When delivery man and plumber who grew up on the same street in Vallecas kidnapped young Anabel Segura In La Moraleja (Madrid) Spain there were almost no cell phones or security cameras. Few credit cards or GPS tracking systems to make police work easier. Not to mention social networks.
The kidnappers then called from the phone booths and demanded -150 million (in pesetas, no euros) for ransom. A TDK tape recorded over Mecano’s latest LP, aidelai.
It happened on April 12, 1993, and for perhaps the last time the police had to conduct an analogical, creative and artisanal manhunt. hypnosis, by Paco Lobatón for the ‘Who knows where’ program and knowledge of German police BFK expertHerman Künzel to find the kidnappers.
Anabel Segura was 22 years old and was the eldest daughter in the family. José Segura, businessman in the petrochemical industry and Sigrid Foles. April 12, 29 years ago, he had stayed at his family chalet in La Moraleja to prepare for his fourth year Business Studies exams at ICADE, a private university in Madrid.
Her family was spending a few days on the Costa del Sol, and only service worker Rosa was in the house. Around two in the afternoon, young He took his Walkman and went for a run On the streets of luxury urbanization La Moraleja near Madrid.
a white minivan
Shortly after, the two men got out of a white van and shoved her inside with a knife. A man saw her from afar, Antonio, keeper of the Scandinavian school. Antonio had a good memory, but poor eyesight: he explained to the police what he saw. two young men put the girl in the van but couldn’t tell plate number.
It was even exposed two hypnosis sessions to see if you remember anything. For the first time in a police station; one with the second specialist “bearded and foreign” who advises him to listen to the waves of the sea. It didn’t work.
The night before he kidnapped and killed Anabel Segura, Emilio ‘el Facha’ asked his wife: “Felisa, what would you do with 130 million?”
Two days later, the kidnappers a dozen phone calls Ransoming Anabel Segura’s family, all phone booths. At the time, calls could not be tracked with the accuracy that satellite systems provide today, and police knew only that a few had passed through the country’s phone lines. center san antonserving the numbers Vallecas and Entrevias neighborhoods.
Rescue by taxi
The first call was made by a shy man. stuttered while demanding ransom. The rest was done by another man who was much more balanced. He demanded 150 million pesetas for releasing Anabel.
The kidnappers tried to get the ransom twice. Spokesperson for both, Raphael Escuredo President of the Junta de Andalucía, in a taxi. driver actually Police Homicide Chief.
At the first opportunity, Escuredo had to leave. gym bag with money At kilometer 126 of the Nacional II, Sauca Bridge (Guadalajara). One of the kidnappers was hiding in the bush; the other one passed by it a few times in the minibus, but he did not trust and continued on his way.
On May 6, the second attempt took place. The kidnappers wanted to collect the ransom; Police arrest. The date was in the kilometer this time 160 National 400, near Tarancon (Cuenca).
The head of investigation was driving the taxi again, carrying Escuredo, the gym bag with the money. at the back, under the blanket, a police officer from the Special Operations Groups (GEO). Another one in the trunk.
sleeping man kidnapper
A kidnapper passed by in the van, but he got scared and left before he could get his accomplice, who was hiding in a nearby forest, and had to walk a few kilometers Until we reach Cuenca. He fell asleep at the bus stop, exhausted. A uniformed policeman woke him up and asked what he was doing there, and the kidnapper replied: “Gezi”.
After that part, two thieves quarreled They did not see each other until they were arrested and led the police to the place where Anabel was killed and buried.
In the heat of that night, a group of men took his gym bag with the ransom money. The cops jumped on them. Them a gang of masons and they didn’t know what was in the bag.
Police feared from an early age. Anabel Segura was not alive. He advised the family spokesman to ask the kidnappers for details only he would know. For example, in which city in Germany was Anabel’s mother born. The kidnappers did not know how to respond: Germany, they insisted.
fake tape
The kidnapper, who had the upper hand in the face of the spokesman’s questions, ordered his wife Felisa: record a tape She poses as Anabel Segura. Felisa, a woman who has been abusedIn the town of Pantoja (Toledo), a mother of four and churrera adopted her husband because of “insurmountable fear”, according to the sentence that sentenced her to two years in prison.
The recording arrived by post at the Segura family home in La Moraleja on June 28, 1993. It was a 90-minute TDK brand cassette. “Hi parents, I want to tell you I’m fine. what is he sleeping in? These people don’t look down on me…” The family quickly realized that the voice wasn’t Anabel’s.
