The National Police yesterday arrested two minors, aged 17 and 16 and residents of Burgos, for the death of an 83-year-old woman in her home on Vitoria Street, in the Gamonal neighborhood. The hypothesis of death is robbery since the teenagers took an abundant amount of jewelry that has already been recovered, according to investigation sources told EL MUNDO. In addition, the agents are looking for more people involved in the events, so it is not ruled out that more arrests will be made in the coming hours.
Investigators do not understand the robbery and death of the elderly woman without the collaboration of more people. The house presented an appearance of absolute chaos. Everything was mixed up, the closets remained open and their contents appeared scattered, mixed with the objects that had been taken out of their places and abandoned in an orderly manner throughout the different rooms. The disorder was widespread, to the point that the house seemed to have been subjected to a thorough and hasty search. Open drawers, misplaced belongings and scattered belongings made up a scene that reflected the magnitude of the commotion.
The elderly woman died from respiratory failure after being gagged and immobilized, which prevented her from accessing the oxygen device that she needed in her daily life. Investigators have concluded that the minors' intention was not to kill the woman but to rob her and that the pathology she suffered caused her to die after being gagged. The victim required constant care and had two caregivers: one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
Precisely, it was one of these women who helped her with household chores who found her body when entering the house. Two hours ago, the victim's nephew, who came to the house to cover the time between the presence of one helper and another, had left. The detainees were located last Friday night and gave a statement at dawn, and late yesterday morning, once the police report was completed, they were placed at the disposal of the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office acting as guard in Burgos, which must decide on their admission to a juvenile center as a precautionary measure.
The National Police agents also managed to recover several of the gold jewelry stolen from inside the home. From the first moment, the death was investigated as a homicide and robbery was worked as the main hypothesis. The events occurred in the Gamonal neighborhood, the epicenter of a neighborhood protest that had national repercussions in January 2014, when protesters mobilized against the works to transform Vitoria Street into a boulevard in a protest with severe altercations.
According to the preliminary autopsy, the victim's body did not show other signs of violence, as detailed by police sources consulted by this newspaper. The taking of statements also made it possible to define with great precision the moment of the events: the robbery and the death of the woman occurred during the afternoon of last Tuesday. Specifically, the robbery and death occurred between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. From there, the agents carried out numerous investigative efforts, including viewing cameras, which allowed them to reach those now detained. The samples collected by the Scientific Police, which are analyzed in the laboratory, will be decisive.
