Hello, welcome and thanks for listening to Crimes of the Basque Lands. Quick content
warning this podcast details crimes and descriptions of violence that may be disturbing or triggering.
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what to expect before each episode and to include them in our show notes. So enjoy the show!
Hi Douglas! Hi Julie, how you doing? I'm doing good, how you doing? Not bad, I'm recovering
slightly from yesterday but I think we're... Oh, rough night, huh? It was a good night,
just a little bit extra alcohol. Yeah, well good. You're still alive? I'm good, I'm good. I had a
long week at work because it was my first week back after a two-week holiday and it's always
rough when you have to go back to work. Sorry to hear that. You start to wonder what am I doing
with my life? You know, the usual. Right, well it's April an hour timeline. Yes, yes, when we're
recording this it's April so it was spring break. Yeah, you can smell that. Easter holiday if you
will, if you're the religious types. Okay, so tonight what are we drinking Douglas? We haven't
had a cider yet so I thought we should have a cider. I think we have, one day we had one. Did we? Okay.
I think so. Sapiane is the name of the cider. It's from Gipuzkoa. Right and... I can't remember the
name of this town but... Astigarraga? Yes, that's it, that's it, right there. There we go. It's
quite a well-known one, this cider. It's like, you know, is it nice? I mean I like it, I like it, it's
nice. Yeah, good cider. Yeah. Since the Indo-Europeans arrived in the Basque Country,
we've had cider. So the Celtic people came in, right, the Celtiberians and like I roughly 3000 BC
we suppose and they brought apples and since then we've been drinking cider. That was the end of
that. I mean, cider. They're a big part of the genetics in the Basque Country. Okay, shall we
get into the story? Let's dive straight in. All right. Why not? All right, so I'll name all my
sources here for this story. Articles were from the El Correo, El País, IETB, AP News, The Independent,
LA Times. Wow, big story. Yeah. La Moncloa, Heraldo, which is the Spanish version of The Herald.
Oh right, never heard of that. I didn't either. That is hilarious. Noticias de Alaba, Heraldo, Diario
Vasco, De Ia, El Mundo, oh sorry, what? De Ia. De Ia, sorry. El Mundo and Norte Express. So those were
where I got a lot of articles. I listened to a podcast called Criminopatia. Criminopatia.
Oh the podcast, shout out to Criminopatia. Yeah and another in-depth article by Monica G. Álvarez
de La Vanguardia and I also used one of her articles when I talked about the Shaolin Monk.
Okay. Yeah, so she's the crime writer at La Vanguardia. And of course, my dear friend,
Wikipedia. Of course, good to hear. Keeping us straight. Yeah. For this story, I also want to
thank our friend and friend of the pod, Aiala, for bringing this story to my attention. Aiala lives
in Victoria, so she told me about this story. I'm familiar with the local crimes. Yeah. So
and another friend and friend of the pod, my ex-student and advisor in all things judicial,
Gisela. She has really schooled me on so many aspects of the law here and on other episodes
aside from this one and I greatly appreciate it. So thank you, Gisela. Shout out to Gisela.
This week we're back in Victoria, Castaix and it's for a crime that didn't happen more than a century
ago like Sacramento. Okay, yes. We're back in Victoria. Yeah. But it is a crime that occurred
more than 20 years ago. We're in the year 1998. Okay. Okay. What were you doing in 1998, Douglas?
I was eight. You were eight in 1998? Oh, 98. I thought you said 88. Oh my god. I was 18. I was 18.
I was 18. I was emigrating. First time emigrating. To Scotland. Well, I spent seven months in England
with my aunts and cousins and uncle in their house and then after that, after seven months,
I went to England. So I'm not quite sure when I turned 19. You went to Scotland. You mean?
Yes, sorry. Did I say it? You started in England and then you went to Scotland. Okay. Yeah. So that was my...
So you're immigrating, okay, to Europe. Immigrating, yeah. From South America. So I was studying at an
open university. I was doing an introduction to humanities. Uh-huh. Good memories. I also was at
university in 1998. Yeah. What were your highlights? All I can remember is that I was probably just
working one shitty job or another as either like waitressing or telemarketing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I was a gardener. Probably telemarketing at the time. Well, okay. Let's get back to the story. All right.
That's what we were doing in 1998, by the way. That was 98. Tell us what you were doing. Comment down in the
podcast. Let us know. What was everybody doing in 1998? Were you born? Yeah. Were you eight years old?
18. 28. Okay. So in 1998, Victoria Castaes was experiencing what has been described as a crime
wave. Oh, really? More specifically, there were a series of murders that were sensational in their
execution and in the identities of the victims. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So for this story, I'll begin
with a cold case from the time. And as you'll see, it'll lead us into the crimes of a man who many
suspect as the author of this cold crime. So that's kind of a spoiler. Okay. Okay. So my one-sentence
synopsis for this crime, uh, in the late 1990s, a wave of violent crime in Victoria Castaes terrified
the populace and dominated the media. Here we go. On May 8th, 1998 at 5 15 a.m., the municipal
sanitation service, CESPA, was making its way on its usual rounds throughout the city. An employee
was emptying one of the garbage containers on Burgos Street when he came across some particularly
heavy bags. Okay. Suspiciously heavy, apparently. Oh my gosh. So the weight of this garbage implied
that perhaps someone was trying to dispose of a dead animal. Okay. Which is against sanitation
regulations in most places. And I would imagine in most urban places, especially. Right. So they
called it into their supervisor who suggested that they continue on the route, but to hold off on
opening the suspect bags until they were back at the landfill in Garda Legi. All right. So they
carried on and in the next dumpster, they came upon another suspicious find. It was a blue sports bag,
which was open and covered in traces of what appeared to be blood. Just like on the next
on the next rubbish bin. Yeah. Okay. This is already a story. Yeah. This is fun. Inside,
they found a woman's bloody purse, a partially filled out survey, a towel and a plastic dust bin.
A dust pan. Right. Like what you'd sweep up. Right. Right. At this point, they called the
Arcento. Okay. They appeared on the scene and escorted them back to the landfill in Garda Legi
to examine the contents of these suspiciously heavy bags. Okay. So Douglas, now you should hang on to
your chapella. Yes. Yes. It get pretty gory. Okay. Okay. Upon opening the bags, forensic agents
discovered the dismembered remains of a woman. Oh my gosh. Poor thing. The bloody purse from the
sports bag helped them to identify the victim and establish her address. The police then moved to
cordon off the rest of the truck's route. Okay. As well as the victim's home. Okay. So Esther
Areteo lived at number three, Jose Pablo Ulibarri street, which was just around the corner from the
dumpsters where her body was so callously discarded. Okay. Okay. So Esther, Esther Areteo was a 55 year
old woman living alone in a rented apartment in the Arran Vizcarra neighborhood of Vitoria.
She'd been widowed some years before and had no children. She came from a well-established family
of manufacturers, primarily like primarily of like they made zippers and blinds. Interesting.
A lot of manufacturing in the best country. Yeah. And she was one of seven siblings. Okay. Big family.
Yeah. At the time of her death, she was working as an English teacher at the official school,
language school. Oh, yeah. Close to heart. We're both English teachers ourselves. I know.
Okay. Yeah. Did she offend one of her students that much?
Yeah. Well, you got to look into it. You've got to look into it, right?
So, um, at the school or her colleagues said that she was well regarded as a teacher and was
considered to be a very well-educated woman. Nice. Yeah. According to friends and family,
she was leading a normal life after overcoming a period of depression and had no known enemies to
speak of. So it was very odd, right? Yes. On May 7th, so the day before, Esther was speaking by
phone with a relative and according to them, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Their call
ended around 9.30 PM and that was the last time anyone heard from her before her body was discovered
around the following morning at 5.15 AM. When the Artaean arrived at her apartment, they found the
door had not been forced, leading them to believe that she must have allowed the killer to enter
willingly. Okay. It is suspected that the survey, which was found along with the other items in the
sports bag, could have been the means with which the culprit had gained entry into her house.
Right. The apartment was exceptionally clean. Not a fingerprint could be found and it certainly did
not appear as though someone had committed such a brutal crime and a dismemberment inside. Okay.
