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00:02:07
The crowd stood in awe with mouths agape. Their
wide eyes focused upwards. A pitched squeal filled
00:02:14
the air followed by a cracking bang. Then another.
And another. It was Wednesday October 6 1999.
00:02:25
The night sky above the Spanish coastal town
of Fuengirola was a fiery spectacle of colour,
00:02:31
as the fireworks heralding the start
of the Fuengirola fair were ignited. Held in the centre of town, the annual
festival draws in locals and tourists alike
00:02:43
for a week-long party of food, drink, and dance. The fairgrounds take over a large thoroughfare a
short walk from the harbour, easily accessible by
00:02:54
a nearby trainline. Attendees enter through
one of three ornate gold and white arches,
00:03:02
before blending into a large crowd moving between
attractions. Traditional music emanating from the
00:03:09
festival echoes down the surrounding blocks,
as dozens of marquees offer visitors an array
00:03:15
of foreign delicacies, live performances,
souvenirs, and exhibitions. Parades march
00:03:23
down the street, providing a distraction for
those waiting in line for the carnival rides.
00:03:30
By Saturday October 9 1999, the Fuengirola fair
was entering its third day and it was still as
00:03:37
popular as ever. That night, a taxi driver dropped
some passengers off in the Fuengirola area before
00:03:46
heading southwest towards the coastal village
of La Cala de Mijas. As he drove along a quiet,
00:03:53
rural stretch of road between towns, he eyed
his meter. It was exactly 10PM. Suddenly,
00:04:02
an SUV appeared up ahead. It was parked on the
side of the road, facing the wrong direction.
00:04:09
It was positioned in such a way that the taxi
driver had to swerve to avoid colliding with it.
00:04:16
Then he heard screaming.
Loud, terrified screaming. Fearing he was about to be carjacked, the
taxi driver wound up his windows and sped up
00:04:28
until the SUV disappeared
in the darkness behind him. Rocio Wanninkhof was looking forward
to the Fuengirola fair in October 1999.
00:05:08
Juggling two jobs - one as an au pair and
another as a waitress - the 19-year-old
00:05:14
saw the event as an opportunity
to unwind after a busy week. On the third day of the festivities, Roccio was
lounging in the kitchen of her family home in La
00:05:26
Cala de Mijas. She spoke with her mother and
sister, informing them of her plans for the
00:05:32
evening. First and foremost - she would visit
her boyfriend, Antonio Jose Jurado. At around
00:05:41
10PM, she would return home, shower, and
then head off to the Fuengirola fair. At 5:30PM, Rocio left her home to walk
the 500 metres to Antonio’s house.
00:05:56
Rocio’s mother, Alicia, said
she would await her return. When 10PM came and went with no sign of Rocio,
it was clear her plans had been interrupted.
00:06:09
Had she chosen to bypass her stop home
and go straight to the fair with Antonio?
00:06:16
Alicia couldn’t be certain. Overcome with worry, she had to reassure herself that Rocio would
reappear safe and sound in the morning.
00:06:28
Upon waking the following morning, Alicia headed
to Rocio’s room only to find her bed empty.
00:06:36
She hadn’t come home during the night at all. This was out of character for the sensible and
considerate Rocio. Alicia sent Rocio’s older
00:06:48
sister, Rosa, to check in with Antonio. It seemed
likely she would have spent the night there.
00:06:56
Antonio answered the door. He confirmed that
Rocio had made it to his place early the following
00:07:04
evening. The couple watched television for a
few hours, then Rocio decided it was time to
00:07:10
get ready for the fair. She arranged to
meet Antonio at the fairgrounds later. She said her goodbyes to Antonio’s mother, who
expressed concern over Rocio’s outfit. Rocio was
00:07:26
only wearing a t-shirt and she was concerned
the teenager would get cold on the walk home.
00:07:33
To placate her concerns, Rocio pulled on a grey
sweater she was carrying. Her boyfriend’s mother
00:07:40
helped her button it up. Rocio thanked
her, adding that she would see her soon.
00:07:47
A minute later, Antonio escorted Rocio outside
and she began the short journey back home alone.
00:07:57
It was 9:30PM. However, instead of meeting up with
Rocio at the Fuengirola fair as they had planned,
00:08:07
Antonio fell asleep and never made it. But
he’d heard that Rocio had been spotted there,
00:08:15
so she most likely enjoyed the night
without him and headed to a friend’s house.
00:08:21
Rosa returned home and shared Antonio’s
explanation, but Alicia found it odd. She couldn’t shake the feeling
that something was amiss.
00:08:34
As the day wore on with no word from Rocio,
her worry increased. Her partner Juan tried to
00:08:42
reassure Alicia that Rocio was of an age where
nights out were expected, only for the young
00:08:48
partygoer to show up later unscathed. He suggested
they go for a walk to take her mind off things.
00:09:01
Alicia and Juan headed in the direction
of some picturesque ruins nearby. They stuck to the sidewalk alongside a
semi-rural road surrounded by pine trees.
00:09:14
Then they turned and entered a
clearing 300 metres from their home. It was there, amongst the grass and trees,
where the couple spotted something. Discarded
00:09:26
on the ground were a pair of sneakers. They were
Rocio’s. Alongside them was a large pool of blood.
00:09:37
Juan swiftly contacted the Civil Guard - the
police counterparts outside Spain’s metropolitan
00:09:44
areas. Leading from the road were multiple specks
of blood that trailed deeper into the adjoining
00:09:51
clearing where the sneakers were located. A
tissue caked with dry blood was also discovered,
00:09:59
as well as tyre tracks that were
likely caused by a compact car. Testing confirmed the blood belonged to Rocio
Wanninknof. It appeared as though the 19-year-old
00:10:13
was set upon between 9:30 and 10PM, when she
was walking home after visiting Antonio’s house.
