A Google Street View image showing a man in Spain loading a large white plastic bag into the trunk of his car has contributed to the arrest of two individuals on suspicion of murder.
The incident occurred in the province of Soria, in the region of Castilla y León. Police in the region had begun their investigation back in November 2023, when someone reported the disappearance of a male relative, Jorge Luis Perez, reportedly a 33-year-old Cuban national living in Spain.
According to Spanish media, the relative who reported the disappearance had received text messages from the victim’s phone, which he found suspicious. The relative told police that the victim had met a woman, but had said he was leaving Spain and would be getting rid of his phone.
On 12 November this year, police detained a Cuban woman, the former partner of the victim, along with another man from the area who was previously married to the woman. Both suspects are in custody, facing charges related to the disappearance and murder.
Authorities then discovered the dismembered remains of a man earlier this month in a cemetery in Andaluz, a small village in the province with only 12 residents. According to Spanish media reports, only the torso of the victim was found and in a state of advanced decomposition.
The male suspect in custody resides in Tajueco, a municipality seven miles from Andaluz with a population of just 50. According to El País, ‘nothing ever happens [there], and if something did, no one would likely notice – or so the alleged murderer may have thought’.
Spanish media has highlighted how the suspect, in October 2023, was captured by a passing Google Maps car while loading a bundle into the trunk of his old burgundy Rover. Investigators believe the bundle may have been a body.
El País reported that the suspect appeared overly confident in the isolated area, unaware that Google’s mapping vehicle – absent from the region for 15 years – happened to pass by at that critical moment.
Spanish Police utilised images from Google Street View, a tool that allows users to explore real-world locations via panoramic photographs, to reconstruct the timeline of events. The images contributed to resolving the case, though they were not ‘decisive’, the police have said.
One image reportedly shows the suspect, a 48-year-old man, dressed in jeans, a blue jacket with Club Deportivo Numancia on it (a local football team), and brown boots, handling a large white package (see main image from Google Maps). Another sequence shows what appears to be the same individual transporting a similar bundle in a wheelbarrow.
The Spanish central government’s representative in Soria, Miguel Latorre, told public broadcaster RTVE the person ‘can presumably be’ considered the culprit.
A judge has ordered that the suspects remain in custody and the investigation remains open.
Novedades en el caso del hombre descuartizado y cuyo torso se ha hallado enterrado en el cementerio de Andaluz (Soria)https://t.co/8a1fcJ8oEJ
Informa Isabel G. Villarroel pic.twitter.com/KJoQd07Ajy
— Cadena SER (@La_SER) December 18, 2024
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