They did, however, find the murder weapon atop the toilet's cistern. Oh. Right. Okay. It was a
hunting knife. Okay. Sounds scary already. Mm-hmm. It seemed the murderer had had plenty of time to
take such great care in like cleaning up the whole crime scene. There was only a few specks of blood,
some hair, which was determined not to have belonged to Esther, and a single male shoe print
was found inside the home. A shoe print. Yeah. I mean, that's a hard thing to find in the South,
but okay. In the South? What do you mean? No, no, no. In itself. It's a hard thing. Oh, yeah. Like
what? On a carpet, there's a slight indentation. Yeah, I don't know. That's a hard one to find.
Yeah. Like he's so clean. So clean and then left one shoe print. Yeah. Anyway. At the autopsy,
it was revealed that Esther had been stabbed several times before she was ultimately dismembered
into six pieces. You know, her head, trunk, and the four limbs were bagged separately,
and some of her parts were wrapped in pieces of her own clothing before being placed in the bags
and disposed of. Mm-hmm. Disgusting. Mm-hmm. But yeah. And according to experts, the dismemberment
was so precise that it could have only been done by a butcher or a traumatologist. Interesting. Yeah.
This is a classic crime, huh? Mm-hmm. Footprints and hair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was determined that some of her
jewelry was missing along with her bank cards. Wow. Which brings us to the first break in the case.
Okay. Okay. On the night of her murder, there were two withdrawals from her bank account
from two ATM machines at separate Caja Vidal branches. Okay. As listeners might remember,
we know Caja Vidal was, or Vidal was the savings bank that was in Vitoria, then merged with the
other savings banks from the other three provinces of the Basque country to the Cuchabank. Okay. So
they were the local. Yeah. So the first withdrawal occurred at 10 20 p.m. on Obispo Ballester Street,
where the suspect took 75,000 pesetas. Okay. Remember this is the time of pesetas. Right.
And the second withdrawal was at 2 a.m. So the first one was at 10 20 and the second at 2 a.m.
Okay. So the second one that was at 2 a.m. was at a different ATM and it was on Portale
Villarreal Street, where they withdrew 92,000 pesetas. Okay. So all of this came to just over
a thousand euros. Okay. Okay. Which is very equivalent to about a thousand dollars. Yeah.
These days. Yeah. As we report. But that's a lot like in 98 too. Yeah, it's a good amount of money.
Yeah. So it was decided that the murder occurred between 9 30 p.m. when Esther got off the phone
with her relative and 10 20 p.m. when the first withdrawal was made. So he must have like left the
apartment to make the first ATM withdrawal. Right. And then returned to dismember her and clean up
the crime scene, get rid of the body before making another trip to the ATM. Yeah. Looking like a lot
to do in that amount of time. Right. It is. Investigators speculated that the dismemberment
itself would have taken at least two hours to complete. So it was like very tight. Yeah. To do
all the cleaning and that, you know. So I mean personally I find it really ballsy that first
that you would kill someone then leave and then go back to then go through all the trouble of
dismembering somebody. Right. Like it's just weird. It's very weird. I mean everything is weird about
any crime like that. But sure that's extra weird. Right. But if it's like robbery, they're most
likely to kill somebody and then leave. Right. I see what you mean. With the bank cards of whatever.
There's a mixture of motivation. But this person went back and went through all this work. Yeah.
I mean he could have dismembered then went to the second cash machine, came back a second time and
then cleaned. Just trying to fit in all the time. No but if they say, okay so the investigators say
it would have taken like two hours. Right. So the last time anybody heard from it was 9 30.
The first withdrawal was at 10 20. So that would be an hour. Less than an hour. Maybe
dismembered a little bit. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Chunking. Come back. Dismember a bit more.
Sorry. Anyway it's very weird that you would go back. It's just weird to me that you'd go back
and do this. Okay. So a number of odd things. There's a lot of trouble to go through for a
robbery. Yeah. I agree with that. Like it's not worth a thousand euros. Jesus. No. Not at all.
So yeah that's what's so weird about it. I mean okay jewelry maybe a bit more money but
we're not talking about. But they had all that and they could have just left right. Yeah. And then
waited for somebody to discover her body at her house right. Yeah. Yeah. And she didn't show up
for work or. Why go through all that trouble of dismembering. To like get rid of it and clean it.
And I mean maybe he wanted to clean the house. Maybe that was the thing. He was a tidy guy. No
as in you know like in your head wouldn't you think oh there was no crime scene now. Yeah. I
mean getting rid of evidence yes. I can see like cleaning for fingerprints or for any other evidence
that might lead you to your to you. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I'm figuring. Yeah. But then you leave
the night. Like I don't know. It just seems like a lot of work to go through. There's a lot of
weird things. Yeah. Then why leave the night. It's very odd. Yeah. One of the only leads investigators
had to go on was a very poor quality image from the surveillance camera at the bank where the
first withdrawal was made. It showed what was determined to be the profile of a young man
but whose face was obscured by like a hood or I suppose somebody wearing a hoodie. They just only
described it his face was obscured by a hood and I don't think that their face was fully obscured
or whatever because they did end up releasing a police sketch of this perpetrator and they were
able to kind of reconstruct it with digital technology to send out to the media and everything
to see if anybody identified this person. They call it a robot sketch or something. They call it
here robot. Yeah. That's what they call it. We call it police sketch. Police sketch. In America I should say.
Not we. Sure. In America that's what they call it. Yeah I couldn't tell you what it is. I don't know
what they call it in the UK. So the other the only other piece of evidence they had to the identity of
the criminal was the partially completed survey that they found with the sports bag along with
her purse. Very meta. Very meta. Yeah. We're gonna catch him because he's writing incorrectly. That
would be hilarious. Well they analyzed the handwriting. Okay. Right and they did not belong
to Esther. Good. So well I mean gooder. Okay. Yeah. We're getting closer. Okay. So that's all they had
right. Some minimal evidence. So you know they did analyze the handwriting. Didn't belong to Esther.
So they would also in order to like figure out whose handwriting it was they would need a suspect
to match it to. Right. So if you don't have a suspect you don't have anything to match it to.
Right. Right. Okay. Well I was going to say like if somebody came to my house at 9 30 at night
to take a survey. I mean how would you feel about that. Like I think that's just rude.
9 30 at night. That's really late. It is late. Like even though people eat really late here for dinner
you're having dinner maybe at that time. Yeah. And even if you're not having dinner you're
chilling after dinner and it's just like the worst time to make like a cold call to somebody's house.
Right. Yeah. Because maybe people are. Because I've gotten like telemarketer calls after 9 30 or
something at night and you're like what the hell is wrong with you. Why are you calling me at this
time. You know. Yeah. However telemarketers a little bit more logical because they might be
based like in Latin America where it's still working time. True. Plus I think people. And
they're like maybe up to 10. You're right. Like after 10 p.m. That'd be fine. Something like that.
Yeah. And number one I would open my door but that person would not go into the house ever.
Like that would never happen. Yeah I don't even think I'd open the door. I don't think I'd open the door.
Yeah I mean I probably today I wouldn't open the door but like you know if I opened the door they
would never get in the house. Like I just answer at the door you know. Yeah. That's what I mean.
Yeah. But it's also possible that if you open the door they could you know. Yeah. Force them.
Take you by surprise. But that's already causing a commotion. My neighbors could hear. I could
scream. You got the hallway or whatever right there where people might hear something. Yeah.
I mean you know. So it's really odd. There's a few odd things here. One very sad detail in this case
aside from you know obviously her death and everything and the disgrace. It's already very
horrible. Yeah. Is that her family found out about her murder through the media. Yeah. Like
they heard it on the news. Yeah. How careless of the police. I know. And in the years following
the family has asserted that the police have made no effort to contact them with developments. I
read this in several articles. Right. That they also had to find out about any development via
press releases. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And then when they would call the investigators once they heard
it on the news to ask them about it. They weren't forthcoming. Well not that they weren't forthcoming
but they they were just like we heard this is what you guys are like working on right now with our
loved ones case. You didn't tell us about this you know. Sort of thing. They weren't very. Not nice
at all. Yeah. Family forward to contact them and stuff about any developments and stuff or lack
thereof. But to a fault right. That's. Yeah. If it goes. No that's not cool. Like if it happens
once in the beginning and they're maybe looking for the suspect more understandable like maybe.