00:10:21
This would mean that reports that she attended the
Fuengirola fair that night were likely incorrect.
00:10:30
The bloody tissue was of particular interest to
police. It suggested that whoever had harmed Rocio
00:10:37
might have offered her the tissue to
clean her injuries. This indicated a level of care and trust between both victim and
perpetrator - as though they knew one another.
00:10:51
Further examination of the crime scene
uncovered a cigarette butt - 4 millimetres
00:10:55
in length. Circled around the filter tip
was the branding of cigarette company Royal Crown. Analysis revealed the cigarette
had been smoked by an unknown male.
00:11:12
October 12 marked the final day of the 1999
Fuengirola fair. Rocio Wanninkhof had been
00:11:20
missing for three days. Her disappearance
had become major news in her small hometown.
00:11:29
La Cala de Mijas is, and was still very
much then, a tranquil traditional village.
00:11:36
Its few thousand residents lived private
lives. The local community was overseen
00:11:42
by a parish who dealt with the issues
troubling townsfolk. This internalised sense of protectiveness ensured everyone was
tight-knit and looked out for one another.
00:11:55
Outsiders were mostly tourists, expats, or
seasonal workers drawn to the area's warm
00:12:02
climate and picturesque coastline. Rocio
relied on this steady stream of visitors.
00:12:09
Her au pair job was for one of the many
British families who lived in the region.
00:12:15
Her second job had her working behind the
bar at a hotel popular with holidaymakers.
00:12:21
The money she earned brought her closer to
her dream of studying to become a teacher.
00:12:29
It was on this third day of Rocio’s disappearance
when a regional taxi driver came forward to police
00:12:35
realising he might have witnessed something
significant. On the night Rocio failed to
00:12:42
return home, he had been driving through the
area where her shoes were later discovered.
00:12:49
It was exactly 10PM when he spotted an SUV
parked haphazardly on the side of the road.
00:12:56
The taxi driver then heard screams, but fearing
for his own safety, hastily left the area.
00:13:05
At the time he passed the SUV, the taxi
driver happened to see a man inside, sitting behind the wheel. He looked to be in
his 20s or 30s and had short hair. This sighting
00:13:19
facilitated a police sketch of the suspect, which
was quickly distributed around town on flyers.
00:13:28
Meanwhile, the wealthy English family
who Rocio worked for came forward to offer a reward of 5 million pesetas –
the equivalent of more than 180,000 U.S
00:13:39
dollars in today’s currency – in exchange for
useful information leading to her whereabouts.
00:13:47
Hundreds of local residents
volunteered to help search for Rocio. Strict schedules were organised as nearby
woods and towns were meticulously combed.
00:13:59
On October 17, eight days after Rocio had
vanished, the biggest search yet was undertaken.
00:14:08
The Civil Guard divided searchers
into groups of six to eight cars, and then sent them out in every
direction. Nothing of value was uncovered.
00:14:23
The last known person to have seen Rocio
before she vanished was her boyfriend,
00:14:28
Antonio Jose’ Jurado. He would
typically escort Rocio home after she paid him a visit - though she
left his house alone on the key night.
00:14:42
He also lived close to the clearing where her
shoes were discovered. He would have been able
00:14:47
to hear any screams emanating from the area
via his window, which faced the same direction.
00:14:55
Antonio maintained he fell asleep after Rocio had
left his house, causing him to miss catching up
00:15:02
with her at the Fuengirola fair later in the
night. His mother vouched that he was asleep.
00:15:09
Though police didn’t believe
this to be a strong enough alibi. Investigators questioned Antonio on six different
occasions. They also tapped his cell phone. But
00:15:24
in all conversations, Antonio stayed
true to his version of events. When it was determined that Antonio
didn’t have a driver’s license,
00:15:34
it seemed unlikely that he was the man seen
behind the wheel of the SUV at the crime
00:15:40
scene. Police were willing to broaden their
horizons and look for other possible suspects.
00:15:52
On October 31, the Civil Guard informed Rocio’s
family that they were suspending all searches for
00:15:59
the time being. But Rocio’s family continued
receiving support from local volunteers.
00:16:07
Ever since she had vanished, a nightly
tradition had been established. At 8:30PM each evening, searchers would
gather at the crime scene to share updates,
00:16:18
possible developments, and words of encouragement. Two days later, the owners of a tennis
club in the resort city of Marbella
00:16:28
stumbled across a disturbing sight. Behind
one of the courts and partially hidden by
00:16:35
scrub was the badly decomposed body of a woman.
She was naked, with her legs spread apart.
00:16:45
Two industrial-sized garbage bags were beside
her, one of which had the number 8 drawn on it.
00:16:53
They contained some jewellery and clothing,
including a Nike brand t-shirt - the exact
00:16:59
same as the one Rocio Wanninkhof was
wearing the night of her disappearance. A missing person flyer was
also found next to the body.
00:17:11
It featured a picture of Rocio and detailed
the known circumstances of her disappearance.
00:17:20
However, the condition of the body
indicated that the victim had been deceased for at least six months. Rocio had only
been missing for a little over three weeks.
00:17:33
That night, Rocio’s mother Alicia was attending
a community meeting when she suddenly received a
00:17:39
call to return home. As soon as she entered
her house, she knew something was wrong.
