User:Mariangommez/sandbox
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The Gabriel Cruz murder case[edit]
The Gabriel Cruz murder case[1] [2] or Nemo Operation[3] refers to the events related to the disappearance of the child Gabriel Cruz Ramírez in Spain. It happened on 27th February 2018 afternoon in the town of Almería, Las Hortichuelas, and he was murdered in an estate next to the town of Rodalquilar, both in the municipality of Níjar [4] [5]
The underage child, who was only 8 years old, disappeared when he was going from his grandmother's house towards another relatives' house, which is 100 metres away (30 seconds). For 12 days, his whereabouts were unknown.
A search operation was set up involving more than 5,000 troops, including 3,000 volunteers and 2,000 professionals, making it the largest coordinated search for a missing person in the history of Spain [6]
His body was found on 11th March in the trunk of Ana Julia Quezada's vehicle, who was the father's partner. Previously, the alleged perpetrator of the crime had unearthed the child's body on an estate owned by the paternal family in Rodalquilar, where the murder allegedly took place on the day of the disappearance; she put him in the vehicle and went to her house in La Puebla de Vícar, where she had been arrested by the Civil Guard. They had been following her for some time. Two days later, the defendant confessed the facts [7].
The investigation is still ongoing and it is pending before court.
Context[edit]
Gabriel Cruz Ramírez | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 December 2009 |
| Died | February 27 2018 |
| Cause of death | Murder by asphyxia |
| Other names | Pececillo or Pescaíto (Little fish) |
| Parent(s) | Patricia Ramírez Domínguez and Angel David Cruz Sicilia |
Gabriel Cruz Ramírez left his grandmother's house on Tuesday, 27th February 2018 at 3.30 pm to go to his cousins' house to play. There are 100 metres between both houses going through an unpaved road and crossing the main street of the town, but the child disappeared before getting to his destination. According to the investigators, at 18:00h, when his grandmother realised that he didn't come back to have an afternoon snack, she went to her relatives' house, asked for him and they told her that Gabriel wasn't there and he hadn't been there that afternoon. Then, they started the search with the neighbours. They phoned the parents who were in other towns and they all looked for Gabriel. Around 8.30 pm, five hours later, when they confirmed that nobody knew were the minor was, his family raised the alarm [8].
Almost a week later, the finding of a white t-shirt four kilometres next to the place of disappearance trascended. The Home Secretary himself, Juan Ignacio Zoido, confirmed that the analysis done by the criminology laboratory of the Civil Guard revealed the presence of the disappeared child's DNA on the piece of clothing. Later, the outcome of the investigation showed that the finding of the t-shirt was faked by the presumed murderer of Gabriel [9]. Another fact that gave a clue to the Civil Guard is that when Ana Julia found the piece of clothing it was raining, but the t-shirt was almost dry.
On 9th March, the Spanish press reflected the statement of two witnesses that claimed to have seen a white van prowling through where the child was seen for the last time.
Two days after, the body of the minor was found in another vehicle: Ana Julia Quezada's one, who was, by then, his father's girlfriend.
Sequence of events[edit]
Gabriel, son of Ángel David Cruz Sicilia and Patricia Ramírez Domínguez, disappeared on a little town next to Níjar, known as Las Hortichuelas, 51 kilometres from Almería. The town, set deep in Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, has less than 100 inhabitants.
Although the disappearance took place in the short distance that separates the houses of Gabriel's grandmother and his cousins, the Civil Guard widely extended its investigations a radio of six kilometres from the starting point and twelve kilometres in specific places such as wells, antique mines or uninhabited old houses. Police officers focused their searches on the floats of Las Negras, near to the place where Ana Julia Quezada pretended the finding of the t-shirt. An specialised diving team searched Gabriel's body in the area. Altogether, more than 625 kilometres and more than 500 points were combed, among wells and cisterns.
