Workers found a severed human head (Image: Guardia Civil)
A man has reportedly admitted to killing and dismembering his friend, before scattering his body parts across a Spanish town.
Francisco José Agüera disappeared during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the case took a dramatic turn when workers uncovered a bag containing a human head last year.
A suspect informed the Spanish Civil Guard that he killed the victim at his residence in the town of Coín, in the province of Málaga.
He then dismembered the body before concealing the remains and body parts at multiple locations across the area.
Detectives reconstructed the crime as part of Operation Capibara and the suspect was arrested on July 28. He reportedly guided police officers to the precise locations where he had disposed of the body, reports the Irish Mirror.
The town disappeared in the town of Coin (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Mr Agüera’s family remained convinced he hadn’t disappeared of his own accord, and the case took a further twist in June last year when workers from the Alhaurín de la Torre Town Council discovered a bag inside a manhole.
The workers, who were conducting cleaning and maintenance work on an undeveloped plot of land, swiftly discovered the bag contained a human head with traces of hair and several teeth.
It required a further nine months for forensic analysis to confirm the remains belonged to Mr Agüera. Civil Guard maintained the investigation to establish the precise circumstances of the violent death and to identify who was responsible.
Following identification of the suspect, he directed officers to the location where the body’s remains were discovered, near the Carretera de las Canteras. Investigators additionally deployed ground-penetrating radar, drones and sniffer dogs to locate the gruesome remains.
Civil Guard sources revealed that criminal databases, document analysis and court-approved technological methods assisted them in identifying the suspect, who was a friend of the victim.
The man reportedly confessed to the killing (Image: Guardia Civil)
The man appeared before the court at the conclusion of last week where he invoked his right to remain silent.
He was subsequently remanded in pretrial custody without bail and faces charges of homicide. Mr Agüera’s neighbours grew worried about his disappearance and notified local authorities, who then reached out to his sisters.
One of his siblings visited his property in April 2020 accompanied by police officers but discovered nobody inside. His personal effects remained and there was food in the fridge.
Mr Agüera’s sister spoke briefly to the channel Canarias 7 to illuminate the ordeal they have endured for the past six years.
She said: “This is a pain that eats you away, that prevents you from living.”
The grieving sibling also expressed sympathy for the suspect’s family, adding: “The family of the person who did this will also be suffering, and they are not to blame. We have nothing against them.”