00:17:47
A police constable was standing in the living
room, along with the town’s parish priest.
00:17:54
Alicia’s daughter Rosa was seated at the table,
holding her head in her hands as she cried.
00:18:02
Alicia was informed of the body
found at the Marbella tennis club. Police requested the family view the
body in an effort to determine whether
00:18:14
or not it was Rocio. Alicia couldn’t face doing
such a thing. Rosa opted to do so instead.
00:18:24
Upon viewing the victim, Rosa noticed
a familiar ring around her finger. It was one Rocio always wore.
Rosa knew it was her sister.
00:18:44
Marbella wasn’t particularly
close to La Cala de Mijas. It was around 20 kilometres west from
where Rocio’s shoes were found - in
00:18:53
the opposite direction of Rocio’s
intended destination of Fuengirola. Police speculated what might have
caused the rapid decomposition.
00:19:05
The killer could have burnt Rocio’s body
first, or placed it in acid. It was also
00:19:11
theorised that a rare type of wasp might have
fed on her remains - expediting the process.
00:19:18
The Civil Guard were still under the impression
that Rocio knew her killer or killers. The bloody
00:19:25
tissue at the crime scene was too intimate of
an object to overlook. And an autopsy confirmed
00:19:32
their suspicions. Rocio had been stabbed nine
times, with eight wounds in her lower back
00:19:40
and one to her chest. It was a viciously
brutal attack, one that seemed deeply personal.
00:19:48
It was almost as though Rocio’s
killer had been motivated by revenge. Despite having been found naked, there
was no evidence of sexual assault.
00:20:01
Yet, the way her body was posed was suggestive and undignified. It was possible that
the perpetrator intended to shame her.
00:20:13
The missing person flyer left with Rocio’s remains hinted that the killer was a
member of her local community.
00:20:21
Investigators pried into Rocio’s inner circle of
family, friends, acquaintances, and past flings.
00:20:29
Each time they hit a dead end, they’d go
back to the drawing board. Months passed
00:20:36
with no major developments in the case. Then,
on September 2 2000, the Civil Guard paid Alicia
00:20:44
a visit to share some big news. They were close
to making an arrest for her daughters murder.
00:20:53
When Alicia asked who the suspect
was, their answer astounded her. Eighteen years earlier in 1981, Alicia was still
married to Rocio’s father, a Dutch resident named
00:21:11
Guillermo Wanninkhof. Guillermo left his wife
and three children when Rocio was two-years-old.
00:21:20
Prior to this, Guillermo worked at a hotel
to financially support his young family.
00:21:27
It was there he crossed paths with
a colleague named Dolores Vazquez. Guillermo introduced Dolores to his wife and
the two women soon struck up a friendship.
00:21:40
Alicia confided that she and Guillermo
were in the process of separating. She was concerned about how she would manage
raising three children as a single mother.
00:21:52
Over time, the two women developed
romantic feelings for one another. Eventually they moved in together. They
bought a house and shared the costs,
00:22:04
although Dolores paid a larger portion
and the contract was signed in her name.
00:22:10
The couple lived together happily.
Dolores helped Alicia raise her children. After almost 15 years though, they decided
to part ways. Their split was fairly amicable
00:22:25
and they agreed to remain friends. Alicia and
her children moved into another home nearby.
00:22:33
Dolores stayed put and invited her
mother, who was ill, to live with her. When Dolores had learnt of Rocio’s disappearance,
she’d reached out to Alicia and offered support.
00:22:47
She participated in searches, visited the family
often, and even suggested that they hire a private
00:22:53
investigator when it seemed the Civil Guard was
making little progress. Unbeknownst to Dolores,
00:23:01
the Civil Guard were making progress. They
had spotlighted her almost from the get-go.
00:23:13
During the first week after Rocio’s disappearance,
investigators noticed a strange car repeatedly
00:23:19
driving through the clearing where Rocio’s blood
was found. Two men got out of and approached the
00:23:26
officers, seemingly trying to find out how
the gathering of evidence was advancing.
00:23:33
Extremely suspicious of the men, officers
jotted down the car’s license plate number.
00:23:39
When they looked it up later, they found the
vehicle was registered to Dolores Vazquez.
00:23:48
Investigators asked around about Dolores
and were intrigued to learn she had close,
00:23:54
personal ties to Rocio’s family. They called
her into the station for an interview.
00:24:01
When asked whether she’d lent her car to
two men, Dolores firmly denied doing so.
00:24:08
After the interview concluded, one of the
officers escorted Dolores back to her car.
00:24:14
As he glanced into the vehicle, he spotted a
beige cap inside. One of the men seen at the
00:24:22
clearing had been wearing the exact same hat.
The investigators’ suspicions grew stronger.
00:24:31
They were certain Dolores was lying about the car. And if she was lying about a relatively minor
matter, what else might she be lying about?
00:24:44
It turned out that the hotel
where Dolores was currently employed was located very close to the tennis
club where Rocio’s body had been dumped.
00:24:55
After 11 months, investigators decided it was
time to share their theory with Rocio’s mother.
00:25:03
The thought that her former partner could
be responsible for her daughter’s death
00:25:07
shocked and horrified Alicia.
She struggled to believe that Dolores – who had essentially been a second
mother to Rocio – could do such a thing.
00:25:20
That night, Alicia picked up the telephone and
dialled Dolores’s number. As soon as Dolores
00:25:28
answered, Alicia blurted out: “Did
you do it? Did you kill Rocio?” There was a pause. Then Dolores replied in
a quiet voice: “How can you ask me that?”