But then did like talk to the press. Yeah. Before you talk to the family to say listen this is what
we've got. Unacceptable. And we're gonna have to talk to the press about this so you might see it
in the news. Sort of thing. You know you should contact the family. Of course. Right. Of course.
So. In the loop. The lack of leads wasn't the only reason that not much progress was made on this case.
Something quite significant occurred in Victoria just hours before. Oh. The beginning of her
investigation. Oh. Yeah. So I'll tell you about that after we take a little break. Okay. Let's
take a break. See you guys soon. Okay. So as I was saying they didn't make a lot of progress on her
case. Yeah. Because something else happened. Oh you were saying yes. So at around 1 45 p.m.
Uh huh. The day you know on the same day that they found her body. Okay. So it was like hours
after they discovered her body. And the onset of her murder investigation. A 61 year old Alfonso
Parada Ulloa had just left his home on Calle Juntas Generales when he was approached from behind and
shot twice in the head. Unfortunately both his son and grandson were there with him at the time
and witnessed the entire event. Very sad. He was rushed to hospital, underwent surgery, and then
remained in a coma before dying at around 2 a.m. the following day. Next day. Okay. Yeah. So Alfonso
was a retired Civil Guard officer from the Guadalajara Civil. Policeman. Who was originally
from Galicia but had been brought up in the Basque Country. So he was brought up in San Sebastián,
Denostia, and Vitoria-Gasteiz. He had followed his own father's footsteps and joined the Guardia
Civil. At the time of his murder he was a member of the active reserve and held the rank of second
lieutenant. Okay. In 1986 he became a member of the Arms and Explosives Intervention Unit.
And during his time there he was involved in a shootout with members of the Basque Separatist
group ETA. When was this? 1986. Okay. A long time ago. As a result of his participation in this
shootout he became a target of the group. So in the days following of following his murder ETA
announced their involvement and took responsibility for this murder. Okay. So the police are a bit
flustered. So this happened like right after they found her body right? I mean I'm still I'm like
there are two deaths. Why is the lady not... But like two in one day in Vitoria-Gasteiz is pretty rare.
Yeah. No? Like that's crazy and it's not that big of a town and to have these two big cases hit the
police at the same time. It's a smallish town isn't it? I think today it's about 200,000. Yeah it's not
it's not a big city. No. Anyway the member of ETA who was later convicted for this crime wasn't
caught until I think what I could find was 2012 and he was found to be hiding out in London with
several other members of like ETA that were hiding in London at the time. You might be asking what
does this story have to do with our initial story about Esther? I was wondering if it's a two in one.
Well unfortunately at the very outset of her murder investigation when police have the best
chance of gathering and following up leads on this case they were all called away to the scene of
Alfonso's murder. Right. So you've heard of the first 48 haven't you or have you not? I mean you're
telling me now and I know this. Have you heard this like saying first 48? I mean no. Okay. I'm not
that into crime. So well I am. I know I know. I should start believing more. So the first 48 hours are pivotal to finding out and collecting evidence right? Makes absolute sense.
So according to like seasoned detectives if they don't have a lead a suspect or an arrest within 48
hours of a crime their chances of solving that crime are cut in half. That's pretty bad. Yeah.
So poor Esther's case took a back seat. I mean it. To the attack on Alfonso. It's also. And its potential link to ETA
which at the time was considered a much more pressing matter as there had been like a series
of recent attacks in other areas of the vast country preceding this one in Victoria. Okay. So context wise. So it had been happening a lot at the time. So
it took like precedent. The police know this though the 48 hour thing. Yeah. And I don't understand. It's a whole police station
right? Can you not assign a group of five people? Well maybe like yeah maybe there's one detective they left on
her case and then the rest went to work on this other one. I don't know. Because they saw it as more of a
yeah terrible potential threat. Bad decisions by the police. Surprise surprise. As I mentioned before at this time
Victoria Gastase was experiencing what has been described as a crime wave and Esther's murder was the second
that had kicked off what would be a very bloody year. Oh my gosh. Right. So there was a murder that happened at the
beginning of the year like in January and I'm going to say this off the top of my head like it was a
antiques dealer or something. Okay. And they were found murdered in their workshop or what have you.
Oh sorry for the little sound there. But that crime was solved okay pretty quickly. Oh good. And it
found it was found to be like somebody that was associated with that person. Okay. So you know that
was like the first murder of the year in Victoria and then Esther's occurred. Yeah and then immediately the next
same day. And then Alfonso's murder happened. So it was like boom boom boom all these murders happening.
Right. Pretty intense. Esther's murder yeah was the second. In June just one month after her death
another disturbing crime was discovered and like Esther's it remains unsolved to this day. These
these Gustav's policemen I'm getting less and less. I mean they've only got 200,000 people to protect
they're not doing a good job. Hey detective work is hard. I don't know. And you have to have a lot
of evidence to convict people. To take something to court you need a lot to go on. I'll just say
because sure I've read a lot of crime and that's really what it comes down to. As it should be.
Having enough. Right exactly. Yeah exactly. For the accused. It's an important thing. You need to have
enough to go on. But still. This person did it right. What are we going on so far? We're still
not even solving 50% of the cases. You know. It's not good. This is uh okay. Anywho. All right I'm
gonna try to say his name. Acacio Pereira. Pereira. Thank you. Pereira is a Portuguese slash
Galician surname. Okay thank you. So it means just a pear tree. How do you say it? Pereira. He's a fellow tree
surnamed person like me. I'm an oak tree and he's a pear tree. Oh. I'm Carvalho. Does that mean pear?
Yeah pear tree. Pear tree. Pereira is the pear tree. Oh okay. Beautiful. Kids. He doesn't have a great
ending. Not a good ending. Well anyway he was a 77 year old retired agricultural rope maker and
saddler. So built saddles and ropes. Very traditional profession. For agricultural purposes. Is this the
the murder from June? This one happened in June yeah. Okay. And hers happened in May. Okay. So he
owned and operated a well-established business and workshop for the majority of his working life
as this rope maker and saddler right. Very interesting. Sounds like a lot of pressure. His business was located
on Frontia Street in the center of town and had been around since the beginning of the 20th century
and was very close to his home at 29 Calle La Paz. He's got it nice and organized. Yeah. I like his setup.
Upon his retirement he left the business to his nephew Felix but continued to show up daily to sweep up the sidewalk in front of the business.
What a sweet man. And probably just stick around for the day to tell his nephew how to do things.
That's what I'm assuming. I'm assuming he showed up every day just to be like oh you should do this this way that way right.
I mean. No like. Why not. I mean. It's hard to let old habits die right. It is. Like you can't.
If you were doing that for the majority of your life and then you left the business to somebody
but you're still alive and you're like okay let me tell you how to do this you know. It's very
possible. I mean I'll give you a high. And I mean no shade to him right. No no. This is. It just it seems more like a selfless kind thing to just go sweep the street.
So I'm like maybe it wasn't that much of a pain. He's just like he's trying to still look out for the business after his retirement right. Yeah I can see what you mean.
He's sweeping up the sidewalk. He wants to make it like welcoming and you know. Yeah.
At this point Felix had been running things for about four years. Okay. And he'd grown accustomed to his uncle showing up at noon every day. Right. Okay. But on this day he didn't appear. Okay.
This was completely out of character for Acasio and Felix was immediately worried for his well-being.
It seems that Acasio had recently underwent surgery for liver cancer and Felix worried that he as he lived alone he might be suffering from complications
and was unable to notify anyone that he needed help. Like maybe he was at home really struggling or something. What a nice guy. Yeah. I mean it seems like a tight family right. Yeah.
So Felix asked his sister Acasio's niece Anna Rosa to go and check on their uncle as he was busy working at the shop. Right. So she went to his house around 2 p.m.
accompanied with by her boyfriend Manuel where they encountered a very gruesome scene.
The apartment was in total disarray and lying on the floor at mist at all was in a and in a pool of blood was Acasio. Oh my gosh. He was bound to a chair. Oh my gosh. And had a rag in his mouth with a total of 15 stab wounds to his body.
