José Javier and his wife, María Pilar, paused their beach vacation to return to Zaragoza when a son reported feeling offended. They did not imagine that at night the threat would turn lethal. The father of the family suffered 56 stab wounds, and the mother was seriously injured. The tragedy underscored a life shadowed by difficult coexistence and the weight of alcoholism that Héctor López Ferrer carried. The ordeal extended into the family as the accused’s mother and sister faced profound losses, and the family pressed for the severest possible sentence, seeking permanent imprisonment.
The brutal attack unfolded on June 28 of the previous year inside the family home located at Calle Reino, number 46, in the La Almozara district. The couple arrived around 10 p.m. Héctor appeared nervous yet seemed well enough to be offered assistance to visit a doctor, which he declined, claiming he felt better. María Pilar retired to her room, exhausted from the journey, leaving Héctor López Ferrer with José Javier in the living room, where they were watching a football match.
According to the investigation conducted by the Aragon Police Department Murder Desk, at approximately 23:36, while the mother slept, Héctor suddenly attacked his father, immobilized on the living room sofa, stabbing him with a blade about 7.5 centimeters long.
The noise drew María Pilar from her room, and she screamed upon witnessing the scene. Realizing his mother had discovered him, Héctor Lopez moved toward her and stabbed her in the neck, left arm, and right shoulder with the knife still in his hand. It was later determined that he would have continued his assault if not for the blood gushing and slipping, which prevented him from advancing to the door leading outside the living room. He sustained another wound to his back but managed to climb the stairs while crying out for help.
Héctor then closed the door of the house to continue the attack on his father, dragging José Javier along the aisle and stabbing him repeatedly, eventually forcing the struggle into the conjugal bedroom. Experts from the Aragon Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences concluded that José Javier died there around midnight, during a hemorrhagic shock caused by a stab wound reaching the jugular vein. Authorities found about 100 empty whiskey bottles in the suspect’s room and a dozen more in the living room.
The indictment, presented by the prosecution and echoed by the family’s attorney, José María Lumbreras, states that Héctor López Ferrer is guilty of murder and another charge of attempted murder. The document notes aggravating circumstances including betrayal, persecution, and kinship in the case.
As a result, the accused’s family is pressing for a revised sentence of permanent imprisonment, or an ancillary sentence totaling 39 years. The public ministry seeks the same 39-year term. If the punishment does not guarantee continued confinement for the maximum term, the mother and sister insist on a sentence that includes a prohibition on approaching within 500 meters or contacting anyone involved for a decade after release from prison.