blind hen began in silence and will exit the same way. Thank you for everything you have given us."

Reportedly, Ezkurdia had been see drinking on Wednesday in the centre of Bilbao with some female friends.  The friends were concerned about his depressed state and decided to later check up on him in the couple's home.

On arrival at the apartment, they found a reportedly very drunk Ezkurdia, receiving medical attention from an ambulance crew.  Worried about this, the women then entered the couple's apartment and found Losada's body, lying in a pool of blood in the hallway and with signs of a violent attack.  It was in the bin outside that the body of their dog, Gaston, was discovered, together with various items that might have been connected to the crime.

A friend of the couple told ABC that it was impossible that Ezkurdia could have killed Koldo and Gaston, adding,“They were always out having a beer together. They were a wonderful couple, and got on really well. We just don’t understand what could have happened.”

A waiter working at the bar said “I’ve known Jon for nine years; he’s a very loving man and always quick with a compliment."

It is unknown what pushed Ezkurdia to first post the ominous Facebook message and then allegedly to kill Losada.

Koldo Losada was born on November 13, 1960 in Getxo, Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain and died on November 19, 2014 in Bilbao, Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain.

Besides his appearances in the popular TV series Cuéntame, Águila Roja and Amar en Tiempos Revueltos, he was also known for his appearances in the films, Mystikal (2010), No controles (2010), The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2013).

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Photo: Screengrab from YouTube video

Woman almost beheaded in Fuengirola, Spain, killed by brother

A 22-year-old Ecuadorian man is in custody after confessing to killing his sister following an argument.

 

Photo by and copyright © Spanish News in English

Police discovered the body of the 25-year-old woman, known only as Erika, at 9:15 a.m. on Monday in the family's beachfront apartment on the Paseo Maritimo in Los Boliches, close to the Confortel Hotel in Fuengirola.  Police had been alerted by calls from concerned neighbours who had overheard the argument.

At 9:39 a.m., the dead woman's brother phoned the police and confessed to the killing. Shortly afterwards police arrested the man and he is currently in custody.

A forensic team from the National Police inspected the property and removed the body at 11:45 a.m. 

Police found the body of Erika in a bedroom, although they believe the woman was killed in the bathroom of the apartment and some of the blood had been cleaned up by the brother.

According to police sources, the woman had suffered a violent death. Diario Sur reports her throat had been deeply cut.  Other media sources quote the murder as a beheading..  Spanish media outlets have noted that the family is of Ecuadorian origins and that the young man apparently had a restraining order against him for mistreating their mother.

Belgian man arrested for beheading partner & killing step-daughter

A Belgian man has been detained by the Civil Guard in southern Spain, on suspicion of decapitating his partner and also of killing his nine-year-old step-daughter.

The 51-year-old Belgian woman and her nine-year-old daughter from a previous marriage were found dead in their luxury holiday property at the Sotogrande Alto, San Roque (Cádiz) on Wednesday.

The Belgian man was found by police, wandering around in a nearby street with a neck wound, yesterday morning.

Reportedly the couple, together with the woman's daughter, were renting the property as a holiday home. It is thought that they were murdered on Tuesday night, but their bodies were only discovered by the landlord on Wednesday morning.

The family were supposed to be leaving the holiday home on Wednesday and it was when the owner went to the property to collect the keys that he made the gruesome discovery.

While experts still have to determine the exact causes of death, post mortem examinations so far show that the woman was beheaded, while the girl died of strangulation with a rope or cable.

Police have cordoned off the property as investigations continue and the suspect is due in court on Friday morning.

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Estranged husband kills wife, 5-year-old son in La Luz, Málaga

When Estefanía T. V. failed to arrive at her parents' home where she cared for her grandmother and her young son Aaron didn't show up at school, Estefanía's father went to her home in the La Luz district of Málaga, Spain and made a shocking discovery. 

Estefanía's father arrived at the home at lunchtime, got no answer at the door.

He found a ladder and climbed in through a window of the first floor apartment in Avenida Isaac Peral, where the family has lived since the couple separated during the summer...

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/358960

Murder of Spaniard in Brazil may be linked to environment crimes

The body of 49-year-old Spaniard, Gonzalo Alonso Hernández, was found on Tuesday night in a park near his home in Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil, where he has been living for the past 10 years with his wife.

According to authorities, he was shot several times in the head.