How horrible. Yeah. The scene baffled police and family. Like why would this happen to this guy. Yeah. He's a lovely guy who's worked in a traditional. An old guy too. Like you know like he was how did I say he was 77.
You know. Yeah. Not a strong person probably. Elderly man. So like Esther Acasio was described by friends and family as a timid and generous man who had no known enemies and robbery seemed an unlikely motive as he lived on a meager pension and had no savings to speak of.
The disorder of his apartment was surmised to either mean that a ransacking took place by the perpetrator of this crime searching for money or other valuables. But nothing was found to have been stolen. Or it implied that Acasio had put up a hell of a fight.
Oh man how horrible. I know. I'm scared of visiting guest days now. It's a beautiful little town. I know. I've got to find some more stories that don't take place in Victoria. I'm sure if we don't retire there we'll be fine. I mean the Basque Country is pretty small so our crime stories are pretty limited. So Douglas. I mean. There might be more. So when police interviewed his neighbors none reported that they'd heard anything.
Yeah that's odd. Yeah right. During the night and the early hours of the morning right. Yeah I imagine he'd be living in one of these older apartments. It was like a flat. Yeah like. Yeah. That have very thin much thinner walls than we are accustomed to today. Right. Yeah exactly. Very odd. So yeah I was determined that he had died around dawn that day. So in either case yeah you would think that the neighbors heard something. Right. Yeah because that's a very silent. You don't like ransack a place quietly or have a big fight with somebody.
Quietly. Right. Yeah. So in one article I did see that his apartment was on the first floor. And so as we've said in previous episodes the ground floor of these apartment buildings are often used for like. Yeah. Yeah. Businesses and other purposes. So there would be maybe nobody. Right. We've talked about long cause. Yeah. Nobody downstairs. Right. So you know if somebody had been living below him that's when you'd probably think it's more likely to hear something. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
So and we can attest to that right. And I think it was in Costco Viejo of Victoria. The old town. So these are like wooden buildings. The walls are very thin. Right. Yeah. That's what I was imagining. Yeah. Yeah. I guess that's part of why I'm surprised there was. Yeah. Nothing was hurt. Right. When police were establishing a Casio's final moments they found that at 830 p.m. on the evening before his death he was chatting with a local shopkeeper and then he went to a nearby bar to have a drink.
And something to eat. Nice. And I saw somewhere that it was a pinch of a tortilla. Very nice. Tortilla. A classic show. Very solid meal. Right. Good one. Potato egg solid. Sometimes onion sometimes with cheese but usually just a veg.
A little bit of protein some starch. A good meal for the evening. Something. Yep. So then he had at home about 1030. His door did not seem to have been forcibly opened. So they speculated that perhaps someone had come in behind him when he entered his house. Oh. They were just like waiting. Right. And then when they saw him go in they just came in behind it. At the crime scene there were no fingerprints. No footprints.
Or any other evidence that could give them a lead on a suspect. So it's great policing in guest states again. It seems the police investigation focused primarily on the friends and family of the victim. I mean he's 77. To the point that some family members ended up reporting or denouncing the police for harassment. Excellent. I'm getting angry at these policemen already. Jesus. So much like Esther's murder his murder is unsolved to this day.
What. Yep. You're gonna leave us hanging for all those murders today Jules. No. There's more. Don't worry Douglas it gets worse. Are we not going to recommend our listeners visit Gustavus after this episode. It's a lovely town and this is unusual. This is a crime wave that happened in 1998 and I don't think there's been anything like it since the 98 year.
OK. Later that same summer on August 13th on Los Eran Street of Victoria 72 year old slot machine businessman Augustine Ruiz was discovered murdered in a long car which we've said is one of these commercial spaces that are located on the street level. Yeah.
At the apartment blocks. Good description. This long car was a warehouse of sorts for his enterprise. It functioned as a space to store sell repair and distribute the slot machines that he made up his business. Interesting.
He was discovered around noon by one of his relatives. According to several neighbors Ruiz would come by the business every Thursday. Police at the time surmised that one might have known his habits and assumed that he had a safe or something at the long car where he would deposit like the proceeds collected from the various slot machines that he owned and operated in bars and other establishments in town.
And that somebody came to attack him in order to rob him. I mean knowing that he was a slot machine. Yeah I mean and that he may collect a bunch of cash. Right. Sounds like a very simple one plus one. Right. Because it would be a bunch of coins. Right. Yeah. Right. Not even like worth murdering. Not at all. Right. Not even. Right. The whole thing is sounds already already like their explanation for the murder is terrible. Come on.
I mean it's possible. Some people are that desperate. You're gonna have to find some some solve murder case. But that would be a desperate person that also like not even desperate like desperate and then thought OK I'm gonna get some coins. That's really stupid. It's a bit like in the set this right. This is we're talking. That is ridiculous. So so they would be have to be like be like OK this guy has slot machines. He collects all this.
That does. I need a hundred thousand coins. And I'm going to go rob him of these minor like a bunch of coins. Right. Nothing makes sense here. Yeah. It would mean that they'd have to like study him and decide OK. Now I'm going to rob him now or something. You know like study his habits and for some coins. But it's not even. It's not. Yeah.
Now however when interviewed people in the industry thought if robbery were the motive August would have been the worst month to plan such a robbery as the take is much lower than another month. OK. OK. Because as we know. Oh yeah. August is like quite dead. So unless you live in like really hot like tourist dense places in the peninsula.
And so mostly south. Yeah. That's where there might be some money flowing. But like in the Basque Country there was an August in 1998 there was not no action. Right. Everybody leaves town goes to villages villages.
Exactly. They take the month off. They go on holiday or they go to the village even some bars closed because there's not enough business around. You know. So yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. And like today of course Bilbao is much more of a tourist destination. We're starting to get people in summer.
But yeah. So August is not dead anymore. No. But I remember when I first moved here that people were like oh no August is dead. Yeah. Nothing happens here in August. It's just dead. In the last 10 years it's more of a it's just quieter but there's still people around. And there's things happening.
Yeah. Like put things on now or there be to be something happening right. For tourists. Right. Cute little festivals. Pincho festivals. Yeah. Local foods. We're good at that now. Yeah. So and maybe we should explain what the idea of the going to the villages means.
Yeah. So I would describe it as the Basque Country like a lot of places has industrialized not that long ago. And this process of industrialization what it implies is a lot of people move to cities to produce things a lot of manufacturing. The Basque Country is really big on manufacturing.
Everything. So it was one of the first areas to industrialize in the peninsula. And so because of that people moved here from all over the country and the peninsula. Right. For work. For work. Only for work. Yeah. Yeah. And so they're mostly people that came from a village and then came to a city to work.
And then they built their lives in cities and factory cities and then their children of course got a meet grandma and granddad. So they go to village for summer to see the cousins. Like their ancestral village. Yeah. Or like this village where they grew up. The parents grew up. Yeah. Right. And then there'd be like an apartment or a house there that they could all or they'll stay with their grandparents. Yeah. That's a kind of and then that became when the grandparents passed away. Usually that would be your
summer home. Yeah. It's like a cheaper holiday. You don't know. And people establish like friendships and everything in these villages. Of course. Like because they go every year. Every August they're there. Yeah. So they have like we I think we talked about quadrius do we not. We did. Yeah. So like you have like I have I have students that when they go to their village every summer and they have their set quadrius in that village. Yeah. That's only their quadrius in that village for summer.
For one month. Yeah. Basque people like to be organized. Yeah. Yeah. And so in the context of the Basque country it's it's it's very common that people come from other parts of the country. And so lots of people go back to Galicia to Spain to Burgos. Yeah. La Rioja. Yeah. Those kind or in other parts of the Basque country even. Yeah. Little villages. Or whatever.
So anyway yeah it was like the worst time if you were planning a robbery of this man who was a slot machine like owner owner and you know had a bunch of machines and you collect the revenue or whatever from these machines. It's the worst time to rob him.
And it's not. Yeah. And when you started explaining it was like oh he must have been into some industry to know this. And I'm like no everybody knows there's no business in August. Right. Yeah. Everybody knows. You really don't need to do a lot of research. Everybody knows.
Right. So although Augustine himself was retired at the time of his assault he had left the family business that bore his name and it was called empresa and the one thing.