Another difficulty faced by the investigation was the absence of surveillance cameras in Las Hortichuelas, where there are barely businesses such as restaurants, tobacco shops or banks. There is not even a cash machine in the entire town. The nearest gas stations are kilometres away.
Finally, the detention of Ana Julia Quezada took place in La Puebla de Vícar, 73 kilometres away from Las Hortichuelas [10].
The confessed murder[edit]
Ana Julia Quezada, detained as the suspected murderer of Gabriel, was in a relationship with Ángel. She was born on the 25th March 1974 in La Vega, Dominican Republic. She arrived in Spain in 1995, when she was twenty-two years old, and settled in Burgos with her daughter, to which she gave birth to in the Dominican Republic at the age of eighteen. In 1996 her child, Ridelca Josefia Gil Quezada, which was by then four years old, fell out of a seventh-floor window where they lived and where the child eventually died. The incident has been closed as an accidental death, however, the authorities announced that they would reinvestigate the case after the murder of Gabriel [11].
She got arrested when dozens of agents cut the path of her vehicle while she was about to enter the garage of a block of flats in the town of La Puebla de Vícar. Just after opening the trunk, the investigators found Gabriel Cruz’s corpse.[12]
Although at first she declared that it had not been her who committed the crime, she would finally confess it two days later [13]. Consequently, she was accused of murder, unlawful detention and against moral integrity.
During her first appearance before the judicial director of the Court of Instruction No. 5 of Almería, Rafael Soriano, the detainee was ratified in the statement given before the Civil Guard, in which she pointed out that there was an argument and a fight for an axe before the suffocation of the child. She did so to end with his life and hid his body in the property of Rodalquilar to which she moved the little Gabriel. This version was partially dismantled by the investigators in their official report, in which it is quoted:
The defendant murdered little Gabriel alone, without the involvement of third parties. The child was possibly taken away because of her jealousy. She killed him on the day of his disappearance, suffocating him, buried him and covered his grave with decorative stones and planks. [14]
According to a posteriori statement made by the Accidental Chief Lieutenant Colonel of the headquarters of the Civil Guard of Almería, José Hernández Mosquera, Ana Julia was the main suspect practically since the beginning of the investigation. However, the agents always believed that she kept Gabriel alive and their goal was that she took them to the little child. However, Gabriel was killed the same day he disappeared, as the autopsy confirmed [15].
On 3rd March, a fundamental incident occurred that would later help to solve the case: Ana Julia pretended the appearance of the t-shirt worn by the minor; she said that she had found it at a distance of about four kilometres from Las Hortichuelas. For that purpose, she had to pass a field, reach Las Negras and enter a ravine, something that seemed quite unlikely for the investigators. It should be noted that she was the one who told Ángel to go looking for the child in that area, and it was she who found the garment. Ángel was nearby but not in sight at the time of the supposed discovery. The family recognized it as Gabriel's t-shirt.
According to Civil Guard's sources, the defendant used the t-shirt as a sign to give hope to his partner at that time. Ana Julia's boyfriend lived next to where the t-shirt was found. In all likelihood, she thought that the investigators would lead their research to that person, without success.
On the 11th, Ana Julia went to the house of Rodalquilar while she was being closely guarded. The officers saw how she took out of the garden some boards, some rocks and a body that, apparently, was from a small person that fitted in Gabriel's profile. She put him in the trunk and headed into Almería; she crossed the province and got to Vicar. The investigation team checked the car's trunk and found Gabriel's body covered in a blanket, half-nakede, with underwear and then, they decided to arrest her when she got out of the car.
While in prison, they took statement from her and she pleaded guilty in front of her lawyer. She gave details about how she had thrown Gabriel's clothes into a glass container in the town of Retamar. The officers inspected the place and they found all the clothes except the t-shirt. [16]
The relationship with Gabriel and Ángel's family[edit]
During the search for Gabriel, Ana Julia was actively involved, and she seemed very sad about it. She even gave interviews, cried, pretended and comforted her partner. The Civil Guard revealed that she administered high doses of Diazepam to Ángel, an anxiolytic drug, to calm him down and make him forget about it. She had also tried to convince him for weeks to visit her country together, but he refused. "Calm down, Ángel, when Gabrielito appears, and all this is over, we're going to get married," [17] she said repeatedly.
