Marta C. told police that the death of Pilar M., the leader of her neighborhood church, was an accident and that she was shocked to see her body, sources close to the case report. The 34-year-old woman was arrested last week and accused of the murder of the 68-year-old woman with whom she had a dispute over the payment of debts from the farm in Madrid’s Carabanchel district. This was explained to agents when they arrested her, and she later confirmed this version before the judge who ordered her remanded in custody on Saturday. Marta assures that her neighbor was hit and that when she saw that he had died, she was scared and decided to dispose of the body. Last Wednesday, the burned remains of the victim were found at a rubbish dump in the prisoner’s town of Toledo.
Police and the leader of Trial #28 believe there is sufficient evidence that Pilar’s death was not a result of an accident. That circumstantial evidence, which includes the victim’s remains at the arrestee’s home, prompted the judge to order his provisional detention “on charges of allegedly committing homicide” without bail. Police, close sources confirm, continue to gather evidence “to the millimeter” to reconstruct how Pilar’s murder took place. These tests are analyzed at the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences. The victim’s remains are in a very poor condition.
According to testimonies collected in the neighborhood, Pilar and Marta had arranged to go to a bank branch near the building where they both lived on Monday, February 27, to pay off some debts that the thirty-year-old allegedly owed he had community. Pilar had assumed the post of president in November and proposed putting the accounts in order. Both women lived just a few doors away on the same landing.
All evidence indicates that the crime took place in Marta’s home, that she later placed the victim’s body in a suitcase, and that she drove to her town of Las Ventas with Peña Aguilera, an hour away, on the same day., and one half from Madrid. There he attempted to cremate Pilar’s remains, though they weren’t fully calcined, and ended up leaving them in a white container in a clean spot on the outskirts of this town of just over 1000 people. She returned to Madrid three days later, where she was arrested.
At 11 a.m. Monday, the detainee will appear before the judge to confirm or change her version of the facts. It will be the head of investigative court number 32 who will have to decide whether to confirm Marta’s provisional detention.
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