Concern has given way to indignation just days after a Guardia Civil officer, his wife, and their son were discovered dead in the Dolores barracks.
Several posters announcing the date and location of the burial—in this case, not for all three family members, but simply for the 55-year-old father—have been put up in public and often visited sites, as is traditional in the town to announce burials. The fact that the message is similar to any other death rather than that of a suspected killer has shocked some.
The Government Delegation against Gender Violence has acknowledged that the events are being looked into as a potential case of gender violence when the inquiry is under seal and secrecy is at its greatest in a case that has severely affected the security forces.
In particular, the poster that was distributed, during the third day of official mourning ordered by the City Council, and which gained widespread attention on Tuesday, announces Mariano’s death at the age of 55: “His family requests prayers for the eternal rest of his soul and attendance at the mass and his subsequent burial,” which will take place today, Tuesday 19th May, at 7 p.m. in the chapel of the La Siempreviva funeral home in Alicante, the same location selected to say goodbye to the 51-year-old woman and her 24-year-old son.
She was born in a Granada village and relocated to Dolores in 1996 with her husband, who was from Jaén and had graduated from the academy the same year to become a Guardia Civil officer. Despite working in a workshop in a nearby town, their son was born and raised in Dolores. Despite not being from the town, the family had developed close social ties in this 8,500-person municipality in the centre of the Vega Baja agricultural region.
Today, Tuesday, relatives and acquaintances are also distributing a request for a memorial mass for Marisol and Alberto. “There are smiles that are never forgotten, and yours will remain forever as a reflection of the love and light you left in our lives. Your friends and all of us who were lucky enough to know you will never forget you” is the heartfelt message that ends the mass, which will take place on Friday, 22nd May, at 8 p.m. in the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Five drawings and some flowers have been taped to one of the windows in a building near to the barracks. “Beautiful souls never wither,” one of them says. “May heaven heal you from the injustices of the earth” is another message.
Finding the bodies
An officer’s colleague discovered the dead on Saturday at approximately 11 a.m. The Guardia Civil officer was discovered in the corridor with his handgun next to him and a gunshot wound to his head, while the mother and her son were in one of the rooms covered with a sheet.
Everything suggests that the agent, who was part of the Dolores barracks investigative team, killed his wife and son before taking his own life, even if the inquiry is still ongoing.
After the forensic physician intervened, the remains were removed at around 2:45 p.m. and taken to the Institute of Legal Medicine of Alicante in two vans.
The City Council suspended all municipal operations and declared three days of formal mourning on the same day. At 7:30 p.m., a special and urgent plenary session took place. In remembrance of the victims, more than 400 people gathered in the Town Hall square to observe a minute of silence.
According to Mayor Joaquín Hernández, there is no proof that outsiders entered the facility, and the facilities have a video monitoring system and officers on duty around-the-clock. He also attested to the fact that each of the three victims had been shot. Pilar Bernabé, for her part, reaffirmed that gender-based violence is “one of the lines of investigation” and pointed out that the woman had not previously reported or complained to the Viogen system.
