A judge in Valencia has ordered the transfer to a temporary prison without bail for the man arrested as the suspected perpetrator of the suffocation death of 80-year-old canon emeritus of the Cathedral of Valencia, Alfonso López Benito, the Valencia High Court announced of the Valencian Community in a statement. The prisoner is being investigated for murder and fraud. Both the public prosecutor's office and the private prosecution carried out by the archdiocese requested admission to prison “due to the seriousness of the facts, the evidence emerging in the proceedings and the risk of escape given the prisoner's irregular situation.” .” as the State Ministry reports.
The priest's body was found on Tuesday with signs of suffocation in the bed of his bedroom on a floor of the building where he lived. The man must have died a few days earlier, probably on Saturday or Sunday, although his phone was used later. Sources close to the investigation confirmed that from the beginning they were working on the hypothesis that the alleged perpetrator was a person who was close to the priest and with whom he had a close relationship. Archdiocese sources say the canon has helped people with drug addictions or mental health problems.
It was the building's doorman who found the body, after which the police device was activated. An acquaintance of the canon approached the crime scene and told agents that someone had used the priest's cell phone to impersonate him when he had already died.
On Wednesday afternoon, a day after the body was found, police arrested the suspect, who often stayed at the deceased's house. The government delegate of the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, confirmed the arrest of the man and stated that the person arrested was also the one who had the priest's cell phone.
The Archdiocese of Valencia, led by Enrique Benavent since 2022, issued a brief statement on Tuesday saying it had learned of the canon emeritus' death through the National Police and the media. “We regret this sad death and remain at the disposal of the authorities if the cooperation of the archdiocese could help clarify the matter,” said the statement, in which they expressed their condolences to the victim's family.
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