A judge in Valencia has decreed the entry into provisional prison without bail of the man arrested as the alleged perpetrator of the death by asphyxiation of the canon emeritus of the Cathedral of Valencia Alfonso López Benito, 80 years old, as reported by the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community in a statement.
The detainee is being investigated for a crime of homicide and another of fraud.
Both the Public Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution, carried out by the Archbishopric, have requested entry into prison "due to the seriousness of the facts, the evidence that appears in the proceedings and the risk of escape, given the irregular situation of the detainee." as reported by the Public Ministry.
The priest's body was found on Tuesday with signs of having been asphyxiated 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 worked with the hypothesis that the alleged perpetrator of the death was a person close to the priest and with whom he could maintain an intimate relationship.
Sources from the archbishopric indicated that the canon helped people with drug addiction 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 scene to tell the agents that someone was using the priest's cell phone to impersonate him when he had already died.
On Wednesday afternoon, a day after the body was found, the police arrested the suspect, who frequently frequented the deceased's house
.
The Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, confirmed the man's arrest and indicated that the arrested person was also the one who had the priest's mobile phone.
The Archbishopric of Valencia, led since 2022 by Enrique Benavent, issued a brief statement on Tuesday explaining that it had learned of the death of the canon emeritus through the National Police and the media.
“We regret this sad death and we are at the disposal of the authorities in case the collaboration of the archbishopric could serve to clarify the facts,” stated the note, in which they conveyed their condolences to the victim's family.