00:25:49
This answer unsettled Alicia. Surely, if
Dolores were innocent of such a heinous
00:25:56
crime, she would loudly protest against the
accusation and say it was ridiculous. But
00:26:02
Dolores didn’t scream. She didn’t
get angry. She just sounded hurt. The pair didn’t speak again.
Three days later on September 5,
00:26:16
the media officially named Dolores Vazquez
as a suspect in Rocio Wannninkhof’s murder.
00:26:24
The headline was accompanied by an image
of Dolores doing her grocery shopping. A
00:26:29
photographer snapped the candid photo while the
unsuspecting Dolores was going about her day.
00:26:37
Two days later, Dolores was interrupted
at home by Civil Guard officers wielding handcuffs. She didn’t make a
fuss as they placed her under arrest.
00:26:49
She was marched outside where crowds of television
crews and angered onlookers were waiting. Dolores
00:26:56
only spoke to ask a neighbour to please watch over
her mother. She was bombarded with obscenities by
00:27:04
the crowd, who called her ‘murderer’. Some
even tried to run her down and hit her.
00:27:11
During questioning, Dolores
insisted that she was innocent. She claimed that she’d been home on the day
of Rocio’s disappearance. Because she was a
00:27:22
caregiver to her sick mother, she didn’t leave
her alone often. Additionally, her niece had come
00:27:29
to town that day for a night out with friends and
left her two-year-old daughter in Dolores’s care.
00:27:36
Dolores explained that she wouldn’t leave a
toddler on her own. Detectives didn’t believe her.
00:27:45
On September 9, Dolores Vazquez was presented
to a judge and ordered to stand trial. The
00:27:52
Civil Guard had compiled a document detailing
20 items of evidence against her. As she had a
00:28:00
sister living in the UK, she was deemed a flight
risk and transferred to jail to await her trial.
00:28:12
With her former partner having
been charged for the murder of her daughter, Alicia kept reflecting on their
relationship. The more she thought about it,
00:28:22
the more she realised there had
been warning signs for some time. Things had been wonderful when her kids
were small. Dolores had been like another
00:28:33
parent to Alicia’s three children and
had known Rocio since she was a toddler. Dolores assisted with their education
and provided financial support.
00:28:45
But cracks began to appear after about 10 years
– around the same time that Rocio hit puberty.
00:28:54
The way Alicia remembered it, Dolores became
controlling as the children got older. She
00:29:00
always wanted them to do chores around the
home and demanded they achieve good grades.
00:29:07
After Rocio received poor marks at school one
year, Dolores grounded her for an entire summer.
00:29:16
As time went on, the hostility
between Dolores and Rocio grew. One day, Rocio came to her mother to
complain about it and ended up screaming:
00:29:29
“One day, Dolores is going to kill me and
you won’t do a single thing about it.”
00:29:35
These words troubled Alicia and she’d
ended the relationship soon after. She explained to Dolores that they could still be
friends, but they couldn’t be together anymore.
00:29:48
Dolores was heartbroken. She
didn’t take the news well. The pair stayed in touch but after a few years,
Alicia began dating her current partner, Juan.
00:30:02
When Dolores heard about the relationship, she
showed up at Alicia’s doorstop, asking intrusive
00:30:08
questions. Alicia humoured her for a while, but
the questions began to make her uncomfortable.
00:30:16
She asked Dolores to stop. Dolores did, though she
made one final remark. She told Alicia that one
00:30:27
day, she’d hit her where it hurt the most. Then
Alicia would be left crying, quote: “blood tears.”
00:30:37
Alicia had never forgotten this statement. When she called Dolores after learning she
was suspected of Rocio’s murder, she couldn’t
00:30:47
resist saying: “You’ve hit me where it hurt
the most.” Dolores replied: “That is true.”
00:30:57
As far as Alicia was concerned, Dolores
had just confessed to the crime. While Dolores awaited trial, investigators
continued building their case against her.
00:31:16
In an early search of her home,
industrial-style garbage bags were found that matched the ones found with Rocio’s body.
00:31:25
Apparently, Dolores used them when she went
running, as a way to increase sweat production.
00:31:33
Officers got their hopes up when they found
a tracksuit with fabric that appeared to
00:31:38
match some fibres recovered from Rocio’s
body. But this turned out to be a false
00:31:43
lead when analysis revealed the two were
unrelated. Although investigators weren’t
00:31:50
having much luck finding physical evidence,
the circumstantial evidence was stacking up.
00:31:57
Acquaintances and colleagues described
Dolores as cold, detached, and insensitive.
00:32:04
Her ex-housekeeper said Dolores had a violent
temper. Once she’d smashed a cup of tea just
00:32:11
because it was cold. Others felt that she’d
behaved in an overly emotional way during searches
00:32:19
for Rocio and at her funeral. She’d cried almost
“too hard”, in a way that felt performative.
00:32:29
She also seemed protective of Rocio’s
family to the point of possessiveness. Dolores had claimed that on the
night of Saturday October 9,
00:32:41
she’d been at home watching over her
mother and grand-niece. But a neighbour said Dolores’s niece and grand-niece had arrived
in town the following day, Sunday October 10.
00:32:56
A waitress who worked at a bar
situated right outside Dolores’s house reported that at around 11:30PM on October 9,
Dolores had come in dressed in running gear.
00:33:09
She’d bought some tobacco and when the
waitress asked what Dolores was up to, she said she’d just gone
on a run to clear her mind.