Impact[edit]
Gabriel Cruz murder case severely shook the Spanish society [18]. Two days before the finding of the lifeless body, there was an important demonstration in Almería capital so as to request the boy's comeback. His parents stated that Gabriel loved fish and drawing them, reasons why he would like to be a marine biologist. From then on, the symbol of the fish filled the windows, schools, public centres and social media throughout the country as a way of support [19].
References[edit]
- ^ abc.es (15 March 2018). «Caso Gabriel Cruz: El juez dicta prisión incondicional para Ana Julia por el asesinato de Gabriel». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavanguardia.com (15 March 2018). «Caso Gabriel Cruz y Ana Julia Quezada: Última hora». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ ideal.es (28 February 2018). «Buscan a un niño de 8 años desaparecido en Almería». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ cadenaser.com (28 February 2018) «Almería vuelve a buscar a Gabriel en la tercera jornada sin el niño». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elpais.com (13 March 2018). «Ana Julia Quezada confiesa que mató al niño Gabriel». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elpais.com(1 March 2018). «Lo que se sabe de la búsqueda de Gabriel, el niño desaparecido en Níjar». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elmundo.es (1 March 2018) «Tras los 140 pasos en los que se perdió Gabriel, el niño desaparecido en Níjar». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elpais.com (12 March 2018). «Una hija de Ana Julia Quezada murió tras caer por una ventana hace 22 años en Burgos». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elpais.com (13 March 2018). «Ana Julia Quezada confiesa que mató al niño Gabriel». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ publico.es (12 March 2018). «Autopsia Gabriel: Gabriel murió asfixiado el día de su desaparición». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elconfidencial.com (15 March 2018). «La Guardia Civil apunta a que Ana Julia mató a Gabriel por celos y no por una discusión». Retrieved 16 March de 2018.
- ^ Noticias del Lara (13 March 2018). «"Tranquilo, mi amor, cuando Gabriel aparezca nos vamos a casar"». Retrieved 16 March de 2018. .
- ^ lasexta.com (11 March 2018). «Todos querían a 'el pescaíto': Gabriel Cruz, descansa en paz». Retrieved 16 March de 2018.
- ^ telemadrid.es (9 March 2018). «Almería apoya a la familia de Gabriel al grito de "le vamos a encontrar"». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
== Gabriel Cruz murder case == [article missing]
Overview of [consider adding a word describing what this place is] Las Hortichuelas, one of the three crime scenes. [] The Gabriel Cruz murder case[1] [2] or Nemo Operation[3] refers to the events related to the disappearance of the child [word] Gabriel Cruz Ramírez in Spain. It happened on 27 February 2018 afternoon in the Almería town [word order] of Las Hortichuelas and he was murdered in an estate next to Rodalquilar town [word order], both in the municipality of Níjar [4] [5] [word order and sentence structure, unclear for those not familiar with Spanish geography]
The underage child, who was only 8 years old, [wordy, consider a shorter form] disappeared when he was going [style] from his grandmother's house to another relatives' house, which is 100 metres away —30 seconds— and,[split sentence] during [LEX - wrong word] 12 days, his whereabouts were unknown.
A search engine [LEX - different meaning] was set up involving more than 5,000 troops, including 3,000 volunteers and 2,000 professionals, making it the largest coordinated search for a missing person in the history of Spain [6]
His body was found on 11 March in the trunk of Ana Julia Quezada's vehicle, who was the father's partner. Previously, the alleged perpetrator of the crime had unearthed the child's body on an state [LEX/typo] owned by the paternal family in Rodalquilar, where the murder allegedly took place on the day of the disappearance;[split sentence] she put him in the vehicle and went to her house in La Puebla de Vícar, where she had been arrested by the Civil Guard. They had been following her for some time. Two days later, the accused of the murder confessed the facts [7].[too wordy, revise the sentence]
The investigation is still ongoing and it is pending before court.
