Real de Zaragoza beach, about seven kilometers east of Marbella city center, is a little piece of paradise. It is away from the noise and there is hardly any development around it. On Friday, the temperature there at dawn was around 12 degrees. The Mediterranean Sea looked like an oil reservoir and many people were walking on the seabed next to the last dunes of the Costa del Sol. A few hours earlier Leonel H., a 45-year-old Colombian, explained how right there, he had his ex-girlfriend Natalia killed. He beheaded her, cut off her hands and slit open her stomach. With precise gestures, he indicated to the police how he then threw each part into the sea. A horrific crime, the fifth sexist crime he has confessed to this year so far. He’s already in prison.
The couple met last spring. Natalia was born in Cali 46 years ago and traveled to Marbella from Colombia five years ago to help her two children who are now in their twenties and have stayed there. I’m studying nursing. In Spain she worked as a cleaner and in the household. Born in Bugalagrande – about 100 kilometers north of Cali – he traveled to Marbella early last year to work on the construction site. They began a relationship in June, which they maintained for five months until November, when she decided to call off the engagement when she confirmed his violent nature. “She was very devoted and wanted to get married first before committing herself to him,” her niece Karen Etayo recalled to Europa Press this Saturday. “He didn’t like it and started harassing her,” she added. The situation escalated in December and she condemned it. “My aunt has steeled herself,” Etayo said. “She always told my grandmother that she was very scared,” says the niece.
At around 6:00 p.m. on December 19, Leonel beat Natalia. It was “a headbutt on the nose that caused injuries” during an argument, it said just two days later in the court’s verdict for violence against woman no. 1 in Marbella. The judge agreed to ban her from communicating with her ex-partner or coming within 500 meters of her for 16 months. The sentence included six months in prison, suspended for two years on condition that Leonel would not commit a crime or violate the restraining order. It wasn’t long before he defaulted: shortly after, he called her to threaten her. “If they had left him in prison, she would still be with us,” lamented her niece, who posted a video on social media asking for help bringing the body back to Colombia. According to La Opinión de Málaga, the victim had the lowest level of VioGen protection, with no specific police protections. According to the Interior Ministry, 75,140 female victims of sexist violence are being monitored.
Members of the Civil Guard’s Special Underwater Activities Group (GEAS) during search operations this Friday. Garcia-Santos (The Country)
Last weekend Leonel brought Natalia near the beach of Real de Zaragoza with the help of a friend. He cut off her head, her hands, slit open her stomach and threw her into the sea. He wanted to make it difficult to identify him. The body was found early Sunday afternoon by some diners at the Club 200 restaurant on Las Cañas beach, three kilometers from where it was dumped. It is the stretch of coast that the Civil Guard’s Special Group of Underwater Activities (GEAS) has been combing since Thursday in search of Natalia’s remains. “It’s a complex task,” explained one agent as his colleagues aboard a Zodiac, escorted by a patrol boat, slowly navigated a route along the lines parallel to the coast. The boat pulled one diver—there were five, taking turns—underwater. One of them, after going ashore, grimaced at the difficulty. The area is flat and easy to see, but too wide, he pointed out. The work will continue over the next few days.
Two investigations that were one
This Friday, a Civil Guard officer walked slowly and with her eyes on the ground, searching for tracks through the dunes. Katrine, a French woman who walks through the area every day, watched her as she recounted on Friday the surprise she experienced the day before when she saw numerous members of the National Police searching the same place. “It’s a very quiet place, maybe that’s why he chose it,” he said. Cleaners and several fishermen said they were not surprised to find the body. “This is Marbella,” one of them summarized. The field of settlements between drug trafficking organizations, the news of shootings, murders, kidnappings or torture were accepted as normal. In 2010, some hikers found the body of a man with his head covered by a plastic bag and his stomach sewn up with fishing line: the drugs inside him had been taken out.
The body’s relationship to drug trafficking was one of the earliest police hypotheses. It did not last long. Hours after the discovery, a brother of Natalia went to the police station. He had seen a video uploaded to social networks and thought he recognized his sister. He pointed directly at Leonel, who was under a restraining order. Marbella police station prepared a device and arrested him early Monday on charges that he breached the restraining order. It was then pointed out that there were two parallel investigations: one to find out Natalia’s whereabouts, led by the National Police, and another to identify the body, led by the Guardia Civil. The reality is that they were always together and Leonel was the prime suspect.
He denied his connection to the crime. Until he confessed to killing her on Wednesday, just before 72 hours after his arrest. In the late afternoon, the police took him to the beach to reconstruct what happened. The next day, Thursday, the judge ordered his morning jail time on a murder felony charge. Shortly thereafter, after 3:00 p.m., the Civil Guard reported that the DNA tests performed on the body found in the sea were those of Natalia. At that time, outside the gates of the Marbella courts, the police brought the confessed perpetrator of the crime before the press. “Murderers!” cried the few present. His friend, who is being investigated for his involvement in a murder crime, has been released on bail. His van was located in Madrid and intervened. The matter has been declared secret by the Marbella No. 1 Violence Against Women Court, which has jurisdiction over a case that has lasted a week.
“Something isn’t being done right”
This Friday, the mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz, held a minute’s silence in front of the gates of the town hall together with a large part of the city administration. He was accompanied by numerous members of the local police, national police and civil guard, all men. The city council took the opportunity to launch a criticism of the government, calling for “additional measures to prevent this type of behaviour”. “Society is outraged by numbers that are unaffordable. It is necessary to reconsider that something is not being done well when the data continues to grow year after year despite the fact that it should be said that there is a government policy in this area,” he explained.
Telephone 016 supports victims of sexist violence, their families and those around them 24 hours a day, every day of the year in 52 different languages. The number is not registered on the phone bill, but the call must be deleted from the device. They can also be contacted by email at [email protected] and by WhatsApp at 600 000 016. Minors can call Fundación ANAR at 900 20 20 10. In emergencies you can call 112 or the National Police (091) and Civil Guard (062). And if you cannot call, you can use the ALERTCOPS application, from which an alarm signal with geolocation will be sent to the police.