00:33:19
The next day, Dolores attended a wedding. She
asked a friend to drive her, explaining that her
00:33:26
car was being repaired. When the friend arrived
to collect her, she told Dolores that she looked
00:33:32
beautiful. Dolores said she was surprised; she’d
had a restless night and hadn’t slept at all.
00:33:43
Several days later, the waitress who’d served
Dolores on the night of October 9 saw smoke
00:33:50
rising from Dolores’s chimney. When another
employee at the bar followed up with Dolores
00:33:57
and asked what she was burning, she claimed
she’d simply been clearing the chimney out.
00:34:04
But the waitress felt the amount of smoke had
been far too excessive to just be some soot.
00:34:12
Several weeks later on November 2,
Dolores arrived home looking troubled. She was met by her housekeeper. When the
housekeeper asked Dolores what was wrong,
00:34:25
Dolores pulled out one of Rocio’s missing
person flyers. Then she picked up a knife,
00:34:32
held it against the flyer, and stabbed it
repeatedly in the middle of Rocio’s photograph.
00:34:39
This incident had taken place on the same
day that Rocio’s body was found. Dolores had
00:34:47
apparently mimed how the 19-year-old was murdered
before her cause of death was publicly known.
00:34:57
In the months leading up to Rocio’s
murder, Dolores had been a frequent caller to psychic phone lines. Yet after Rocio
went missing, these calls had virtually ceased.
00:35:11
A psychic who Dolores had visited
five months before Rocio was murdered was tracked down and interviewed. She claimed
Dolores had confessed she was heartbroken. She
00:35:24
wanted her former partner back but the
partner’s child was standing in the way.
00:35:31
Supposedly, Dolores had told the psychic
that her ex would cry “blood tears.” Investigators put together a theory as to
how Rocio had been killed. On October 9,
00:35:50
Dolores went for a run between 9:40 and 10PM. She
carried a pocket knife as a safety precaution.
00:35:59
In the middle of her exercise, she crossed
paths with Rocio, who was walking home to
00:36:04
prepare for her night out. The pair talked and
the bad blood between them caused an argument to
00:36:12
break out. Dolores punched Rocio in the face,
then gave her a tissue to clean her wounds.
00:36:21
While Rocio was distracted by her injury, Dolores
took out her pocket knife and stabbed her in the
00:36:27
chest. Rocio turned and ran away, leaving spots of
blood on the road. After running a short distance,
00:36:37
she collapsed. Dolores struck again, this
time stabbing her repeatedly in the back.
00:36:47
When Rocio was dead, Dolores realised she
needed to dispose of the body. She went home
00:36:54
and returned to the scene a
few hours later with her car. She placed Rocio’s body in the boot and kept it
there for several days. That was why she’d needed
00:37:07
a friend to drive her to the wedding on Sunday
and why she hadn’t gotten any sleep that night.
00:37:15
A few days later she burnt Rocio’s body in an
effort to disguise the remains, then dumped her
00:37:21
at the tennis court in Marbella, along with the
garbage bags full of Rocio’s clothing. It was
00:37:28
possible she’d enlisted the help of some young
men. This would explain why there was a cigarette
00:37:35
butt with male DNA at the crime scene and why
two men were seen driving around in her car.
00:37:45
In the lead up to the murder trial, news anchors
and television hosts debated whether or not
00:37:51
Dolores was guilty, with most deciding
that her antisocial-sounding personality
00:37:57
pointed towards guilt. Members of the public
were inclined to agree. The case was one of the
00:38:06
biggest in the country, everyone had heard
of Rocio Wanninkhof and Dolores Vazquez.
00:38:15
In September 2001, Dolores’s trial began.
Hundreds of reporters and curious onlookers
00:38:23
piled into the courtroom to observe the
proceedings. Dolores was pleading not guilty.
00:38:32
Alicia testified for the prosecution, telling
the jury that she was in no doubt that her ex
00:38:38
had murdered her daughter. Various character
witnesses were paraded through the court,
00:38:44
sharing stories of Dolores’s
domineering and calculating personality. An undercover officer from the Civil Guard had
even befriended Dolores while she was in custody
00:38:56
and provided a report describing
Dolores as incredibly cold. The jury of five men and four women deliberated
for thirty hours before returning with a verdict:
00:39:11
guilty. The courtroom erupted in loud applause and
cheering. Alicia and her family hugged one
00:39:20
another tightly. As Dolores broke down in
tears, photographers and news crews closed in,
00:39:27
trying to get a close-up. Her attorney
draped a coat over her to hide her distress.
00:39:36
Dolores Vazquez was sentenced to 15 years and
one day in prison. She was also ordered to pay 30
00:39:45
million pesetas in compensation to Rocio’s family
– close to 220,000 US dollars in today’s money.
00:39:55
When asked if she had anything to say
in response, Dolores quietly muttered: “Continue searching because
the killer is still out there.”
00:40:21
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Sonia Carabantes grew up in Switzerland. When she turned 15, she moved with her
parents to the inland Spanish town of Coín.
00:46:49
On Wednesday August 13 2003, Coín was abuzz
with activity. The annual Feria de Agosto,
00:46:57
“August Fair'', had arrived in town. Streets were
adorned with paper lanterns and floral displays.
00:47:05
The sounds of flamenco and copla
music radiated from the fairgrounds, where crowds had gathered to take in the many
festivities and performances on display. Among
00:47:17
them was the now 17-year-old Sonia Carabantes. She
celebrated with her friends long into the night.
00:47:26
Afterwards, Sonia headed home on
foot, accompanied by a friend. At around 5AM, the pair were within 200
metres of Sonia’s home. As her friend
00:47:40
lived on the opposite side of town, they said
their goodbyes and continued on separately.