Context[edit]
Gabriel Cruz Ramírez | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 December 2009 |
| Died | February 27 2018 |
| Cause of death | Murder by asphyxia |
| Other names | Pececillo or Pescaíto (Little fish) |
| Parent(s) | Patricia Ramírez Domínguez and Angel David Cruz Sicilia |
Gabriel Cruz Ramírez left his grandmother's house on Tuesday [revise punctuation] 27 February 2018 at 15:30h [revise time order] to go to his cousins' house to play. There are 100 metres between both houses going through an unpaved road and crossing the main street of the town, but the child disapeared [revise gramatic] before getting to his destination. According to the investigators, at 18:00h, when the [consider to put a possessive adjective] grandmother realised that he didn't come back to have the afternoon snack [consider to put a different article], she went to her relatives' house, asked for him and they told her that Gabriel wasn't there and he hadn't been there that afternoon. Then, they started the search with the neighbours. They phoned the parents who were in other towns and, they all looked for Gabriel. Around 20:30h, five hours later, when they confirmed that nobody knew were was the minor [revise grammatic and subject-verb order] , his family raised the alarm [8].
Almost a week later, the finding of a white t-shirt four kilometres next to the [consider to put possessive case] place of dissapearance [grammatic revision] trascended. The Home Secretary himself, Juan Ignacio Zoido, confirmed that the analysis done by the criminology laboratory of the Civil Guard [consider to put possessive case] revealed the presence of the dissapeared [grammatic revision] child's DNA on the piece of clothing. Later, the outcome of the investigation would show that the finding of the t-shirt [consider to put possessive case] was faked [revise verb’s tense] by the presumed murderer of Gabriel [consider to replace with possessive case] [9]. Another fact that gave a clue to the Civil Guard is that when Ana Julia found the piece of clothing it was raining, but the t-shirt was almost dry. On 9th March, the Spanish press reflected the statement of two witnessess [ORT] that claimed to have seen a white van prowling through where [consider to put another word/other words that can give the same idea] the child was seen for the last time.
Just two days after [revise order/lexic], the body of the minor was found in another vehicle: Ana Julia Quezada's one, who was, by then, his father's girlfriend.
Sequence of events[edit]
Gabriel, son of Ángel David Cruz Sicilia and Patricia Ramírez Domínguez, disappeared on a little town next to Níjar, known as Las Hortichuelas, 51km [TIP]from Almería. The town, set deep in Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, has less than 100 inhabitants.
Although the disappearance took place in the short distance that separates the houses of Gabriel's granmother [ORT] and [SUP]cousins, the Civil Guard widely extended its investigations a radio of six kilometres from the starting point and [SUP] twelve kilometres in specific places such as wells, antique mines or uninhabited old houses. [NMS- Officers puede tener diversos significados, ¿Police Officers?]Officers focused their searches on the floats of Las Negras, near to the place where Ana Julia Quezada [NMS- La gramática es un poco forzada]pretended the finding of the t-shirt. An specialised diving team [searched Gabriel's body in the area. Altogether, more than 625 kilometres and more than 500 points were combed, among wells and cisterns.
Another difficulty faced by the investigation was the absence of surveillance cameras in Las Hortichuelas, where there are barely businesses such as restaurants, tobacco shops or banks. There is not even a cash machine in the entire town. The nearest gas stations are kilometres away.
Finally, the detention of Ana Julia Quezada took place in La Puebla de Vícar, 73 kilometres away from Las Hortichuelas [10].
