A fourth arrest has been made in the stabbing death of businessman Jesús Tavira in Alicante, the National Police announced. His body was found buried more than two metres deep in a disused cistern at a house in the community of El Bacarot. A report from the Provincial Police Headquarters yesterday, Wednesday April 29th, stated that the businessman’s body, covered in plastic, had suffered many stab wounds all over.
The police also said the Provincial Scientific Police Brigade has identified the fingerprints on the body found in El Bacarot as those of Jesús Tavira, who has been missing since March 18th. The investigation is ongoing, and other arrests are possible.
It is thought the police are looking into a dispute over 7,000 euros owing to an employee who has been held and who was demanding the money from Tavira as a possible motive for the crime. The dispute appears to have been settled. The employee took legal action but reportedly dropped it later. The employee was claiming reimbursement to his employer for overtime and unused vacation days, which would have amounted to 7,700 euros, according to sources consulted by this publication.
Neighbours have claimed that Tavira supplied and paid €4,000 a month for the house in El Bacarot where his former employee lived with his wife and children, and where the body was found, for a period of two years. The sources said it could have been to pay off a past obligation. But that was the cause of yet another issue, as Tavira did not deal directly with the homeowner, but with his ex-wife. “Those incidents, investigators say, are indicative of prior disputes between the victim and the suspect.
In any case, on the day he had disappeared, Tavira must have gone to that residence on some pretext, and there he was stabbed to death. It is not known if the other Algerian man arrested had any dispute with the victim.
The autopsy of the body found in an advanced state of decomposition in the residence of an arrested couple was performed this morning at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Alicante. It will be established whether the body, other from the stab wounds, has any indications of having been battered or defending itself. The finding of a medal and other personal items, identified by the family, already made police assume the body was Jesús Tavira, this newspaper reported yesterday.
Employee in custody
The first arrest was of an employee of Jesús Tavira, who was a mechanic at his car dealership, his wife and another man, all of Algerian origin, as the alleged perpetrators of the murder, arson of the vehicle and robbery with violence, as the victim was carrying various valuables at the time of the incident. A fourth individual was arrested later for his suspected involvement in the crimes of concealment and property damage after the first arrests. The police connect him to the burning of Tavira’s automobile, which was found totally destroyed by fire in the Virgen del Remedio neighbourhood days after his disappearance.
The prisoners, who are aged between 35 and 45 years, are still in police custody at the Provincial Police Station of Alicante, where agents of the Violent Crime Unit (UDEV) of the Judicial Police are conducting the investigation and continuing to take statements. In reality, mid-morning UDEV operatives arrived at the police station with another male of North African ethnicity.
The inquiry that was opened by the UDEV (Specialised Violent Crime Unit) after Jesús Tavira disappeared on March 18 ruled out from the beginning the hypothesis of a voluntary disappearance. A thorough inquiry was subsequently launched to understand why and who was responsible. Tavira was a significant witness in the trial for the murder of María del Carmen Martínez, widow of the CAM (Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo) president, in the “Sala case,” although sources close to the investigation indicate that his death is not initially believed to be linked to that case.
Suspicion
According to a statement made by the police today, the first suspicions were directed at one of the businessman’s employees. The employee said he had seen the businessman leave the firm the day he disappeared with two other persons after delivering a statement at the police station But this hypothesis was refuted by investigators after a series of checks.
The evidence collected on this employee’s alleged participation in the disappearance of the businessman was compelling in supporting the agents’ theory that there may have been a deadly outcome. In addition, this evidence allowed them to locate the house of the primary suspect in the Alicante suburb of El Bacarot, where the body could be hidden.
Once the initial suspicions were validated, the inquiry moved into its operational phase, obtaining a warrant to search the property under investigation. The operation was a search involving many police units and lasted more than ten hours. During this period the Technical Intervention Operations Group (GOIT), a special squad of the National Police, worked hard on the search and excavation. The effort eventually resulted in the finding of the missing businessman’s body.
tied up and buried more than two metres deep in a cistern on the property The body was in an advanced condition of decomposition and had numerous stab wounds all over it.
The investigation has been conducted by agents of the Violent Crime Group (UDEV) of the Provincial Brigade of Judicial Police of Alicante and has had the collaboration of agents of the Provincial Brigade of Scientific Police of Alicante, the General Commissariat of Scientific Police and the Operational Group of Technical Interventions (GOIT).
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