00:47:47
The next morning, Sonia’s mother opened her front
door. On the pavement outside was a pool of blood.
00:47:57
More blood was splattered across the hood of a
car parked nearby. Sonia’s mother edged closer.
00:48:06
She then discovered something even more upsetting.
Scattered on the ground was Sonia’s mobile phone,
00:48:14
her purse, and a shoe she’d been wearing
the night before – now covered in blood.
00:48:21
The Civil Guard found more things lying nearby
– a piece of a broken car tail light and a lock
00:48:28
of hair that was the same dark brown as
Sonia’s. There were other notable objects:
00:48:36
a cigarette butt and a tissue
covered in dried blood. More than 700 of Coin’s residents volunteered
to help search for Sonia Carabantes.
00:48:49
Divided into groups of ten, they covered much of
Coin and the surrounding area. On August 18, one
00:48:58
group scouring a highway on the outskirts of town
stumbled across a pair of jeans by the roadside.
00:49:06
They resembled the pair that Sonia had
been wearing on the night she went missing.
00:49:12
When he heard about the jeans, Sonia’s father
travelled to the area with a clairvoyant.
00:49:18
The clairvoyant led Sonia’s father
away from the road and into a dense, wooded area. She said she felt like Sonia
was nearby, but they found no sign of her.
00:49:32
The following morning, four volunteers took a
sniffer dog to where the jeans had been found.
00:49:39
It led the group into the same heavily wooded area
that Sonia’s father had visited the day before.
00:49:47
The dog was eager to get close to some
trees, so its owner loosened its leash. After racing forward a few metres, the
dog stopped. Nearby, partially buried
00:50:00
beneath a pile of rocks, was the half-naked,
badly decomposed body of Sonia Carabantes.
00:50:13
Sonia’s lower half was exposed and her
t-shirt had been pushed up. Her bra was torn.
00:50:21
Though the attack appeared sexually motivated,
there was no evidence that she had been raped.
00:50:27
Her face had been struck repeatedly, her jaw
almost broken. Then she’d been strangled to death.
00:50:37
Sonia put up a fight - skin belonging to her
attacker was found under her fingernails.
00:50:43
Analysis revealed it belonged to a male. His DNA was also found on the cigarette
butt discarded outside Sonia's home.
00:50:55
Surprisingly, the DNA matched to
a third item. Another cigarette. This one was found three years prior, in a grassy
clearing 25 kilometres away in La Cala de Mijas.
00:51:12
The Royal Crown brand cigarette butt found at the
Rocio Wanninkhof crime scene was almost overlooked
00:51:19
at the time. Luckily, it was spotted by an
officer during a thorough sweep of the area.
00:51:26
Testing revealed it had been inhaled by a man. The Wanninkhof and Carabantes cases shared a
number of similarities. The victims were only two
00:51:39
years apart in age and roughly similar heights.
Rocio was half-Dutch, while Sonia was Swiss.
00:51:47
Both had long brown hair that fell below their
shoulders, worn in almost identical styles.
00:51:54
And both had disappeared while walking home after
attending or planning to attend a local fair.
00:52:02
Though they had been killed in different ways,
they had been beaten. There was no evidence to
00:52:08
prove either teen had been sexually assaulted,
but both were found naked or partially-naked.
00:52:17
In 2001, Dolores Vazquez was found guilty
of Rocio’s murder. The motive was believed
00:52:24
to be personal. However, Dolores had
no connection to Sonia Carabantes. And at the time of Sonia’s murder in 2003, Dolores
was at home - under police surveillance.
00:52:44
After Dolores was incarcerated, she began to
spiral. She’d always maintained her innocence,
00:52:50
but public opinion had cemented her as a killer.
Once known as a quiet and calm person who was
00:52:58
kind in a reserved way - it didn’t take long
perceptions of Dolores to change following her
00:53:05
arrest. Soon, the narrative reversed. She was
now described as cruel with a violent temper.
00:53:14
Although investigators had done their
utmost to coax a confession from Dolores,
00:53:19
she never cracked. She was patient and compliant,
even when questioned for two days straight. During
00:53:28
her first night in detention, officers switched
the lights on and off at random intervals.
00:53:34
Dolores had an intense fear of the dark
and was certain they knew about this. She felt they were trying to break her.
At one point, an officer told Dolores:
00:53:48
“We’re going to make you famous and
not even your lawyer will believe you.” Following her guilty verdict,
Dolores questioned her own memories.
00:54:00
During a visit with her attorney, she asked:
“What if I did it and can’t remember it?”
00:54:13
Dolores’s lawyer firmly believed she was innocent
and encouraged her to maintain her faith while
00:54:19
he worked on an appeal. Others also believed
Dolores had been wrongly convicted. A group of
00:54:27
attorneys and researchers who’d followed the case
published a blog advocating for her innocence.
00:54:34
Chief amongst their arguments was the fact that
Dolores had been convicted without a shred of
00:54:40
physical evidence. They also pointed out a number
of inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.
00:54:48
From the beginning, Dolores had insisted that
she’d been at home babysitting her niece’s
00:54:54
daughter on the night of Saturday October 9. A
neighbor claimed she’d seen Dolores’s niece arrive
00:55:01
the following day. However, the niece
in question backed up Dolores’s alibi. She said she’d arrived on Saturday night at
10PM - around the time Rocio was attacked.