The confessed murder[edit]
Ana Julia Quezada, detained as the suspected murderer of Gabriel, was in a relationship with Ángel. She was born on the 25th of March in 1974 in La Vega, Dominican Republic. She arrived in Spain in 1995, when she was twenty-two years old, and settled in Burgos with her daughter, to which she gave birth to in the Dominican Republic at the age of eighteen. In 1996 her child, Ridelca Josefia Gil Quezada, which was by then four years old, fell out of a seventh-floor window where they lived and where the child eventually died. The incident has been closed as an accidental death, however the authorities announced that they would reinvestigate the case after the murder of Gabriel [11]. She got arrested when dozens of agents cut the path of her vehicle while she was about to enter the garage of a block of flats in the town of La Puebla de Vícar. Just after opening the trunk, the investigators found Gabriel Cruz’s corpse.[12]
Although at first she declared that it had not been her who committed the crime, she would finally confess it two days later [13]. Consequently, she was accused of murder, illegal detention and moral integrity. [No mismo sentido - ¿No se refiere a atentar contra la integridad moral?]
During her first appearance before the judicial director of the court of Instruction No. 5 of Almería, Rafael Soriano, the detainee was ratified in the statement given before the Civil Guard, in which she pointed out that there was an argument and a fight about [¿for?] an axe before the suffocation of the child. She did so to end [SUP - ¿with?] his life and [SS - subsequently] hid his body in the property of Rodalquilar to which she moved the little Gabriel. This version was partially dismantled by the investigators in their official report, in which it is quoted: The defendant murdered little Gabriel alone, without the involvement of third parties. The child was possibly taken away because of her jealousy. She killed him on the day of his disappearance, suffocating him, buried him and covered his grave with decorative stones and planks. [14] [TIP - creo que sería necesario poner comillas]
According to a posteriori statement made by the Accidental Chief Lieutenant Colonel of the headquarters of the Civil Guard of Almería, José Hernández Mosquera, Ana Julia was suspected [No me suena muy bien - ¿was a suspect?] practically since the beginning of the investigation. Still, [No sé si se puede utilizar “still” al principio de una oración] the agents always believed that she kept Gabriel alive and their goal was for her to [GR] take them to the little child. However, Gabriel was killed the same day he disappeared, as the autopsy confirmed [14].
On 3 March, [TIP - número cardinal] a fundamental incident occurred that would later help to solve the case: Ana Julia organized [LEX - reenacted] the appearance of the t-shirt worn by the minor; she said that she had found it at a distance of about four kilometres from Las Hortichuelas. For which [LEX - demasiado literal. Quizás ¿for that purpose?] she had to pass a field, reach Las Negras and enter a ravine, something that seemed quite unlikely for the investigators. It should be noted that she was the one who told Ángel to go looking for the child in that area, and it was she who found the garment. Ángel was nearby but not in sight at the time of the supposed discovery. The family recognized it as Gabriel's t-shirt.
According to Civil Guard's sources, the defendant used the t-shirt as a sign to give hope to his partner at that time. Next to where the t-shirt was found, lived Ana Julia's boyfriend [ESTIL - demasiado calcado al original] and, in all likelihood, she thought that the investigators would lead their investigation to that person, without success.
On the 11th, Ana Julia went to the house of Rodalquilar while she was being guarded [NMS- matíz no reproducido]. The officers saw how she took out of the garden some boards, some rocks and a body that, apparently, was from a small person that fitted in Grabriel's [ORT- nombre mal esccrito] profile. She put him in the trunk and headed to[GR-into] Almería [ORT-sin acento en inglés]; she crossed Almería [ORT-sin acento en inglés][text- redundancia con Almería] and got to[LEX- arrive] Vícar [ORT-sin acento en inglés]. The investigation team cheecked the car's trunk and found Gabriel's body covered in a blanket, semi-nude [LEX half-naked] only in underwears[LEX-with underwear], and it was when they decided to arrest her when she got out of the car.
