Civil Guard undertook multiple time-bound efforts to locate and stop the rapist and murderer of Elisa Abruñedo in Lavandeira, A Coruña. The crime occurred on September 1, 2013. Until the arrest last Tuesday of Roger Serafín Rodríguez, investigators from the UCO and the A Coruña command relied on advanced DNA techniques to guide the case. Rodríguez was present when the woman was slain.
Further, as CASO ABIERTO, the investigative and events channel from Prensa Ibérica, has reported, the inquiry reached a striking conclusion: historical records from the Church at the Mondoñedo Diocesan Archives (Lugo) were consulted to trace genealogies across several dozen families. Researchers even examined documents dating back to the Council of Trent in the 16th century to map the criminal’s lineage.
Operation Lavandeira followed a traditional trail in the search for Elisa Abruñedo’s killer. The assailant, who subjected the victim to rape and mortal stabbing, left DNA traces on the body. Those genetic fingerprints were compared with initially booked sex offenders, but the match did not materialize. In the months that followed, dozens of local residents were scrutinized. Eyewitness accounts mentioned a Citroën ZX, prompting investigators to check owners of vehicles of that model, which are common in the region.
A volunteer DNA
The first breakthrough appeared in 2021, more than seven years after the murder. Civil Guard teams organized DNA sampling among residents, beginning in the municipality of Cabanas and expanding to nearby neighborhoods and civic structures. Adult males were invited to voluntarily provide DNA samples.
The killer remained unknown, but sources connected to the case indicate that a distant relative, not in the immediate family line, provided a positive but limited DNA match. “The individual who emerged among the volunteers was Elisa’s killer, though only through a distant relative,” notes sources tied to the investigation.
journey to the past
Researchers began a historical deep dive. Civil guards traced the ancestry of the volunteer and his potential forebears, consulting the Mondoñedo Diocesan Archive. The archive preserves parish records, baptisms, births, and funerals, ranging from ninth-century documents to microfilm records and the community’s extensive genealogical material. Some families are represented by tens of thousands of record entries.
The investigative team drew on the same archive techniques used by other high-profile cases, including the Diana Quer inquiry, to map lineages back through generations. Parish records from the diocese were examined, tracing families far into the past and cross-referencing entries from the time of the Council of Trent.
bastards
The investigators navigated complex family lineages, including cases of unacknowledged paternity. Records sometimes noted doubts about paternity after a child’s birth, and the archive team worked to reconstruct lineages across decades. By early 2022, the hospital and parish records helped reconstruct where the killer’s lineage may have originated.
red-headed
Parallel to the genealogical work, the latest forensic science was employed. A team from the Luis Concheiro Institute of Forensic Sciences and researchers at the University of Santiago de Compostela provided a DNA profile that extended the deceased’s genetic mark found on the victim’s body. Their analysis pointed to a red-haired male with specific MC1R gene variations linked to hair color traits.
When the data were combined — a red-haired male, a distant relative of the volunteer, and a Citroën ZX owner in 2013 — a name surfaced as the target in the Lavandeira operation: Roger Serafín Rodríguez, 49, who had no prior criminal record and had no known violent offenses in the years preceding the arrest. After leaving his job on the Navantia shipyard in Ferrol, he entered a relationship that lasted until his apprehension.
Rodríguez led a solitary life, kept mostly to himself, with interests in hunting and horses. Authorities note that he had not previously faced violent crimes in the last decade, though investigators are conducting checks to determine whether he participated in other offenses.