00:55:16
During the trial, the prosecution presented
Dolores’ telephone records to emphasise how
00:55:22
often she called clairvoyants, which they
found suspicious. But these same records
00:55:28
were advantageous to the defence. As
Dolores’s attorney showed the court, Dolores had made two separate calls to
friends on the night of Saturday October 9.
00:55:42
One took place between 10:34 and
11:10PM. The other was at 11:17PM. If her niece arrived at 10pm and
Dolores was on the phone from 10:34pm,
00:56:00
she had barely any time to run
4 kilometres, encounter Rocio, murder her, then run back home again. And if the
murder occurred before Dolores’ niece arrived,
00:56:13
there was an even smaller window for her
to run from the crime scene to her home.
00:56:19
Furthermore, tyre tracks found at the
crime scene didn’t match Dolores’s car. They had been left by an older model Ford
Fiesta. Dolores drove a newer Toyota Celica.
00:56:35
To overcome this obvious discrepancy, the prosecution suggested Dolores
stole a car to transport Rocio’s body.
00:56:45
With every post shared by Dolores’s
supporters, the credibility of the case was further diminished. Journalists and more
attorneys began to question the guilty narrative.
00:56:58
Finally, on February 2 2002,
Andalucia’s Superior Court of Justice agreed to annul Dolores Vazquez’s
conviction and order a new trial.
00:57:15
On February 8, Dolores was released from prison
under the proviso that she surrender her passport
00:57:22
and submit to any and all searches
of her home by the Civil Guard. Rocio Wanninkhof’s family were very upset by
this. They felt that by releasing Dolores,
00:57:35
the courts had placed them in grave danger. What
if Dolores decided to seek revenge against them?
00:57:44
They requested that she be placed back
in custody but their request was denied.
00:57:52
Several months later on July 1,
Rocio’s family received another shock when a new report was published. Titled
the Crespillo Dossier, it had been compiled by
00:58:04
Officer Crespillo, the first policeman
who’d attended the Wanninkhof crime scene.
00:58:11
He wasn’t a member of the Civil Guard. He was a
forensic police officer for the city of Marbella,
00:58:18
which is in the same region as La Cala de
Mijas. As the case wasn’t in his jurisdiction,
00:58:24
he hadn’t formally investigated it but
he’d always maintained an interest. After investigating Rocio’s murder independently,
00:58:35
Officer Crespillo concluded that Rocio’s uncle
had murdered her with assistance from her cousin.
00:58:43
An irregular fingerprint had been recovered
from one of the garbage bags near Rocio’s body
00:58:49
and her uncle was known to have a V-shaped scar
on one finger. Rocio’s cousin was a young man
00:58:57
who resembled the SUV driver spotted by the taxi
driver on the night of the crime. The house he
00:59:04
lived in was number 8. The garbage bag found
near Rocio’s body had that number drawn on it.
00:59:13
There was little evidence to back up
Officer Crespillo’s controversial theory. It was subsequently dismissed due to lack
of proper protocol and scientific approach.
00:59:25
Some members of law enforcement
believed Officer Crespillo had released his findings because
he wanted 15 minutes of fame.
00:59:34
But news of the dossier did prompt Dolores Vazquez
to make her first public statement in months.
00:59:42
On September 20, she held a press conference
in front of 100 journalists and 18 television
00:59:48
cameras. She stated: “I didn’t kill Rocio. I’ve
been arrested without proof. I’ve been taken to
00:59:58
prison and trial without proof. The fingerprints
are not mine, and I’m just asking – not for me,
01:00:06
but for Rocio – for the investigation to
re-open and let whoever has to fall, fall.”
01:00:16
Despite her pleas, there were very few
developments in the case over the next year.
01:00:22
It was accepted that Dolores would be facing court
again, with her retrial scheduled for August 2003.
01:00:31
Then, just days before Dolores was due back
in court, Sonia Carabantes was attacked.
01:00:40
Despite the similarities between
the Wanninkhof and Carabantes cases, Dolores Vazquez couldn’t have
possibly committed both murders.
01:00:49
When Sonia was abducted, Dolores was under strict
surveillance at home, awaiting her day in court.
01:00:58
Upon learning that the two murders
were connected via a male smoker, the supreme court postponed Dolores’s retrial
so that the investigation could pan out.
01:01:11
Investigators examined other unsolved cases involving missing and murdered girls to see
if they were dealing with a serial killer.
01:01:20
The brutality of Rocio and Sonia’s murders made
them certain that whoever was responsible had
01:01:27
attacked before. There were likely other
women out there who’d encountered him.
01:01:39
Not long after Sonia Carabantes went missing, a
woman named Cecilia Pantoja met her ex-husband
01:01:46
outside her home when he came
to collect their daughter. As Cecilia and her boyfriend stood chatting
with her ex, whose name was Tony King, they
01:01:57
noticed that one of his hands was badly swollen
and covered with cuts. Cecilia’s boyfriend asked
01:02:05
about the injury, and King said something about
how he’d been speeding in his car and ending up
01:02:11
injuring himself. The story sounded far fetched.
Neither Cecilia nor her boyfriend believed it.
01:02:20
It wasn’t the first time Cecilia felt
uncomfortable about her ex-husband. A few years earlier when Cecilia was still
married to King, a friend told her she’d
01:02:31
seen him on a British television program about
wanted criminals. Terrified by this revelation,
01:02:39
Cecilia called Scotland Yard to find out more.
They informed her that King had committed a
01:02:46
series of robberies. Believing King’s crimes
weren’t violent, Cecilia let the matter rest.