While in prison, they took statement from her and she pleaded guilty in front of her lawyer. She gave details about how she had thrown Gabriel's clothes into [GRA- in] a bottlebank [LEX- glass container] in the town of Retamar. The officers inspected the place and they found all the clothes except the t-shirt. [15]
The relationship with Gabriel and Ángel's family[edit]
During the search for Gabriel, Ana Julia was actively involved, and she seemed very sad about it. She even gave interviews, cried, pretended and comforted [LEX-consoled] her couple. The Civil Guard revealed that she administeted [ORT- administered] high doses of Diazepam to Ángel, an antianxiaety drug [LEX/AD - anxiolytic] to calm him down and make him forget about it. She had also tried to convince him for weeks to go with her to her country [EST- with her to Ana Julia’s country] , but he didn't want to[NMS- reducen el sentido, refused]. "Calm down, Ángel, when Gabrielito appears, and all this is over, we're going to get married," [16] she said repeatedly.
Impact[edit]
Hommage to Gabriel Cruz in Almería Gabriel Cruz murder[AD- en el original no menciona nada del asesinato, solo el caso en sí] case severely shook the Spanish society [17]. Two days before the finding of his lifeless body, there was an important demonstration in Almería capital so as to request the boy's return/comeback [?? opción múltiple no deshecha] His parents stated that Gabriel loved drawing fish[NMS- dice que le gustan los peces y pintarlos] and he would like to be a marine biologist. From then on, the symbol of the fish filled the windows, schools, public centres and social media of all the country[LEX- throughout the country] as a way of support [18].
References[edit]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gabriel Cruz murder case[edit]
The Gabriel Cruz murder case[1] [2] or Nemo Operation[3] refers to the events related to the disappearance of the child Gabriel Cruz Ramírez in Spain. It happened on 27 February 2018 afternoon in the Almería town of Las Hortichuelas and he was murdered in an estate next to Rodalquilar town, both in the municipality of Níjar [4] [5]
The underage child, who was only 8 years old, disappeared when he was going from his grandmother's house to another relatives' house, which is 100 metres away —30 seconds— and, during 12 days, his whereabouts were unknown.
A search engine was set up involving more than 5,000 troops, including 3,000 volunteers and 2,000 professionals, making it the largest coordinated search for a missing person in the history of Spain [6]
His body was found on 11 March in the trunk of Ana Julia Quezada's vehicle, who was the father's partner. Previously, the alleged perpetrator of the crime had unearthed the child's body on an state owned by the paternal family in Rodalquilar, where the murder allegedly took place on the day of the disappearance; she put him in the vehicle and went to her house in La Puebla de Vícar, where she had been arrested by the Civil Guard. They had been following her for some time. Two days later, the accused of the murder confessed the facts [7].
The investigation is still ongoing and it is pending before court.
Context[edit]
Gabriel Cruz Ramírez | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 December 2009 |
| Died | February 27 2018 |
| Cause of death | Murder by asphyxia |
| Other names | Pececillo or Pescaíto (Little fish) |
| Parent(s) | Patricia Ramírez Domínguez and Angel David Cruz Sicilia |
Gabriel Cruz Ramírez left his grandmother's house on Tuesday 27 February 2018 at 15:30h to go to his cousins' house to play. There are 100 metres between both houses going through an unpaved road and crossing the main street of the town, but the child disapeared before getting to his destination. According to the investigators, at 18:00h, when the grandmother realised that he didn't come back to have the afternoon snack, she went to her relatives' house, asked for him and they told her that Gabriel wasn't there and he hadn't been there that afternoon. Then, they started the search with the neighbours. They phoned the parents who were in other towns and, they all looked for Gabriel. Around 20:30h, five hours later, when they confirmed that nobody knew were was the minor, his family raised the alarm [8].
Almost a week later, the finding of a white t-shirt four kilometres next to the place of dissapearance trascended. The Home Secretary himself, Juan Ignacio Zoido, confirmed that the analysis done by the criminology laboratory of the Civil Guard revealed the presence of the dissapeared child's DNA on the piece of clothing. Later, the outcome of the investigation would show that the finding of the t-shirt was faked by the presumed murderer of Gabriel [9]. Another fact that gave a clue to the Civil Guard is that when Ana Julia found the piece of clothing it was raining, but the t-shirt was almost dry.
