insulation
Friends answered the questions posed by the newspaper with silent looks, watching every movement around the house as they waited for Alberto to appear at the window or the front door. One said, “She didn’t let him stay with us.” Another added, “If Anna could come one day, she had to be ahead.”
Anna, who lived nearby with her family in Ripoll, did not mainly reside in Campdevànol but spent increasing time at Alberto’s house and less at her own parents’ home. The couple’s families had warned that Alberto was having an affair with Anna, a toxic pattern that should have prompted an exit. In a later argument, Anna fled to the family home without warning. Her parents remembered ringing the doorbell, opening the door, and seeing their daughter. They asked about her keys, which Alberto had taken, and he had even removed her phone. Cutting ties with loved ones was a measure she faced as she tried to break free.
Authorities later described how the home, crowded with items and debris, became the scene of extensive investigation as investigators sought evidence against Alberto.
Drugs
Neighbors recalled that the Tuesday night after the municipal fireworks in Campdevànol, Alberto appeared with a stick and walked with his head bowed, carrying a demeanor that unsettled those nearby. Some said he was not present on that particular day, and that he did not greet anyone that night. In earlier conversations, Alberto had grown increasingly obsessed with the fear that Anna might be unfaithful, a fear he attributed to a supposed third party described as a Moor.
Alberto attended Abat Oliva Institute in Ripoll. A former classmate remembered him as a mischievous youth, but not someone who seemed capable of violence toward Anna years later. At the time, he was off work due to an accident but held a factory job. He did not display physical deformities, yet friends noted rising concerns about drug use—marijuana and hashish—conditions that recently appeared to intensify. Some residents suspected the presence of base paste from cocaine production, a substance sometimes called basuco. Anna did not use drugs before their relationship began, but friends observed she grew quieter and more withdrawn as her bond with Alberto deepened.
Friends recalled that Anna, once lively and kind, gradually grew distant from her social circle as the relationship worsened.
jealousy
A friend of Alberto’s explained that distrust toward partners had appeared before. Episodes of possessiveness and morbid jealousy had accompanied breakups with previous partners, following a pattern of controlling behavior that victims described as sexist violence. Reported records show Alberto’s past actions, including violations of restraining orders, and his attempts to intervene in matters about women he mistreated.
From Monday, September 19 to Wednesday, September 21, Anna endured what neighbors described as a sustained brutal ordeal. After she had died, witnesses said she had been tended to with care and dressed again by those who found her. The family later reported that Anna’s injuries were blamed on a bicycle accident she had experienced the previous weekend, a claim that was questioned by observers who had seen the earlier abuse. Authorities stepped in and Alberto was taken into custody, arriving in a handcuffed vehicle, while friends pursued with distress, seeking accountability for the violence that ended Anna’s life.
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