“Chili Pepper” and Mecano
After the woman’s voice, the kidnapper’s voice was heard: “If all our demands are not met in the delivery of the money, within thirty days of receiving our tape, we will implement it… police spokesperson has less flavor than paprika“.
The police couldn’t believe what had happened later, when the kidnapper finished their threats. Several people heard in the background A song from Mecano’s album Aidalai.. They had recorded the message on top of the music. It was also heard to a child, the squeak of a door and the sound of a doorbell.
That recording was sent to all police districts. We examined in which regions of Spain the expression “pimientos coloraos” is used.
Vallecas neighborhood and paprika. The kidnapper was also a family man, possibly a criminal with a criminal record. His accomplice had disappeared. But there was no sign of Anabel.
Police investigators touched everyone confidants looking for robbers this had made them work hard in recent years. They’re convinced that one of them might be behind the kidnapping.
Prisons and Television
In September 1994, police asked the judge for permission to go to the prisons and play the tape with the voice of the kidnapper on dozens of trusted inmates to see if they recognized them.
Also, Dr. They also go to the German police BKA, where Hermann Künzel works, then the biggest specialist in sound analysis. He will choose the sentences that will be broadcast in the program. who knows whereIn that case Directed by Paco Lobatón on Spanish Television.
In November 1994, trailers of the search for the kidnappers were broadcast on television, which the German expert selected and left out the “cayenne peppers”. More than 30,000 tips reach a toll-free hotline. Police are investigating as many as ten thousand of them.
In May 1995, a citizen called, thinking he knew the kidnapper: “The one who spoke, Emilio ‘Facha’, He works as a delivery man and owns a white van.
Emilio ‘Facha’
Emilio el Facha Emilio Munoz Guadix, Felisa García has a husband and four children. She grew up on Sierra Morena street in the town of Vallecas and went to jail. 19 years old for theft with a shotgun. After Anabel’s abduction, investigators Complaint for losing your identity.
With this excuse, they call him and record his voice. When he heard it, the team leader realized that this was the kidnapper. All these months, every night, on the way home from headquarters, he would put the tape in the car. hear the voice of evil and never forget it.
a report scientific police He then excludes that the kidnapper was Emilio, who started in Spain. They say it sounds a lot like this, but it’s not him. The head of the investigation is listening to his nose. This is Emilio ‘Facha’. It should be him.
“Conspirator”
The police start tracking Emilio Muñoz. They touch their own phones, but also their parents’ phones. listen as her brother calls her “the murderer” by phone. They also put a microphone in Emilio’s brother and wife’s house.
Finally, his wife Felisa calls her brother-in-law and during the conversation she confesses that she recorded the tape impersonating Anabel Segura and that her husband cheated on her. killed him the day of the kidnapping.
A cop positions himself as a spy and works for the same home delivery company close to the suspect. He checks through La Moraleja that he had to deliver packages for many days. “There are people out there who have a lot of money, we catch anyone, We asked for a hundred million and the problems are over,” he told his old neighbor in the neighborhood, candido ortiz, nickname Candybecause a plumber drowned without paying ten letters House bought in Escalona (Toledo).
“Who are your parents?”
Arriving in La Moraleja around lunch time on April 12, 1993, Candido and Emilio saw Anabel Segura running and kidnapped her. Already in the van, not knowing where to go with him, they asked him: “Who are your parents? Do they have a lot of money?” and tried to calm him down: “No one will rape you.”
They killed him and buried him in his old office a few hours later that same night. A brick factory next to Numancia de la Sagra (Toledo). Then they made him believe he was alive to get the ransom. On September 28, 1995, police arrested Emilio Muñoz while distributing packages in Madrid’s Salamanca district.
They arrest Felisa at her home and Candido at her home. That night, Emilio Muñoz takes the police to Anabel’s burial place and tells them: “things went bad”.
The two men were sentenced to 43 years and six months in prison. Candido died of a heart attack in his cell in 2009, Emilio was released in 2013 following the repeal of the Parot doctrine.
The job was to kidnap any rich man from La Moraleja and demand ransom. The night before he kidnapped and killed Anabel Segura, before going to bed, Emilio ‘el Facha’ told his wife that he was crushed by debts from the churreria. “Flisa, huh?What would you do with 130 million?“.