Diagnosed as schizophrenic and allegedly admitted to the Smolensk psychiatric hospital, the case is set in Russia, though today doubts linger about whether the facility exists as described. A year has passed since a Court of Inquiry in Elche requested extradition to answer for one of the three crimes alleged by security forces and troops. The other two offenses, including a tested incident in Vega Baja, particularly in Los Montesinos and Torrevieja, remain part of the wider investigation.
The prime suspect in the murder dated November 6, 2020 is a 27-year-old identified as Nikolay T., a name that appears in court files alongside Alicia Valera, a 45-year-old justice administrator who drowned near a ditch in Elche. He reportedly walked his dog that afternoon near orange groves in the La Foia district where he lived with his mother. Referred to as the “blindfolded killer,” he was seen only from behind and could be identified by his silhouette and eyes, a detail that has haunted the case.
The ditch scene has been photographed and documented, with authorities marking the location where the crime occurred. The image associated with the case remains a public, though limited, visual record.
extradition
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, occurring eight months before the alleged crime, intersected with the case through a witness who identified a suspect in a photograph captured from a video. This development exposed fragility in cross-border cooperation and raised questions about proceeding with extradition. A judicial source noted there is no concrete evidence confirming the location or timing of the crime’s resolution as claimed a year earlier, adding to the sense that international deliberations are stalling. Meanwhile, the petition for extradition remains pending, with officials noting no fresh disclosures in the case file and little public movement beyond ongoing inquiries.
The single image provided by authorities of the alleged killer remains a limited reference point, and the person’s current appearance, years later, could differ substantially. The suspect is described as Caucasian, about 1.75 meters tall, with a shaved head. He grew up in Spain, where his family has ties to the local housing market. Proficiency in Spanish is noted, alongside a need to address military service in his home country. He reportedly returned to Russia and, under unclear circumstances, continued to be involved in violent crime before entering a psychiatric facility again.
The national security and police communities have kept the case under varying lights, with ongoing debates about the credibility of testimonies and the relevance of earlier leads. The investigation continues to confront the complexity of cross-border legal processes and how they affect the pursuit of justice in this case.
two cloves
Three years have passed since one of the murders demanded major police efforts, involving the Special and Violent Crimes Unit (UDEV) of the Elche Police Station and a Madrid-based unit that helped coordinate the effort. The Judicial Police group, working in tandem with regional investigators, maintained a steady course despite external pressures. Neighbors and some family members remember Alicia and the fear that followed, while others settled into a cautious sense of normalcy. Fresh remembers of the incident have faded, and the area has quieted, with the scene marked by carnations that remained silent witnesses to what happened. The community has largely moved on, with little public commentary beyond those quiet memorials.
without mobile
The case presented a challenging puzzle from the start, with ambiguous motives and a tangled sequence of events. Investigators linked two other incidents, including a stabbing in Torrevieja and a broader pattern involving a Vega Baja farmer struck with ten stab wounds. A widely circulated photograph from a Torrevieja incident helped identify a suspect, while a similar DNA match on Alicia’s dog collar and in blood traces in a Vega Baja orchard connected the Vega Baja set of crimes. The overarching question remained: what connects these events, and why did a man escape detection for so long? A video still of a suspect running in broad daylight further deepened the mystery, prompting questions about the coherence of the supposed serial pattern.
The National Police Agency weighed the possibility of a serial killer but noted no clear, consistent pattern across the alleged offenses. The two murders, the attempted murder, and the stabbing in Torrevieja did not show a straightforward linkage beyond shared forensic findings. The initial identification process began with a Torrevieja cleaning worker victim in July 2020, followed by a farmer’s throat-slitting in Los Montesinos on August 11, then culminating in a fatal assault on a justice official in Elche on November 6, as the investigation unfolded.
returned to Russia
The question of mental state came into sharp focus as testimonies suggested a troubled, even erratic pattern in the suspect’s life. Investigators noted the need to escape Spain quickly, and family aid facilitated a rapid return to Russia. There, under unclear circumstances, another person was harmed, and the suspect’s status shifted toward a psychiatric admission. The Civil Guard and the National Police announced a resolution to the Alicia Valera homicide on November 3, 2022, marking the last public update from the authorities on the case. No further communications or sightings of Nikolay T. followed this announcement.
There is a single, low-resolution security camera image of Nikolay T. released to the public, and authorities later noted that the suspect had likely altered his appearance over time. The description remains: Caucasian, approximately 1.75 meters tall, shaved head, with ties to a southern Spanish province where his family’s real estate work continues. He is said to have returned home to complete mandatory military service and to have adopted new habits, including substance use, after years of living in a rented house in La Foia, not far from where the original crime occurred. The case thus remains a study in the persistence of memory and the evolving nature of suspects in cross-border investigations.