Manuela Chavero is smiling as she looks towards the building where her alleged murderer is being judged. Her image printed on a banner points directly at the Provincial Court of Badajoz. Her family and friends have placed it there as a witness to the trial that will determine if Eugenio D., her neighbor, raped, killed, and buried her on one of his properties in the town of Monesterio, where they both lived. When the accused finally confessed the location of the body in 2020, four years had passed since Manuela, 42 years old, had disappeared. During those four years, she witnessed the mobilization of the town in search of her. One day, while discussing the case with her mother over the phone, her mother said, “The one who got rid of her wouldn’t have been so dumb to bury her on his own property.” He hesitated. The wall he had built during that time began to crumble.
On July 4, 2016, Manuela had spent the day with a friend, María José, and returned home almost at dawn. Around 1am, she was chatting peacefully with a guy she was flirting with at the time when her messages suddenly stopped. She disappeared in the night, leaving the TV and lights on, and her phone in the house. Her family quickly noticed her absence and realized it was not voluntary. Manuela, known as Manoli to everyone, was a mother of two and was alone during those days because her children were with her ex-husband that month. “From the beginning, I knew they had taken her,” her older sister Emilia testified in court on the first day of the trial. She recalled speaking to the man who now sits accused of her homicide during the time Manuela was missing. “He fooled her and he fooled me. I would walk past him to see if he would hold my gaze. During all these years, has he thought of his children? Has he thought of his children? This is so cruel.” While family members testified, the accused sat behind a screen. Manuela’s mother, Virtudes, recounted spending three years locked in her house: “My friends ran errands for me.” The elderly woman remained calm during her testimony, but broke down in tears as she left the courtroom. The family was supported by dozens of neighbors from Monesterio, whose mayor arranged for a minibus for them to travel to Badajoz.
That July 4th, Eugenio’s day was very similar to Manuela’s. He was 23 years old at the time. He had also spent the day with friends, at the beach, where he stayed until almost dusk. He claims he returned from his beach day with fish. He had so much that it wouldn’t fit in his fridge at home, just a few blocks from Manuela’s house. So, he explained, he went to another property his family owned in the town to leave the extra fish there. That single-family home was located at number 29 Cerezo Street. Manuela’s house was at number 26. The Civil Guard believes that the woman died violently in Eugenio’s house and that before killing her, he raped her. The agents maintain that during the reconstruction, the suspect told one of them, “If there is semen, it’s mine.” The accusations and the prosecution cling to this confession, which the accused now denies, to prove the sexual assault on Manuela.
Eugenio’s version is different and is the one his lawyer has maintained in his responses: “That day I saw the light at Manuela’s house and I thought of stopping by to see if she wanted to take back the crib she had lent me for a friend. We went to her house and we were talking. We didn’t have sexual relations. What I told the Civil Guard afterwards was due to exhaustion, I went to give my statement at night and when I left it was daytime. Yes, I have said inappropriate things to prostitutes on social media and WhatsApp, but that has been all, on social media, many things are said.” He claims that Manuela hit her head in his house, died, and he, scared, undressed her “so that animals wouldn’t bite and unearth the clothes”, buried her on his property, and put stones on the body.
During the trial, 68 experts and around 20 witnesses will testify throughout the week. This is a glimpse of the long journey taken to reach this accusation. Manuela’s ex-husband, who also testified in court, was one of the first suspects for the Civil Guard investigators. It is common to start the investigations around the missing person. It is a search in concentric circles around the victim. Each ring includes the names of several possible suspects. The ex-partner option was quickly ruled out. The agents then reviewed all men with a history of sexual assaults in the area at that time. None of them fit either. They either had alibis, witnesses placing them elsewhere, or their mobile devices far from Manuela. What affects the most is what happens closer. To not miss anything, subscribe.
Years after the disappearance, in the umpteenth twist of the investigation, the eyes turned to Eugenio. The man was interviewed like hundreds of others at the beginning of the investigation, but he was not relevant in those initial steps. It was much later that the investigation placed him at the center. Although he initially said he barely knew the woman, the agents found they had met on multiple occasions. The gas station camera placed his car heading towards Manuela’s house at the time she stopped responding to messages. The investigators obtained judicial authorization to tap his phone and heard several interesting calls, including one where he became nervous and hesitated when his mother mentioned it would be foolish to bury a body on your own property.
The jury was able to see part of the reconstruction of the events done with the accused. In the recording, you can hear the screams of Manuela’s friends in the background. “Tell the truth,” a woman insists repeatedly in the video. In this reconstruction, Eugenio provides vague answers.
– “How did she fall?” a member of the judicial team asks.
– “Well… not exactly sideways or face up,” he responds.
– “Did she call anyone that night?”
– “I don’t remember right now.”
– “Did she shower?”
– “I don’t think so.”
There is a vast gap between the two versions, the same gap that exists between what the accusations and the defense of the accused are seeking. Permanent reviewable imprisonment, for being a murder preceded by a rape, if the jury supports the version of the family’s lawyers, the Clara Campoamor association, and the public prosecutor. Acquittal, if they support the version of Eugenio’s lawyer who claims it was all an accident.