On 9th March, the Spanish press reflected the statement of two witnessess that claimed to have seen a white van prowling through where the child was seen for the last time.
Just two days after, the body of the minor was found in another vehicle: Ana Julia Quezada's one, who was, by then, his father's girlfriend.
Sequence of events[edit]
Gabriel, son of Ángel David Cruz Sicilia and Patricia Ramírez Domínguez, disappeared on a little town next to Níjar, known as Las Hortichuelas, 51km from Almería. The town, set deep in Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, has less than 100 inhabitants.
Although the disappearance took place in the short distance that separates the houses of Gabriel's granmother and cousins, the Civil Guard widely extended its investigations a radio of six kilometres from the starting point and twelve kilometres in specific places such as wells, antique mines or uninhabited old houses. Officers focused their searches on the floats of Las Negras, near to the place where Ana Julia Quezada pretended the finding of the t-shirt. An specialised diving team searched Gabriel's body in the area. Altogether, more than 625 kilometres and more than 500 points were combed, among wells and cisterns.
Another difficulty faced by the investigation was the absence of surveillance cameras in Las Hortichuelas, where there are barely businesses such as restaurants, tobacco shops or banks. There is not even a cash machine in the entire town. The nearest gas stations are kilometres away.
Finally, the detention of Ana Julia Quezada took place in La Puebla de Vícar, 73 kilometres away from Las Hortichuelas [10].
The confessed murder[edit]
Ana Julia Quezada, detained as the suspected murderer of Gabriel, was in a relationship with Ángel. She was born on the 25th of March in 1974 in La Vega, Dominican Republic. She arrived in Spain in 1995, when she was twenty-two years old, and settled in Burgos with her daughter, to which she gave birth to in the Dominican Republic at the age of eighteen. In 1996 her child, Ridelca Josefia Gil Quezada, which was by then four years old, fell out of a seventh-floor window where they lived and where the child eventually died. The incident has been closed as an accidental death, however the authorities announced that they would reinvestigate the case after the murder of Gabriel [11].
She got arrested when dozens of agents cut the path of her vehicle while she was about to enter the garage of a block of flats in the town of La Puebla de Vícar. Just after opening the trunk, the investigators found Gabriel Cruz’s corpse.[12]
Although at first she declared that it had not been her who committed the crime, she would finally confess it two days later [13]. Consequently, she was accused of murder, illegal detention and moral integrity.
During her first appearance before the judicial director of the court of Instruction No. 5 of Almería, Rafael Soriano, the detainee was ratified in the statement given before the Civil Guard, in which she pointed out that there was an argument and a fight about an axe before the suffocation of the child. She did so to end his life and hid his body in the property of Rodalquilar to which she moved the little Gabriel. This version was partially dismantled by the investigators in their official report, in which it is quoted:
The defendant murdered little Gabriel alone, without the involvement of third parties. The child was possibly taken away because of her jealousy. She killed him on the day of his disappearance, suffocating him, buried him and covered his grave with decorative stones and planks. [14]
According to a posteriori statement made by the Accidental Chief Lieutenant Colonel of the headquarters of the Civil Guard of Almería, José Hernández Mosquera, Ana Julia was suspected practically since the beginning of the investigation. Still, the agents always believed that she kept Gabriel alive and their goal was for her to take them to the little child. However, Gabriel was killed the same day he disappeared, as the autopsy confirmed [15].
On 3 March, a fundamental incident occurred that would later help to solve the case: Ana Julia organized the appearance of the t-shirt worn by the minor; she said that she had found it at a distance of about four kilometres from Las Hortichuelas. For which she had to pass a field, reach Las Negras and enter a ravine, something that seemed quite unlikely for the investigators. It should be noted that she was the one who told Ángel to go looking for the child in that area, and it was she who found the garment. Ángel was nearby but not in sight at the time of the supposed discovery. The family recognized it as Gabriel's t-shirt.
