Soledad Donoso was brutally killed after disappearing on the afternoon of September 28, 1992. He had left his home in the San Pedro district of Córdoba to go to work and reportedly got into a car belonging to someone he knew. He was known for his fondness for a red Golf GTI, and the last known movements end with him losing track of his path. Days later, his body was found along the Guadalquivir River, half-submerged and degraded, discovered by a young man hunting birds in the area.
The National Police initially did not allow family members to identify the young woman whose body was found, and the remains did not even pass through the church. Several suspects were questioned. Among them is a person the family still believes is the killer, a young man with whom Sole was having an affair, and another boy whose phone records appeared in Sole’s room. That second suspect spent a week in Seville and was released for lack of evidence.
Over the years, lawyers and criminologists approached the subject, noting the investigation’s gaps and the limitations of the forensic techniques available in the 1990s. The discussion also highlighted the modern understanding of gender violence. The victim’s sister, María del Mar Donoso, has maintained that the case would unfold differently today and has continued to fight so the matter is not forgotten.
Those who last saw Sole alive and the suspects were reevaluated when the case was reopened. The intervention of Félix Ríos, a criminologist from the Canary Islands, altered the course of events. Investigations resumed, a Facebook page was opened, and new lines of inquiry emerged. A reported sighting of a red Golf where Sole’s body was found provided fresh clues.
For two decades, from the time of the killing until 2012, the family sought to reopen the case without support from authorities, with only occasional media attention highlighting what happened. María del Mar recalls the sense of impotence and injustice that framed a history shaping the family’s fate, saying that only film crews and annual letters keep the memory alive.
Soledad Donoso’s case grew even more convoluted as it endured. It required decades before it was finally understood as a brutal murder, and by 2018 Sole’s body was reburied. Mourning began anew when the public display of the grave proceedings felt hollow, leaving the family to wonder what to do next when there was seemingly nothing more to fight for.
The case was dismissed and reopened several times, with the family eagerly awaiting the results of DNA tests performed in 2018 on a lighter and a Sole jacket that had not been examined previously. Unfortunately, the tests conducted at a laboratory in Santiago de Compostela did not yield conclusive data. The current status shows the case awaiting review as the family continues to appeal to sort, reassess, and properly package the evidence. Throughout this period, a lock of hair believed to have been collected at the crime scene remained unclaimed and its location unknown.
Ending the Mystery
During these years, each member of the Donoso family offered their own account of the events as they understood them. María del Mar devoted herself to pursuing justice for her sister Sole, vowing never to give up in the search for the killer. At times the weight seemed unbearable, and she concedes that her resolve has wavered, yet she believes the best outcome would be a resolution. She has consistently held onto the hope that justice will prevail, whether through human courts or some form of moral accountability beyond.
The night Sole left home in September 1992, the town kept waiting for news. Three decades later, the person responsible for the crime has still not faced prosecution. The saga continues to cast a shadow over Córdoba, a reminder of the persistent demand for truth, accountability, and closure for those left behind.