The behavior of Nikolay T., alleged perpetrator of three homicides, one of them attempted, in the south of Alicante, changed when he returned from two years of military service in his country.
Upon his return, his family and friends noticed a clear change in behavior.
He became dangerous, consuming alcohol and drugs in large doses and even talking to himself as if he had a multiple personality.
His mother contacted the Torrevieja Hospital in March 2020, months before the crimes, to report that she was afraid because his son was suffering from a psychotic break.
In November of that same year, he had already murdered a farmer in Los Montesinos and a judicial official in the Elche district of La Hoya, and attacked a domestic cleaner in a Torrevieja portal.
The DNA trace of him led to the identification of him:
The Phoenix-progress operation, in which both bodies have participated, began on August 11, 2020, narrates Francisco Balsalobre, head of the Group against People of the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police (UOPJ) of the armed institute in Alicante.
That day “a worker from the Lo Blanc farm in Los Montesinos”, a small municipality near Torrevieja, “reports that he has found the body of Antonio Joaquín Huerta”, one of the workers.
The body had ten stab wounds, including one that severed the carotid artery and another that could be considered almost a throat slit.
The investigation began with the reconstruction of the victim's habits, 44 statements from his surroundings, a DNA sample from an unknown person found at the crime scene and an intense viewing of images from nearby cameras.
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Identified by DNA the alleged murderer of a farmer and an official in Alicante
Three months later, on November 6, the Specialized and Violent Crime Unit (UDEV) of the National Police took charge of the investigation of a homicide, that of the judicial officer Alicia Valera in an irrigation canal in the rural district of La Hoya, in Elche, one afternoon when he was walking his dog.
According to Pedro Puigcerver, head of the UDEV at the Elche police station, a neighbor testifies that a man with a mask, hood and an Eastern accent asked him the time in the vicinity of the scene of the events and he had found it suspicious, "because he had many dark circles and had stared at him for a long time.
Another neighbor who was walking with his children in the area saw a person with the canal water up to his knees attacking another.
Upon discovering his presence, the assailant fled with his victim's slippers,
white with abundant blood stains.
Visual inspection discovered more blood along the channel and traces of DNA on the leash of the victim's dog.
Ten days later, when crossing data with the Civil Guard, they discover that he is the same criminal from the Los Montesinos case.
Both bodies add efforts.
"We looked for similar events that could have occurred in the area", the southern fringe of the province of Alicante, "and we found an attempted homicide carried out with a large knife against a woman", Josefa Samper, attacked a few months before , on July 16, in the portal where she worked as a cleaner, located in the heart of Torrevieja.
After stabbing her shoulder and her victim's shoulder blade, the aggressor escapes when a neighbor intervenes, who defines him as a male 1.75 meters tall, between 25 and 35 years old, shaved hair and Caucasian.
"In principle, there seemed to be no connection," says Balsalobre, "but we related it to the homicides because there was no apparent motive, neither personal, nor economic, nor sexual, due to the spatial and temporal proximity and the use of a similar weapon" .
The genetic tests were compared with 200 investigated, continues Puigcerver.
They suspected a citizen of Ukraine, who had returned to his country, who was ruled out after analyzing his father, whom they located on a visit to Spain.
Meanwhile, the images captured in Los Montesinos revealed the presence of "eight vehicles and a man riding a bicycle" near the time of the crime.
The cyclist's appearance "was similar to that of the Torrevieja aggressor", also recorded on video, which "fitted in all three cases".
The researchers decided to spread the images to collect testimonies.
And it worked.
"We received calls from friends of the murderer who certified, without a doubt, that he was the author of the attempted murder."
One of them recounted that in March,
With Nikolay T. already identified, the investigations required international support.
And it was discovered that the day he killed Alicia in La Hoya, her mother, a real estate agent who worked between Torrevieja, Ciudad Quesada (Rojales) and La Marina, another district of Elche near the scene of the crime, had bought her a ticket plane to fly back to Russia, after having lived 15 years in Spain with no more interruption than the period in military service that upset him.
Interpol confirmed the trip, which occurred on November 20, four days after the murder.
The Russian authorities also reported that Nikolay was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in his country, after being tried for a murder committed in Moscow on December 20, 2020, the fourth crime in his series.
Genetic tests matched the Spanish murders.
The character and symptoms of the alleged serial killer, in addition, coincided with a behavior analysis carried out by specialists from the University of Santiago de Compostela, consulted by the agents.
He advanced that the author of the crimes must be "a disorganized serial killer, of a psychotic nature", characteristics that his victims showed, completely different and, apparently, chosen at random.
In a press conference in which Balsalobre and Puigcerver appeared, in addition to the sub-delegate of the Government, Araceli Poblador, the colonel of the Alicante Command, José Hernández, the provincial head of the National Police, Manuel Lafuente, the head of the UOPJ, Juan Antonio Gómez, and that of the central brigade for Crimes against Persons, Félix López, have indicated that Nikolay's extradition to Russia has been requested,
Meanwhile, the residents of La Hoya breathe easy, says María Antón, a member of the neighborhood council.
"Alicia's murder was a shock to us, we were afraid that she was someone from here," she declares, "we didn't think it was something so far-fetched and sinister."
In a meeting held precisely last night, Thursday, they commented on the clarification of the crime.
"On the one hand, there is the peace of mind that the murderer has already been located," continues Antón, "and on the other, the anger at not having known about those images beforehand, that they would have helped."
For months, they wondered "why this girl, why at that time, why many things that have now calmed down knowing that she was a psychotic serial killer," she ditches.