A suspect, identified as Aitor García, faced a formal hearing this Friday over the death of Janet Jumillas in Barcelona. He spoke without looking at the jury and offered an alternative theory about the night of the incident, signaling toward an alleged couple whose existence remains unproven. He did not answer questions posed by the prosecutor, the defense, or the jurors, and his remarks were brief, lasting only about ten minutes. He appeared calm and spoke with resolve as he proposed a different account of Janet’s death, pointing to a supposed unknown pair who would have vanished on March 13. He claimed to have left his house moments before the events, with Janet accompanying him to his door, and suggested she would have been harmed while outside.
During closing remarks, the defense attorney reminded the court of a lingering question: whether Janet Jumillas’ death or disappearance involved the defendant in any way. The response from the accused was a firm negative, with no further elaboration.
In his testimony, the defendant clung to explanations that diverged from the official investigation and the work of prosecutors and investigators. This line echoed something he had suggested earlier in the investigation, though it introduced a few new elements after he initially resisted cooperation following arrest and precautionary detention. His latest version places Janet at her home in Cornellà around eleven in the morning on March 13, 2019, but not alone.
According to his account, they had met the day prior as described. Martina, a friend of Janet, also went to Janet’s Viladecans residence to purchase marijuana, and the two reportedly met in Cornellà the next day after the agreed delivery so that Aitor would pay for it.
García contends that Janet arrived as scheduled on March 13, but was accompanied by a man and a woman whom he did not know. The man allegedly struck her and demanded money. Aitor claimed he had no money and that the man inquired about his wallet. He said he was in the car at that moment, and the man reportedly allowed Aitor to leave with his wallet, even though the man threatened harm to Aitor’s dogs if he did not return soon. He also claimed the man held a cellphone.
Reflecting on those events, the defendant described leaving the home briefly and then returning in a frightened state to try to reason with Janet. He found the house empty except for his two dogs. He described a plastic bag in the dining room containing what appeared to be blood, plus an eyeglass lens and fragments of clothing. He said he cleaned the blood, placed the bag in his car for two days, and then discarded it. Fearful and wanting to escape the situation, he did not disclose what had happened and was surprised to learn that Janet had been murdered. He noted, in his own words, that he had thought Janet might have gone somewhere else.
Evidence backlog
The prosecutor pressed the point that Janet Jumillas was murdered and that the person responsible was Aitor García. After the defendant’s statement, the prosecutor emphasized the accumulation of evidence pointing to his involvement, noting that García had been under detention since May of the previous year.
The investigative team shared with the jury concrete details from the Mossos d’Esquadra. They demonstrated the defendant’s presence at various locations and described how Janet’s blood appeared at García’s home, with attempts to cleanse the scene using cleaning products. It was also disclosed that Janet’s smartphone had been hidden and that its location pinpointed a path toward the El Prat de Llobregat area, where the body was found more than two months after the incident. That area lies near a well-used dog-walking park that García is known to frequent.
On the other hand, investigators found no evidence of the two strangers described by García on the morning of March 13, 2019, and the defense’s attempt to shift responsibility toward others did not align with the available facts as presented to the jury.