Ruiz Perez. So empresa antigua just means old business. Yeah I know it's quite odd. Yeah. Cute way to say it. That was the name of his business. So he had left the business under the direction of one of his sons. Despite having been retired he was still very hands on in running the business.
Another one of them. They can't let it go. He was evident in his continuing to personally collect the proceeds from various slot machines. Right. Company owned. So in one article it stated that he'd also been able to acquire several bars.
Like he he I think he owned bars where he would place like for the purpose of having a slot machine in the bar. Makes sense. Basically it was the slot machine that was the business not the bar itself. Right. It's basically a mini casino right. Yeah.
That's an entrepreneurial businessman. Yeah. I mean it seems like people who knew him might assume he's doing well. Yeah. He's got various bars. I mean I'm sure he's doing fine. Sure sure sure.
So according to those who knew him in the sector he was an honest and reserved man who ran a tight ship and whose revenue wasn't excessively large. So those in the business knew that he wasn't making a shit ton of money. Right. Yeah.
So the idea that someone would rob him at his warehouse premises which was one of the few in the sector with like an exposure to the public. So I guess because it was in this long call where he had all these machines stored that you repair and then sell out of.
Sounds like it's in town. Yeah. So and people knew it was there. Right. Right. So he was one of the few that had one of these places. Right. I suppose. But nobody ever actually went there to play the machines. No.
No. Yes. I get it. So it would be a very odd choice considering they wouldn't necessarily find much to steal. His autopsy was discovered that Augustine had been stabbed to death with a screwdriver.
Oh. A weapon of convenience. Sure. Right. As in something that had been nearby and available. Yeah. That sounds like him. Oh my gosh. I know.
I know I always have to remember to give you a minute to. Yeah. I'm sorry. I mean I'm like I've been living with this story for so long. You know I'm like you know a screwdriver.
OK. So I'm sorry Douglas. I mean I'm very visual I can see the screwdriver. It's a horrible weapon. I forget. No pun intended Julie. I'm very numb to these things.
It's sunken Julie. It's sunken. OK. OK. Go for it. So the investigators believe that the murder was unplanned. I mean a screwdriver says so. Yeah. Right. Unlike the hunting knife. It wasn't like a gun or a knife. Yeah.
You know. But it would be some time before the author of this crime would be discovered. But not before yet another murder took place. The 1998 year. Very bloody I told you. Yeah. OK. Should we take a break. Let's do that. Sink in. See you guys soon.
And we're back. OK. Hello Douglas. We're back. To some more bloody murder. Gasteis the criminal capital of the Basque Country. Murdery murdery. It is the capital of country. It is. It is the capital. And in 1998 it was clearly the murder capital.
When we left off Augustine Ruiz was killed and that was in August. Right. Slot machine owner. Yeah. Yeah. So nine months later. So now we're in 1999. OK. OK. We're in a new year. About to be the millennium.
Yeah. So it was nine months after the death of Augustine Ruiz and a year out from the death of our first victim Esther that on May 24th 1999 yet another death occurred. OK. Victoria. Big on you. Rubio Rubio. That's her name. Yeah.
Yeah. One surnames that are the same. A 28 year old lawyer was discovered to have been murdered in her office on Coyote's and Sierra us. This is in the center of Victoria. OK.
So after having worked in a well known local law firm Begonia started her own law practice less than a year prior to her death.
Poor thing. I know she was really young. 28. According to the dean of lawyers at the time she didn't specialize in any specific area of law.
She handled cases involving labor issues and served as a court appointed lawyer for a time. She also represented the Clara Campo Amor Women's Association.
I know them myself with whom she collaborated on matters relating to family violence and the rights of women and children. According to those close to her close to her she'd been working on several rape cases at the time and was becoming more and more
uncomfortable with these types of cases as they were very difficult and becoming overwhelming. Yeah. Poor thing. Yeah. So you can imagine rape cases are. Yeah. Hard to prove. Very hard to prove. Right.
So her father would regularly come to pick her up from work and escort her home. She still resided with her parents. Oh yeah. He would regularly come and like pick her up at the time of her death.
It was speculated that she might have feared for safety due to the nature of her work. And perhaps that was why her father would come to fetch her when she was finished for the day. Right.
Though it does remain unknown whether or not she did in fact receive any specific threats to her safety pertaining to any work that she was doing. Sure. Sure.
Unfortunately on this day it was her poor father who discovered her body. So bad.
Don't even imagine that too much. At around midnight he grew concerned that she hadn't arrived home and he hadn't heard from her. So he decided to go to her office to check on her.
So I mean it sounds like they had some sort of maybe system where he would call her and find out if she wanted him to come pick her up or what have you.
So it wasn't every day that he took her home. Right. So when he arrived at her office what he found was horrific.
She was sprawled on her office floor having been stabbed several times in various parts of her body. At autopsy it was determined that the injury that had caused her death was a deep slash to her throat.
When the Archaenza arrived around 1 a.m. they started their investigation and worked throughout the night.
They interviewed several people in the vicinity and according to one bartender who worked in the area they were inquiring specifically about a young man with dark hair and glasses and short in stature.
They searched in city planters like plants around the city and garbage containers for the murder weapon but to no avail.
They speculated that the crime occurred around 8 p.m. when she would normally be leaving the office. Her boyfriend and soon to be husband they were supposed to get married in June.
So a month out. Wow. That's traumatic. Yeah. He told investigators that he had made a call to her office around 7 45 p.m. and received no response.
At the scene the police discovered the tip of one of the fingers of a latex glove embedded in an injury on the victim. Wow. Which had been torn or cut off.
And it contains the blood of someone other than the victim. Wow.
Two fingerprints were lifted from her desk. There were some blood collected from the wristband of her watch. A toothpick containing saliva was found at the scene and a single bloody footprint was found.
Okay. Well police are doing some work this time finally. Sorry but well it's not impressive. It sounds like nobody cleaned up.
This time yeah. Right. But they're all stabbings. They left. Right. Yeah. Yep.
There was one more piece of evidence found at the scene that would lead to the capture of her murderer.
And lead the police and investigators to believe that they had found the person responsible for her death and perhaps all of these crimes. Yeah they're all stabbings and he has the glove which means he's very clean.
So her profile and this guy already. The name of her killer was written in her work calendar or her daily planner. Oh. And it was a man who had had an appointment with her on the day of her murder.
So before we get into the life and crimes of this serial killer. Yeah. Would you like to take a gander at his name.
So you used to give me what was it used to give me the surname but not the name and then I'm giving you any nothing. So you want to just take some stabs at a stab.
I know that's anyway. It's bloody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's stab at his name. Let's say let's say in you go. Why not. A very common name in the Basque Country. No. I'm going to give you three. I always give you three. Oh do you.
Okay. I forgot about that. It's been so long I haven't guessed. Do you want to think of. So 1999 right. Right. Older man was born in the 60s. So under Franco. So his name Jose his original name is different from what he went by.
It's not. No it's not. Jose. But try again. One. Yes. Oh got it. So his name was Juan. But he went by cold. Okay. Cold which is Basque. Yeah. Right. And I don't know if it's the version of one but yeah people do that.
Written into the daily planner found in Begonia's office was the name cold. Oh. That I'm not. When the police followed up on this lead they found that he was living in Madrid. And with the assistance of the national police they orchestrated an interview with their main suspect and a search of his house was carried out leading to his subsequent arrest. Oh yeah.
Yeah. So Juan Luis. The name right one one Luis better known as cold.
That I'm Yaga was arrested on May 29 1999 in Madrid. Just five days after the murder of Begonia Rubio. Okay. Again somewhere.
When cold was being questioned by the police. They spotted a deep cut on his hand that matched the location or is on his finger. That match the location of the torn or cut latex glove fingertip.
That had been discovered at the crime scene. Yeah. At his flat in Madrid not only did police find various hunting knives and latex gloves but clothing with traces of blood on them. A discarded pair of shoes whose sole pattern matched the bloody footprint at the scene.
Sounds like it also had blood spatter on them. DNA results confirmed the blood of the victim was that was what was found on the clothes and the shoes. And the blood from the fingertip of the glove at the scene.
Yeah it was his matches. Okay. Well okay. There's nothing else to be proven out right here. They got for this crime anyway.
