Redaccion
The police in Braga (Portugal) have arrested and extradited to Spain a 27-year-old man, of Irish origin and residing in Orihuela (Alicante), as the alleged material author of the homicide of a man in Rojales last December, after the Civil Guard requested a European arrest warrant. In addition, the Civil Guard has arrested another person as an accomplice, a 32-year-old Czech national based in Torrevieja.
The body was found just two weeks after the victim’s father reported his son missing, placing him in Benidorm visiting friends. Investigators, who suspected from the beginning that it could be an involuntary disappearance, found the lifeless body in Rojales after searching the area where they suspected the crime had occurred.
Before this discovery, the agents had already identified the two suspects of the homicide. One of them, the alleged accomplice, was arrested on the same day the body was found, on January 7, as reported by the armed institute in a statement.
The investigation began after the victim’s father reported to the Civil Guard in Xàbia on December 21 that he had not been in contact with his 37-year-old son since Saturday, December 14, when he last spoke to him on the phone. He explained that the young man had come to the province of Alicante to spend a few days with friends from Ireland.
Thinking his son was in Benidorm and unable to locate him, the father traveled to Spain with the intention of finding him. At that moment, he informed the authorities of these events.
Thus, the Civil Guard began to reconstruct what might have happened, starting from the moment the missing young man arrived in Spain on December 6, 2024, locating the people who had contact with him since that day and gathering witness statements.
Testimonies indicated that around the day the victim last contacted his father, he had been in the company of two individuals who became the prime suspects in his disappearance.
Investigators then began to gather evidence to locate the individuals involved and solve the case. Thus, on the morning of January 7, the Judicial Police officers found the body of the missing person in a rural area of Rojales, where they had narrowed down the search.
That same day, a couple of hours after locating the lifeless body of the young Irishman, the Civil Guard arrested one of the two accused as an alleged accomplice. He is a 32-year-old man, based in Torrevieja and of Czech nationality, who, after being brought before the court of instruction number two in this municipality, was released on bail, with the prohibition of leaving the country, among other precautionary measures.
ARREST IN PORTUGAL
Meanwhile, the armed institute continued its work on the trail of the other suspect, considering him to be the alleged material author of the homicide. According to information gathered by investigators, once the relatives reported the young man’s disappearance, the main suspect apparently left Spain hastily, accompanied by his partner, and even abandoned two dogs in the residence where he lived to evade capture.
The Civil Guard then requested a European arrest warrant for the fugitive and the collaboration of several foreign police forces through Interpol, which eventually led to his location in Portugal on March 25. He was arrested by the police in Braga and extradited to Spain on April 3.
The alleged material author, after being brought before the court of instruction number one in Badajoz, has been remanded in custody without bail. He is a 27-year-old man, of Irish origin and residing in Orihuela, with a history of multiple offenses in his home country.
AUTOPSY
The autopsy revealed that the young man’s death occurred on the night of December 14, from gunshot wounds, the same day he last spoke to his father and a week before the disappearance was reported.
The investigation was carried out by the Organic Unit of Judicial Police (UOPJ) of the Civil Guard in Alicante, mainly by the Judicial Police Team of Pilar de la Horadada, along with the Criminalistics Laboratory of the Command and international support from the police of several European countries, particularly Portugal.