Alonso Hernández had reportedly denounced alleged crimes against the local environment, relating to hunting and burning of land in the Cunhambebe natural park where he lived. 

48-year-old María de Lurdes Pena Campos, Alonso Hernández’s widow, works in Rio and returns home on the weekends.

She confirmed that her husband was constantly complaining about illegal hunting in the park and the fires started by ranchers.

Initial investigations show that Alonso Hernández, a biologist, was executed at his home and that his body was later dumped in the waterfall in the natural park.

According to police, a computer is missing from Alonso Hernández’s home and his power and telephone lines had been cut.

His wife told the media that he never received any explicit threats, although one time someone flew in a threatening way over the home in a helicopter. She added that her husband had no enemies other than the people he denounced to authorities.

The Spanish consulate in Rio advised that Alonso Hernández had moved to Brazil after he was offered a position with Telefónica.

His funeral will be held on Saturday and his wife said that "his remains will stay here, with nature."

When asked her plans for the future, she said, "I don't know yet what I will do," but stressed that the fight must continue for the environment, adding "We will not be silent."

To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/356132

Video game inspires 19-year-old to kill his millionaire dad

After suffering "constant humiliation" from the treatment of his father, the 19-year-old son ended the 57-year-old man's life using a spiked bat, similar to that used in a video game he had been playing.

Last Friday, after confessing to the cold-blooded murder of 57-year-old Andreu Coll Bennássar, Andreu Coll Tur together with his friend and accomplice, 20-year-old Francisco Abas Rodriguez, have been remanded in custody by a Spanish judge on Mallorca, without bail.

According to El Mundo, the murder of Andreu Coll senior took place on the night of June 29 in the small Mallorcan municipality of Alaró.

Coll junior and Abas admitted to having first drugged Coll senior, before bludgeoning him to death with a medieval-style spiked bat, a hammer, a vase and a music speaker.

Reportedly they first cleaned up the blood and fingerprints with bleach, and then drove in the victim's Land Rover to nearby Bunyola to get rid of the body.

They had wanted to make the attack look like a robbery, and had removed Coll senior's rings and Rolex watch before dumping the body.

The two men attended the victim's funeral as normal. However, the Civil Guard arrested them soon after, as infrared tests showed them to be the real killers. 

The two young men had met online a year and a half earlier, while playing the video game "Call of Duty." 

The lawyer for Abas said that his client fell in love with Coll junior, after they spent time together in Mallorca and Zaragoza. He said that his client "regretted taking part in the murder but had done it for love." 

Both men were obsessed with violent video games and spent up to 12 hours a day playing them. Police believe that the spiked bat used by the men in the murder was based on a similar weapon seen in the video game "Dead Rising 2." 

While Coll junior had told the judge that he murdered his father due to his constant humiliation, he is also heir to a €50 million fortune. Spanish media is speculating that money may also have been a motive in the murder. 

A nondisclosure order has been dictated by the Regional High Court in the Balearic Islands while the trial continues. According to the Majorca Daily Bulletin, the two young men are both on suicide watch and in separate cells.

To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/354582

Spanish father found guilty of murdering his two young children

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

Spain's 'angel of death' found guilty in 11 nursing home killings

Joan Vila Dilme, a security guard at a Spanish retirement home, has been found guilty of the killing of eleven elderly residents, which, according to him, was to "end their suffering." Prosecutors are looking at a 194-year sentence for his crimes.

 

Dilme, 45, worked at the La Caritat home in Olot in the Catalunya region of Spain. He was arrested in October 2010 after the death of an 85-year-old woman in a local hospital.

 

He later confessed to her murder, saying that he forced her to drink bleach, and also confessed to the killings of two other elderly people.

 

However, these were not isolated incidents, as he was found to have killed a total of eleven elderly residents of the home.

 

According to Skynews he forced three of the elderly residents to drink bleach, but with the eight other murders, which occurred between August 2009 and October 2010, Dilme gave the victims overdoses of insulin or other fatal pharmaceutical cocktails to "end their suffering."

 

Dubbed "the angel of death," Dilme was found guilty by a unanimous jury decision at a court hearing in Girona, Spain.

 

According to Dilme's defense lawyer, his client suffered mental problems. However, the jury found no extenuating circumstances. The case has stirred high emotions in the country and prosecutors are seeking a 194-year jail term. 

 

Sentencing will take place later.

To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/352081