According to Civil Guard's sources, the defendant used the t-shirt as a sign to give hope to his partner at that time. Next to where the t-shirt was found, lived Ana Julia's boyfriend and, in all likelihood, she thought that the investigators would lead their investigation to that person, without success.
On the 11th, Ana Julia went to the house of Rodalquilar while she was being guarded. The officers saw how she took out of the garden some boards, some rocks and a body that, apparently, was from a small person that fitted in Grabriel's profile. She put him in the trunk and headed to Almería; she crossed Almería and got to Vícar. The investigation team cheecked the car's trunk and found Gabriel's body covered in a blanket, semi-nude, only in underwears, and it was when they decided to arrest her when she got out of the car.
While in prison, they took statement from her and she pleaded guilty in front of her lawyer. She gave details about how she had thrown Gabriel's clothes into a bottlebank in the town of Retamar. The officers inspected the place and they found all the clothes except the t-shirt. [16]
The relationship with Gabriel and Ángel's family[edit]
During the search for Gabriel, Ana Julia was actively involved, and she seemed very sad about it. She even gave interviews, cried, pretended and comforted her couple. The Civil Guard revealed that she administeted high doses of Diazepam to Ángel, an antianxiaety drug, to calm him down and make him forget about it. She had also tried to convince him for weeks to go with her to her country, but he didn't want to. "Calm down, Ángel, when Gabrielito appears, and all this is over, we're going to get married," [17] she said repeatedly.
Impact[edit]
Gabriel Cruz murder case severely shook the Spanish society [18]. Two days before the finding of his lifeless body, there was an important demonstration in Almería capital so as to request the boy's return/comeback. His parents stated that Gabriel loved drawing fish and he would like to be a marine biologist. From then on, the symbol of the fish filled the windows, schools, public centres and social media of all the country as a way of support [19].
References[edit]
- ^ abc.es (15 March 2018). «Caso Gabriel Cruz: El juez dicta prisión incondicional para Ana Julia por el asesinato de Gabriel». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavanguardia.com (15 March 2018). «Caso Gabriel Cruz y Ana Julia Quezada: Última hora». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ ideal.es (28 February 2018). «Buscan a un niño de 8 años desaparecido en Almería». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ cadenaser.com (28 February 2018) «Almería vuelve a buscar a Gabriel en la tercera jornada sin el niño». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elpais.com (13 March 2018). «Ana Julia Quezada confiesa que mató al niño Gabriel». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elpais.com(1 March 2018). «Lo que se sabe de la búsqueda de Gabriel, el niño desaparecido en Níjar». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elmundo.es (1 March 2018) «Tras los 140 pasos en los que se perdió Gabriel, el niño desaparecido en Níjar». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elpais.com (12 March 2018). «Una hija de Ana Julia Quezada murió tras caer por una ventana hace 22 años en Burgos». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elpais.com (13 March 2018). «Ana Julia Quezada confiesa que mató al niño Gabriel». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ lavozdegalicia.es (15 March 2018). «Así fue la «Operación Nemo», la mayor búsqueda de España». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ publico.es (12 March 2018). «Autopsia Gabriel: Gabriel murió asfixiado el día de su desaparición». Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ elconfidencial.com (15 March 2018). «La Guardia Civil apunta a que Ana Julia mató a Gabriel por celos y no por una discusión». Retrieved 16 March de 2018.
- ^ Noticias del Lara (13 March 2018). «"Tranquilo, mi amor, cuando Gabriel aparezca nos vamos a casar"». Retrieved 16 March de 2018. .
- ^ lasexta.com (11 March 2018). «Todos querían a 'el pescaíto': Gabriel Cruz, descansa en paz». Retrieved 16 March de 2018.
- ^ telemadrid.es (9 March 2018). «Almería apoya a la familia de Gabriel al grito de "le vamos a encontrar"». Retrieved 16 March 2018.