Additionally his fingerprints match those on the desk and another set of fingerprints matching our killer was found on a magazine in the waiting area at Begonia's office. I mean it's all adding up. It's all adding up.
If this guy doesn't go to prison I'm going to be very worried. Also found at his home was a receipt from this pension. Right. The pension is called Ocean pension.
And when they went to inquire there they found that he had had a suitcase stored there. So he has a suitcase there. And it contained a missing set of keys belonging to Augustine Ruiz our third victim.
Oh in the series along with those keys they found notes about Ruiz and his children. Ouch. Yeah. So with all this damning evidence against him called confessed to the murders of Begonia and Augustine.
Okay. So let's talk about Koldo. So Juan Luis Laranjaga was born in 1961 in Escoitia, Cibutua. He grew up in a middle class family of two brothers and a deeply religious mother.
There was never any mention of his father. Oh okay. This whole thing. So I don't know anything about his father. That's why we keep calling this society slightly matriarchal.
Yeah. Childhood acquaintances described him as very reserved with not many friends to speak of and that he could always be seen accompanying his mother to church.
At 17 he moved to Vitoria Gastase to study for a degree in education. He never did graduate with a degree. He didn't finish it. So despite having a very an above average IQ of 138.
Okay. However he did end up teaching Basque Uscera at the IKA Academy in Vitoria. He was teaching Uscera at this Academy but because of his lack of discipline and lack of dedication to the craft he failed and sought out a variety of other work.
Okay. So he went into work like security guard or salesman. Right. Yeah. Terrible jobs. Yeah. He was doing good as a teacher and she should have stuck with him. No he wasn't doing good as a teacher.
As in? Turns out that he was not a good teacher because he didn't have the discipline or like the dedication to it to do well. Yeah. He can't follow a timetable. He can't follow the law either.
Clearly. Yeah. True. Sorry to say. And you'll hear what people think of him. Okay. So in the outset of the 90s he began to dabble as an entrepreneur and a businessman. Okay. His many failed businesses included importing beer, buying and selling vehicles, buying Rottweilers, gambling in illegal dog fighting rings.
Gross. Getting, getting. Right. Yeah. Horrible and horrible. And in one account he had apparently set up a force harm. Or, force harm. What is this? I don't even know what it is. A horse farm. You don't have to get that out if you don't want to. No it's cute. A horse farm. Wow. A force farm. You know.
He's definitely harming a lot of people. A horse farm. Forcefully. So farming horses which is probably like, he was probably a dick about that too. Yeah. Poor horses. And he was also rumored to have been involved in illegal sex trafficking. So. Wow. Intense. But that has not, that wasn't established. Okay. Right. So in any of my research. It was just mentioned in one part of the research. Right.
So he was no good at business and he incurred a lot of debt along the way and he garnered himself a reputation as a swindler in the hospitality sector. Where he was said to have worked as the beer importer. Right. Right.
Among those acquainted with him in this line of work referred to him as a crook and a hustler. Wow. He also got into trouble with the law for fraud for some of his shady business dealings. Which was confirmed through our China records.
Also around the time that he started dabbling in business he married his long time girlfriend Dorleta. Oh. And they had a son. In the aftermath of his arrest many of his colleagues and neighbors would describe him as a very dedicated father who was quote kind and good natured.
One acquaintance said of him quote look at the most harmless person in your office. That could be him. He's not my favorite saint. He's not honest either. He likes to live to be able to be without working. But a murderer. End quote.
He was further described as an educated man and physically as very tall and strong. A childhood friend described him to the press like this quote he was irresponsible with work but he made himself loved like nobody else.
When it came to his brothers his nephews and everyone he knew he was very pleasant. You could go a year without seeing him and if he saw you on the street he would greet you and take an interest in you.
End quote. Just shows you can never know. Yep. All of his neighbors and acquaintances interviewed said the same of him. Right. Quote. Coldo was a kind person with an intelligent look and a cold expression.
Interesting. Which I found really funny. Yeah. As well as an exemplary father concerned about his son whom he accompanied everywhere to class courses or extracurricular extracurricular activities. He always came declared one of his son's teachers.
Others characterized him as polite but and kind but that he always kept his distance never allowing others to get close to him.
He was additionally described as hyperactive and lazy.
Just doing useless shit every time. Yeah. Which many surmised to have attributed to his lack of motivation to a more prestigious career right.
I mean that's in itself is not terrible but then to go and then.
Well he obviously went too far. There's a lot of steps from there to murder you know what I mean. Right. Exactly.
So he wanted easy money but he didn't want to work for it.
One forensic psychologist featured in a video I watched did note that in all of his experience he's never interviewed someone as in like a family member or a close friend of somebody accused of these kinds of crimes.
Who turned out to be a killer.
That none of them have ever described them as a psychopath.
So he's basically saying like you've never interviewed friends and family after the fact and said and they said no he was a great guy.
He was really nice. I can't believe that was the first time. Yeah. Right.
Like he's saying no he's saying that nobody ever describes them as psychopaths. OK. Right. OK. OK.
Like they never end up interviewing somebody that was close to a person who's convicted or or accused of these types of things.
And people were suspecting. Well he was a psychopath. He's clearly he did this. Right. Interesting. OK.
So that's what the psychologist said. So they always lead like some sort of double life.
Fair enough. I mean it's from the crime movies I watched that sounds believable.
By the end of the 1990s all of his scams and misdeeds had accumulated him a mountain of debts causing him problems in his marriage which was further strained by an affair he was carrying on.
He ended up leaving his wife and son and moving to Madrid with his girlfriend. Oh my gosh.
However he did return to Victoria for visits with his son and it seems to commit some pretty brutal crimes.
Gosh I know. Like even just mixing these two things is.
I know. So before we go into like his confessions and trial can we take a break. Let's do that.
Let's take a break. See you soon.
OK. Here we are. We're back. We're back at his trial.
His wife was the first to defend Caldow in her testimony. She was shocked by the accusations.
She showed something. Yeah. She would has the wife. Would you ex wife.
Yeah I guess. Mother of hell after he left me.
Anyway so she said of Caldow he was someone who never raised his voice and he was a very loving father to their son.
So in his own testimony Caldow recounted what had happened the day he killed Big Oña.
All right. So you ready for this. So this is the teacher the 55 year old. No this is the lawyer. Oh right. Sorry the 28 year old lawyer.
On May 24th at around 7 a.m. he took a bus from Madrid to Victoria to find a defense lawyer to represent him in a pending fraud case.
So he had a fraud case pending. Right. And he needed a lawyer in Victoria.
In his suitcase he carried with him items you would typically find when spending a few days out of town.
Some clothes a toiletry case latex gloves and of course a hunting knife.
So it appears he wasn't seeking out the services of any one lawyer in particular.
He had spent his morning in Victoria randomly meeting up with several lawyers to discuss his case.
He was just going from like law office to law office trying to find somebody.
The lawyers that he had met up with prior to visiting the offices of Big Oña Rubio found it strange that he didn't seem to know any of the details associated with this case.
So he was going around saying I need somebody to represent me. But he didn't have a lot of details to his case.
Sounds like he's looking for somebody to kill. Right. Yeah.
At around 430 in the afternoon he arrived at the Goya's office and was made to wait before speaking with her because she had somebody else in her office with her.
So she had a prior appointment or something.
This is when he sat reading a magazine in the waiting area left and that is where his fingerprints were later found. Right.
So he met with Big Oña who briefed him on her fees for representing him and invited him to return later that day when they could lay out the details of his case.
This is when Big Oña caught her would be murderer by scribbling her name or his name into her day planner.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. On his departure. Right.
It didn't save her but it may have saved others.
So later that day, Koldo returned to her office at the accrete upon time and the rest of what happened is according to his own confession and his testimony in court.
Hold on to your chapella. That's right Douglas. Hold on to your chapella because it gets pretty grim.
According to him, when Big Oña had her back to him, he grabbed her by the neck. He stated, quote, I don't know why I attacked her.
But when she started to scream, I got nervous with my left hand.
I covered her mouth and with my right, I took out the knife that I had in my pocket and I plunged it into her chest with the intention of killing her.
Wow. We both fell to the floor on our sides and I kept stabbing her.
I don't remember where or how many times I stabbed her.
