The First Vice-Lehendakari and Security Minister, Josu Erkoreka, revealed this Friday a new piece of information in the investigation that is being carried out on the alleged serial killer who has acted in Bilbao.
Until now it was known that the criminal had tried to attack a person who managed to get away.
Erkoreka assured early in the afternoon that there have actually been two cases in which the criminal failed.
However, the Vice President was very cautious when reporting, because, in his opinion, "the presumption of innocence must be preserved" and "the success of the investigation must be guaranteed."
He added that the Ertzaintza has a high degree of resolution of murders.
"We are in good hands," he summed up.
According to Erkoreka, the Basque police are currently investigating four murders and two attempted murders,
More information
The Ertzaintza extends to eight the deaths for which it investigates the alleged Bilbao serial killer
There is one person under arrest: Nelson David MB, 25, who on Thursday voluntarily presented himself at a police station in Irun (Gipuzkoa) because, related to the case, his name and photograph were made public in several media outlets and jumped onto social media.
The man, effectively wanted by the police for the matter, has been arrested and is still giving a statement.
The detainee, born in Colombia, arrived in Spain more than three years ago, and has denied his involvement in the alleged multiple murders and has shown his willingness to collaborate in the investigation.
A complaint by a victim who escaped from the alleged murderer put the police on the trail of David MB Now, a second attempt can clarify many things.
Also this Friday, the Ertzaintza has searched a house located at number 6 Pinar de Irun street in the presence of the young detainee.
After 4:05 p.m., the arrested person, guarded by regional police officers, has left the place, covered with a black hood and wearing a mask, reports Efe.
The case has shaken Basque society and, specifically, the LGTBI community, given that the victims contacted the murderer with gay contact applications.
In this regard, the counselor wanted to make it clear that, despite the fact that the investigation has been going on for months, no notice was given "so as not to generate alarm" due to the lack of conclusions.
In social networks there are many accusations from members of LGTBI groups who accuse the Ertzaintza of not having informed before.
But not everyone in the LGTBI world thinks that way: several spokespersons for gay observatories and groups in the Basque Country, contacted by this newspaper, assure that it is better to remain calm and not speak out until the information ends.
“There will be time to know if it has been done well, quickly or slowly.
Now is not yet the moment”, assures Óscar Arroyuelo,
Secretary of the Basque LGTBI Observatory.
Of the same opinion is Amets Martínez de Heredita, coordinator of Ikusgune, Observatory against LGTBphobia of Vitoria.
The detainee denies being the author
Basque police investigators are convinced that the detainee is the perpetrator.
The agents need to reinforce the burden of proof in one of the most tricky investigations in the history of the Ertzaintza.
However, the arrested person, born in Colombia and who arrived in Spain more than three years ago, has denied his involvement in the alleged multiple murders and has shown his willingness to collaborate in the investigation.
The regional police keep the arrested person in the Irun police station, since he can remain in police custody for 72 hours before being brought before the judge, who must determine what type of crimes he is charged with.
Before the arrest, he was wanted for an alleged crime of battery.
The detainee could be accused of homicide, since the police suspect that he met his victims through a social network of contacts and that he later drugged them with liquid ecstasy and robbed them.
Another aspect that the investigation should clarify is whether the motivation of the alleged perpetrator is strictly economic (theft) or has homophobic overtones.
More information
The suspect of eight murders in Bilbao goes to the Ertzaintza to deny his authorship
The suspect, according to sources from the Basque Department of Security, denied being the author of the acts with which he was accused and said that he had gone to the Ertzaintza offices in the border town after having seen his photograph published in some media outlets and knowing who was being searched.
Initially, he only has an arrest warrant for a crime of injuries from the Investigating Court number 6 of Bilbao, since the complaint of one of his victims in December, who managed to get away from him, was the one that put the police on his track, and related it to other previous similar cases, resulting in death.
This is one of the two cases of attempted murder investigated by the Basque police.
The detainee, who was in an irregular situation in Spain, also has a record for fraud in 2019 in Bizkaia.
The head of the court has shown his discomfort at the dissemination of the identity and image of the now detained before the Ertzaintza arrived to do so with judicial authorization.
The investigators face an added difficulty in this investigation, since the fact that initially the deaths of the victims —four of them registered between the months of September and November— were classified as "natural" has meant the loss of much evidence and traces .
"Some bodies have already been cremated, the autopsies are incomplete and no visual inspections were carried out at the scene," warn police sources.
Before his speech at a press conference, Erkoreka stressed that the judicial secrecy that weighs on the case "logically limits" the information that can be provided about it.
However, he has explained that he will transfer to the media and citizens "what is possible to transfer" without harming the investigation.
The Basque police had increased the number of deaths under investigation from four to eight —which have once again been four, plus the two attempts, at the press conference this Friday afternoon— for having a common pattern: the victims are men who supposedly the perpetrator of the crimes had located them through the dating network, whom he then drugged and robbed (subsequent movements in their current accounts were denounced by relatives).
The Ertzaintza had been tracking Nelson David MB, who called himself Carlos, at least since March.
And the first data that allowed him to be identified was left by himself when he fled from the house of the man who denounced him in December, who reported that he was able to get away from his assailant when he tried to strangle him.
Inside the backpack that Nelson David MB forgot at home,
The investigations are also carried out in the Valencian Community and in Madrid, where it is not ruled out that the suspect has participated in other criminal acts.