Alcàsser girls
The three teenagers Miriam García Iborra, Antonia Gómez Rodríguez and Desirée Hernández Folch from Alcàsser near Valencia , who were kidnapped , raped , tortured and finally murdered in 1992 after they hitchhiked to a discotheque, became known as Alcàsser or Alcácer girls wanted to get to the nearby town of Picassent . The murders are commonly among the most prominent cases in Spanish criminal history because of the extreme violence with which they were carried out .
The case has been widely reported in the Spanish and even foreign media since the girls were missing, causing great concern and uncertainty in Spain.
The case also became significant due to many errors and gaps in the investigative work. The autopsy revealed the existence of seven hairs, each with a different DNA , that did not belong to either the girls who were murdered or the two suspected murderers - the drivers of the car who took the girls away. Of the two men, only Miguel Ricart Tárrega was arrested, whereas Antonio Anglés Martins has not been caught until today and is still one of Interpol's most wanted criminals.
It is widely claimed that the official version is used to cover up a third murderer. Theories about it range from satanic rituals to the recording of a snuff movie to the involvement of the highest political levels in Spain.
The events also marked a turning point for the Spanish mass media, which focused on the grief and suffering of family members and local residents. This is often seen as the pinnacle of trash TV in Spain, when ethical principles were abandoned for higher audience ratings.
Sequence of events
García, Gómez and Hernández disappeared on November 13, 1992 on the way to a school party in the locally known disco Coolor outside Picassent. Before that, they visited a friend who was unable to come with them because of an illness. García's father Fernando was also ill and could not drive her to the nightclub. So the girls tried to hitchhike to the disco, as they had done last summer and as many youngsters were doing at the time. A young couple from Alcàsser then took them to a petrol station near Picassent. After that, they got into another car (probably a white Opel Corsa ) that was believed to be driven by Antonio Anglés and Miguel Ricart. A witness saw her get in, but couldn't see the license plate due to the darkness. This was the last time the girls were seen alive.
According to a statement by Miguel Ricart, the only person charged in this case until then, Anglés instructed him to continue driving after reaching the nightclub. The girls then started screaming, whereupon Anglés hit them with the handle of a star model BM pistol and broke off several teeth. They then drove to an abandoned hut in a remote, mountainous region near the Tous Dam , where they handcuffed the young people and raped two of them anally and vaginally, including using objects. Then they went to Catadau to get food and returned two hours later to rape the third girl. The two men would then have tortured the girls for the rest of the night. The next day, the girls were forced to run to a previously dug pit, where they were further tortured. According to the autopsy, Hernández suffered an amputation of her right nipple with a sharp object and two stitches in the back. The other girls were given life-threatening injuries with sticks and stones. Eventually they were shot and buried. García's body showed vaginal wounds that were probably inflicted post-mortem .
Investigations
An intensive search for the young people was ordered. Their bodies were finally found on January 27, 1993, 75 days after their death, by two beekeepers in a ditch near La Romana. Heavy rains in the previous days had loosened the subsoil and exposed the bodies. Murder could quickly be confirmed as the cause of death.
The Guardia Civil later found one of Ricart's gloves, a social security certificate from Anglés' brother and a cartridge case at the scene. After a short time, television broadcasters came to Alcàsser to report live and to show the grief of the families and the entire village.
Antonio Anglés was not in the house when the police arrived looking for his brother. He was nearly caught in the town of Villamarchante , but escaped. His last trace in Spain could be traced back to Minglanilla ( province of Cuenca ), then he fled to Lisbon and escaped as a stowaway on board a container ship to Plymouth . It is reported that he disembarked off the coast of Ireland and either died as a direct result or drowned or froze to death.
The trial of the two suspects was aired on prime time on Spanish television. Pictures of the mutilated victims were also shown.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ ¡Antonia, Desirée, Miriam! , El País, December 7, 1992.
- ↑ Juan Ignacio Blanco . ¿Qué pasó en Alcácer? , first chapter.
- ↑ Hallados los cadáveres de las tres niñas desaparecidas de Alcàsser con indicios de haber sido asesinadas , Francesc Bayarri, January 28, 1993, El País.
- ↑ Tres detenidos por el asesinato de las niñas de Alcàsser Jesús Duva Francesc Bayarri, January 29, 1993, El País.