After her death, I opened her blouse and I unhooked her bra and lowered her pantyhose. My gosh. End quote.
So I didn't mention this earlier, but it appears as though he was trying to make the murder appear to be like sexually motivated.
However, he insisted that he did not sexually assault her and the autopsy also found there was no evidence of sexual assault.
But some experts have opined that he was in fact sexually motivated because he stabbed her after removing her clothes and after she was already dead,
which some speculate to be like a simulation of a sex act.
So in his own testimony, he was very emphatic. He said, I did not sexually assault or abuse her or have any intention of doing so.
And I did not lie on top of her after she was dead.
So once she was dead, he searched her office and stole four hundred and four thousand five hundred pesetas, which is twenty seven euros from her purse before fleeing the scene.
I know. Yeah.
He went on to recount that he went to a bar of a friend near her office where he had left his travel bag.
He had rolled up his pants and his shirt in order not to draw attention to the blood stains on his clothes.
At the bar, he changed his clothes, had a beer and asked the bartender for some money.
So he had some phone calls.
So one of the calls was to his wife asking about his son and the second one was to the son of none other than our third victim.
I was seen Ruiz not to him, but to his son. Right.
Right. He called him.
And apparently this call to him was to inquire about renting a long from him.
What the fuck? This guy's right. I know.
So he threw the gloves away in a trash container near the bar and spent the rest of the evening going around town trying to get some more money.
So I don't know if he like owed people owed him money or if he was just asking people to loan him money.
Sounds like he was going around like, can anybody give me money? Right.
Everybody's been calling him a scammer. Right. Yeah. In the business world. Right.
So so then he hightailed it out of Victoria on a bus to Madrid, but not before disposing of the murder weapon in a trash container near the bus station located in the area.
Quatro Caminos. When he arrived home to Madrid, he told his partner that he had gotten into a bar fight to explain the blood on his clothes.
Wow. He threw them into the wash into the wash.
Geez. Right. Yeah. Not even out. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. I got in a bar fight and so I have a lot of blood for a bite.
Whatever I don't. Right. Yeah. I mean, like any. But I mean, he ended up leaving her office not that covered in blood, apparently, because he would have stood out.
Right. Leaving the office. But you also said he rolled up his sleeves and his trousers.
Right. So maybe it was only like one hand or something. It seems like it was only one hand that was covered or his pants.
Look, I can see a guy walking around town with his sleeves rolled up. But the moment I see a guy around town with his trousers rolled up.
You're like. All the alarm bells. I mean, I walk around with them rolled up sometimes, but it's like it's a look, you know, it's not it's not a I'm sure his pants wouldn't be rolly upper.
No, they're probably like slacks or something. Formal trousers. So Caldo also confessed to the murder of Augustine Ruiz that occurred in August of 1998.
Not only was he found to have had the set of keys belonging to the victim, but the evidence that really sealed his fate was footage of him coming from the crime scene.
And leaving the crime scene on the security cameras outside of Augustine's business. OK.
Caldo was living in Madrid at the time, but had come to Victoria for an appointment he had with Augustine.
He was captured on camera at 945 a.m. entering the long.
It was evidence in court by Caldo himself that he had had an outstanding debt with Ruiz. And so it was speculated that Augustine expected to collect this debt.
Yeah. At this meeting, but that Caldo had gone with the intention of asking to borrow more money.
An argument ensued and Caldo grabbed the only weapon within reach a screwdriver.
In his testimony, he claimed, quote, At that moment, I saw a screwdriver on top of a machine and as he had me by the neck.
I took it and began to stab him several times from the waist up until he was lying on the ground.
And the autopsy reported that it was 45 stab wounds. My gosh.
So he he's trying to say that Augustine had him by the neck. And this is like a 72 year old man. Right.
Who? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, he's much stronger. He's like 38. Yeah.
This guy. Good point to point out. I mean, if you're right, like if an old guy.
Yeah, he's not. And then Caldo has reportedly been described as like tall and strong. Yeah.
So I don't know if he was trying to make himself sound like I was in self-defense, you know, like sort of thing.
Yeah. Well, that's where he's going with that argument.
But so he went on to testify that after killing the businessman, he pulled his body further inside the premises, fearing that anyone could enter at any time.
He ransacked the entire office area searching for money.
What he didn't know at the time is that he didn't search hard enough because Augustine did in fact have a great deal of money hidden at the premises.
He had one point five million pesetas hidden there or at the place where this long.
And I calculated. Yeah. Nine thousand euros. Yeah. Which is a lot of money.
He did steal the poor man's Rolex watch, his wallet, which contained twenty thousand pesetas, 120 euros.
There we go. And that set of keys. Remember that set of keys that was found in the suitcase. Right.
Yeah. The ones that were later discovered in that suitcase. Why would you take keys?
Well, I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. OK.
At eleven forty five a.m., he was captured for the second time on camera, leaving the premises.
And this time when he was leaving, he had his coat draped over his arm, covering up the blood on his sleeve.
I got this guy. Now you walking around with blood all the time.
So he's in hand. Coldo went to Augustine's home. My gosh.
Yeah. And stole an additional sixty thousand pesetas, like three hundred and sixty euros.
What that he found in a hidden in like a cardboard box.
So he left the premises. He spent that much time there.
He got there at like nine forty five and left at eleven forty five. So he was there for two hours searching that place for money and whatever.
And the body was discovered at twelve.
So he left like right before somebody came and discovered the body.
And yeah, I like this guy was just like lucky. Very lucky.
You know, not not because he was smart, no, just described as smart, but he's clearly not a good killer.
He was just lucky with his victims and the circumstances, I think.
So bars seem to be where he likes to wash up after a bloody murder.
So in this case, he went to a bar. He got cleaned up there and he had a coffee.
It's his ammo. Oh, not a beer this time. Not a beer this time. It's this morning. It's before lunch.
And then he then caught a bus to his hometown of Squitia to change his clothes.
So he then went back to Madrid and he disposed of the wallet and the screwdriver near the bus station again.
And then once he got home, he threw his clothing in the wash.
Yeah. Yeah. So, um, Coldo's defense, his lawyer, right, had nothing to work with, really. Yeah.
He'd confessed. I mean, he was like not going back on it.
All of the psychiatric evaluations that he had could point to no mental disorder or, you know,
that might explain his actions, right? I could say, cosy, let's say, or something like that.
Right. And many would point out that he was just like a narcissist with a really high IQ.
He himself did not provide any plausible reason for having done what he did.
So he was then convicted for those murders.
And so basically the prosecution decided the murders were economically motivated.
Like he was just desperate for money or something.
I mean, it's not true, is it? Yeah. So, I mean, well, kind of.
It's what they ticked the box for, but the guy wasn't looking for, like with the lawyer, there was no money there.
Yeah, I know, right? Like, why would you find money in a lawyer's office?
Is that economic motivation? And he took what, 30 euros or something? Right.
Twenty euros? Ridiculous? Yeah. So that's the, that's the weird thing, right?
Like, I feel like the first one or the Augustine one, maybe. Yeah, you could say.
Or maybe just trying to get out of a debt that you had with somebody.
Like maybe he had borrowed a lot of money from this guy. That one's ambiguous.
And then he did go to the apartment and look for money, which, you know, and he did spend two hours there looking, as you say.
So, yeah. And then with the lawyer, it was more. That's nothing. Yeah, that's different.
He clearly was planning that. He put a knife in his freaking. Pocket. Case. And then. Yeah.
But he brought it from Madrid. Right. Right. That's. And plus the gloves. Come on. Yeah. Yeah.
Stuff that you generally take on a three day trip. Right. You've got some. I mean, I. Yeah. You're right.
It sounds like. No, he's totally. He was into it or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So he was sentenced to 20 years for Augustine's murder and 30 for Begonia's. OK.
I don't understand the difference. Yeah. And I didn't look. So sorry, everybody. Sorry listeners, I didn't look.
But those were the terms. So he had 50 years in prison. OK. Yeah. Paper.
So you might be wondering what about the murders of Esther and Acasio? Right. Yeah.
Our first two victims. Well, because they have similarities. It wasn't for lack of trying. Many experts and investigators believe that Coldo is our man. Yeah.
