Julián OP was arrested in connection with a stabbing incident that left a man wounded in September 2021 after meeting through a dating app. He faces trial before a popular jury at Madrid County Court starting on 9/11.
The prosecutor and the attorney representing the victim’s sister have urged a strict outcome, seeking a prison sentence of 25 years, which is the maximum for the alleged crime. The case centers on events that occurred in an apartment in Carabanchel, where the victim died in the early hours of the incident.
A popular jury will determine which facts are proven, mindful that the two sides present significantly different versions of what happened and of the identity of the accused.
“We classify these events as murder because the victim could not defend himself,” stated Julen Martínez, a lawyer with Valmaseda Abogados, in a briefing to Europa Press.
In his statement to the judge, which was accessed by Europa Press, the defendant claimed that the two individuals met on February 23, 2018, through an app, that they lived nearby, and that the relationship included sadomasochistic activities.
The defense asserts that a violent confrontation ensued, during which the defendant’s neck was cut amid the sexual games. He described himself as being under the influence of substances and said the situation spiraled out of control.
“It was two minutes of madness, and I don’t remember more because I was heavily intoxicated,” he told his trainer. The trainer, according to the defendant, was stabbed but not seriously harmed. The victim panicked and left the apartment, unaware that she had died. “I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know what to do. Everything looked blurry,” she said.
The killer expressed remorse before the magistrate, attributing the conduct to substance use since the age of 15. “I am Catholic, Apostolic and Roman,” he proclaimed at the time.
death by stabbing
The prosecutor’s indictment contends that the victim could not defend himself due to the attacker’s sudden and sustained assault, repeatedly stabbing him with a knife described as a double-edged blade about 1.5 cm wide. The assault resulted in 65 stab wounds across various parts of the body, with particular focus on the neck and abdomen.
The prosecution asks for a 25-year prison term for murder and related offenses, plus compensation of 24,000 euros to the deceased’s sister, without any qualifying circumstances.
The sister, through her attorney, notes in the accusation that the autopsy found no significant defensive wounds on the victim.
The autopsy also notes that hours after death the victim’s blood alcohol level was 1.70 g/L, consistent with a state described as confusion, which may help explain the vulnerability at the time.
On February 25, 2018, a friend of the victim reported finding him dead, unclothed and with numerous stab wounds at his residence on Alejandro Sánchez Street in Madrid.
The friend’s anxiety delayed contact with authorities for two days, after which a locksmith was hired to access the home, revealing the grievous scene.
police investigations
The case involves a Puerto Rican victim, Najuzaith ZD, 35, who sustained more than 40 stab wounds across the body, including the neck, before the suspect fled to Argentina.
Investigators from the Murder Group V of the National Police launched inquiries that traced the deceased’s social media footprint and confirmed contact with a person who boarded a flight to Peru the following day, making that individual the prime suspect.
Surveillance footage from the vicinity of the crime mobile confirms appearances by the individual, and samples found at the victim’s home matched those taken from the suspect’s residence. These findings raised suspicions of an intimate encounter between the two.
International authorities and Interpol were alerted, and the Prosecutor’s Office received reports detailing the events. Through online activity and contacts, investigators located the suspect in a bar in the small Argentine town of La Bombilla, within San Miguel de Tucumán, where he was apprehended.
The suspect was identified as Julián O. His appearance had scarcely changed since the initial police file, prompting law enforcement to consider that the individual may be moving across several countries and residences to evade capture.