For these crimes. It just couldn't be proven in court for lack of evidence. Right. Right. I agree with them.
One hypothesis postulates that the chronology and the way in which the four crimes were carried out are almost a carbon copy of his own life. Right. Yeah.
In constant and careless. Yeah. So he worked thoroughly with his first victim and carefully cleaning up the crime scene.
And then he progressively degenerated, like neglecting details until he murdered the lawyer to whom he like left his name and everything. Yeah. Right.
He's also going and said that he'd come back later. Right. And he's also going in this more and more power trip. Right. Yeah.
He's getting he gets away with it more and more. And so he's somehow he's just kind of assuming he's going to get away with it. Yeah.
He might think he is that intelligent. Yeah. OK. So one detail that links Coldo to all these four murders is that he knew all of them.
Esther Arrethio had been his neighbor across the street for three years and they both went to the same neighborhood bar.
The Android. It's a good name. I know. Right. I like that name. Especially for 1999. Right. And the Android.
In addition, there was no forced entry into her house. And so police speculated that she'd opened her door to her killer or knew him. Right.
But I'm inside. How about this survey thing? That doesn't make sense. So I'll bring that up.
The other piece of evidence from her crime was the partially completed survey. Yeah.
Now they have a suspect they could look at his right. They found that among all the other items right in the sports bag when the police analyzed the handwriting it did not match Coldo.
Oh really. But it matched that of a sketchy business associate of his identified in articles only as Enrique P.
OK. It was Enrique that many of Coldo's friends and acquaintances say led him into the like the shadier and shadier business dealings that he got into. OK.
OK. Many described him as a thug and a crook. This Enrique. Right. OK. His handwriting was only a 60 percent match to to that on the survey.
So it could not be used as definitive evidence because I guess you need at least an 80 to 90 percent match.
Yeah. I mean I'm not going to agree with those parameters whatever they're anyway but I think that's fair to go 60 percent. You know I can't.
That's no that's one. And then if you can find others right. It's just that every time I sign my name it's pretty different.
It's like thankfully banks don't look very closely at me. But they don't when they do handwriting analysis they don't do your signature.
They do. Sure. I know like all kinds of stuff. But it's like you know it's like I feel my you know sometimes I get better writing sometimes I got worse.
Yeah. How are you going to do. Me too. Me too. Me too. I'm sure I don't match 100 percent my own writing.
Exactly. So you know that's why I'm saying but they're pretty similar overall overall.
If you know that that's the one thing linking you to this one thing right. So you try to match it but it may not come out the same every time.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So neither of these men's prints were found on the survey.
Okay. Okay. But you know lack of evidence doesn't mean yeah no lack of involvement. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. So it's been speculated that both men went to her apartment and that she was familiar with cold so she let them in.
Right. Or at least let her guard down. And the cleanup and dismemberment was so extensive that it makes more sense that one of the two went to take the ATM.
Yeah. Money. Yeah. They went to the ATM twice. Yeah. Okay. While the other one stayed there to continue with the gruesome job of you know dismembering.
However if you recall the police did find some hair at the scene. Yeah. Which didn't belong to Caldo.
And there was never any mention if it ever belonged to Enrique. So I don't know if they had enough to try to test him.
Especially those years I think a little bit of hairs doesn't sound like enough to do a DNA test in those years. Right. Right. Exactly.
Today I think it would be enough. Yeah. Because in the day I think in those days because I've watched forensic files for many years and you have that you in the past you had to have a root.
Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I and I don't know if it's advanced to this point now where it doesn't need a root.
It probably has. I think so. I think so too. Yeah. So it didn't belong to Caldo at least. Right. And many speculate maybe it was planted.
They think maybe it was planted like a red herring. I mean you've your hair is my apartment Julie and you. Exactly. You come here.
Exactly. And it could have been like but I would imagine that they tested her family members or anything else that might have been an apartment right. Right. Against his hair. Right.
So but you know like you're not family. So they think maybe it was planted by them. Right. OK. Right. To like is like a red herring. I mean he was very careful in the beginning right.
So they might have been that crazy that crazy careful right. Because it was quite careful. Yeah.
Yeah. It's believable. So as of now Esther's crime is considered to be unsolved. Right. And get this Douglas the statute of limitations for her murder has expired. No fucking way. It's 20 years. That's ridiculous. 20 years.
I mean I understand that you have that but that's not enough for a murder like that. I just think that's so crazy and I had to write that's where Gisela came in.
Right. I had to write her and be like is there a statute of limitations on murder. And she goes yeah. Wow. There is. If there's nothing in 20 years you're out.
So as for a Casio Fidelia's murder his link to Calder was similar to that of Esther's in that they would both frequent the same bar or restaurant in Victoria. It was called the Ochan. Ochan Diano.
They both went there and they had been seen playing moose but not together. Right. So they're like if you're a guy that goes and plays moose at a certain bar. Moose is like a card game here. It's a very typical old timer game and a very fast game.
Yeah. So apparently they both had been seen playing this game at the same bar but not necessarily together. Right. Okay. But if you're a guy that goes to this bar and plays moose. Isn't it likely you might know each other. Right. Exactly.
The establishment was near the bus station where he was coming in and out of Madrid. Right. He likes the bus station. And it was also next to the gun shop where police proved that Calder had purchased hunting knives in the past which were very similar to the one that was found on the toilet cistern at Esther's house. Right.
And at one time Calder had opened a business right in front of Acasio's house. So he claimed not to have known him and. Right. He's just trying to get away with it. The case is cold. Expired. It's expired. It's expired. Yeah. Wow. That is horrible. Those two crimes will never be solved or pinned on this guy.
Well they could be solved but he wouldn't be responsible for them somehow. No I think that they've exhausted everything they can to try to solve it. And now I'll tell you the rest of the story. Right.
So let's talk about Calder in prison. So remember he got sentenced to 50 years. 50 years in total. 30 years. During his time in prison Calder worked in the prison commissary and taught usguerra to fellow inmates.
Wow. Public service.
In the end Calder only spent 18 years of his 50 year sentence. He was released early following a heart attack in 2017. He was processed to be released under an Article 104 which allows for the release of inmates with incurable diseases. So quote for humanitarian reasons and personal dignity taking into account the difficulty for them to commit crime and their low potential to be a danger to society.
So he was released in 2017 for an incurable heart condition and returned to his hometown of Escuettia. Escuettia. Escuettia. To live with his mother. Right. Back with mother. Who was actually the only person that ever went to visit him in prison. Right.
He led a seemingly normal life while waiting for a heart transplant. He never did receive a new heart. Good. He died on January 27th 2021.
Was there anything else that was going to say about Calder? Calder. I'm glad he taught Basque. I know I thought you would like that. I thought you would really love that. You know me well. That he was in prison teaching inmates Basque.
And you were like well he's not that bad of a guy. I mean I didn't say that. I said you know at least he served some purpose. Yeah. That was useful. Yeah. And he worked at the commissary. I mean I'm not impressed by that. He probably just wanted to reduce his time there.
No the commissary is like where you sell the shit. Yeah he's probably just yeah he's just double charging. He's getting schemes. He's like a businessman. He's like I'm good at this. Wait I can wheel and deal. As if. The commissary. Very sad. Yeah.
Actually the first crime he would have been maybe implicating a second person if he came clean. So that's another reason for him not to come clean. True. That Enrique guy. Plus the Enrique guy he's probably like dangerous and yeah you know could go kill his son.
Something. Anything. Yeah. Anything. So you know I understand why he didn't. Yeah because they did describe that guy as a thug. Yeah. That doesn't sound like the best crime partner. That's a very good point Devlis.
Well that was fascinating. I'm glad there was a very convoluted limited violence. I mean you know it was bursts of violence and then we could get into like it was proper crime scene investigation episode I thought. Right.
Yeah. Hairs and DNA and knives. Oh of course you got to throw all that in right. But it was all they got. What do they got. All the classics. Well I hope our listeners enjoyed it. All right. Thank you for listening. Yeah. And we'll see you next time.
Goodnight Douglas. And a gur. A gur. Crimes of the Basque Lands is written and produced by. Devlis de Carvalho. Julie Garcia. I'm Megan Dooley. The sound and editing for each episode by. Devlis de Carvalho. I'm Megan Dooley.
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