01:02:56
On the night of Saturday October 9 1999, King
arrived home close to midnight. He was behaving
01:03:04
strangely. He ran straight to the bathroom and
locked the door. Cecilia went to check on him.
01:03:14
As he emerged, she noticed he had some minor
injuries and was carrying a pile of blood-stained
01:03:20
clothes. King insisted on washing the clothing
himself. Cecilia didn’t enquire further.
01:03:30
A few days later, she saw on
the news how a 19-year-old named Rocio Wanninkhof had gone missing
the same night King returned home with
01:03:40
bloodstained clothing. Cecilia couldn’t shake a
sinking feeling that her husband was involved.
01:03:49
When Sonia Carabantes disappeared,
that same feeling returned. The Civil Guard had established a tip line to
01:04:00
assist them in identifying suspects
in the murder of Sonia Carabantes. One day a call came through offering them a
promising lead. The police sprung into action.
01:04:14
On the night of September 17 2003, officers
drove to the apartment complex where Tony
01:04:21
King lived with his new partner and her three
children. But they didn’t knock on his door.
01:04:28
Instead, they waited and watched,
just in case King decided to flee. But nothing indicated that he was aware
his ex-wife had reported him to police.
01:04:42
The officers made note of a small white Mazda
parked in King’s garage. It was consistent
01:04:49
with a vehicle seen driving around Sonia’s
neighbourhood on the night of her murder.
01:04:55
It also had a broken tail light that perfectly
matched the piece they’d found near her home.
01:05:03
The following morning, when King walked
out of the building, officers pounced. He was immediately handcuffed. He looked
stunned as he was placed under arrest.
01:05:16
During interrogations, investigators pieced
together more information about their suspect:
01:05:24
King was a 38-year-old British man who’d moved
to Spain six years prior. He’d worked odd jobs
01:05:31
and was currently employed as
a waiter in an English pub. King was informed that he was being
investigated for the murder of Sonia Carabantes.
01:05:42
He was told that his DNA was being
analysed at that very moment. Within a matter of hours, they would know whether
or not he was the person who had attacked her.
01:05:56
King paused for several seconds,
seemingly processing the situation. Then he broke down and offered
to share his side of the story.
01:06:12
A month earlier on Wednesday August 13, Tony
King visited a local pub at 3pm and stayed until
01:06:20
midnight. His girlfriend joined him for a couple
of hours and the couple visited a few more bars.
01:06:28
When they returned home, King took a sleeping
pill and went to bed. But he couldn’t fall asleep.
01:06:35
After tossing and turning, he got up. He told his
girlfriend he was going out to buy some tobacco.
01:06:45
King claimed he couldn’t remember much of
what happened next. Muddled and hazy from
01:06:51
the combination of alcohol and medication, he
got into his car and drove to the Coin fair.
01:06:58
As he was driving back home, he accidentally ran
over a teenage girl, who he later realised was
01:07:04
Sonia Carabantes. Scared and unsure of what to
do, he placed her body in the boot of his car.
01:07:13
He headed northwest in the direction
of Monda, 10 kilometres away. At one point, he pulled over and
moved Sonia into the backseat
01:07:23
with the intention of abusing what
he believed to be her dead body. Sonia regained consciousness and began to fight
him off. That was when King strangled her.
01:07:37
He dragged her body into the heavily
wooded area where she was later found. He then grabbed rocks at random
and used them to conceal her body.
01:07:49
Investigators didn’t believe
King’s actions were thoughtless. The rock placed on Sonia’s head
had been a different size and
01:07:58
shape to the others - as though it was intended as
a marker that someone could spot from a distance.
01:08:06
They suspected King had planned
to return to Sonia’s body again. King also admitted to killing Rocio Wanninkhof. He
claimed he’d spent the evening of Saturday October
01:08:21
9 1999 at a house belonging to his friend, Robert
Graham. The pair smoked joints and drank together.
01:08:31
When it was time to go home, he left in
a friend’s Ford Fiesta that he’d borrowed
01:08:36
after having an accident in his own car. As
King drove along a quiet road, he spotted Rocio
01:08:44
walking. He was immediately taken with her
and started fantasising about touching her.
01:08:52
King followed Rocio as she turned down an
even quieter path and overtook her in his car.
01:08:59
Then he got out and showed her a knife, thinking
it would intimidate her into submission.
01:09:06
But instead of cowering in fear, Rocio launched
herself at him, attempting to fight him off.
01:09:14
In response, King cut her throat, then stabbed her
abdomen in a frenzy so she would stop screaming.
01:09:23
King tossed the knife aside and fled the
scene, only to return a few hours later to
01:09:29
move Rocio’s body. He molested her corpse
before dumping her at the tennis court.
01:09:38
It took King 10 hours to confess to these crimes.
He also admitted to attacking at least three other
01:09:46
women in the area. His motivation was sexual.
He struggled to perform with his partners and
01:09:54
preferred to masturbate while assaulting the
bodies of unconscious or deceased young women.
01:10:02
Investigators didn’t buy King’s confessions,
which were riddled with false information.
01:10:09
Although he said he ran Sonia down as she
was walking in front of him, his car was only
01:10:14
damaged at the rear. The injuries he described
inflicting on Rocio didn’t match her wounds.
01:10:23
But detectives had no doubt that
King was involved in both crimes. King was held in custody while
investigators gathered evidence.
01:10:36
His clothing was bagged for testing, his white
Mazda was transferred to the station, and the
01:10:43
Spanish Home Office asked their U.K counterparts
for details on King’s prior convictions.
01:10:51
But before they received the
information, the British press beat them to the punch, turning the
case on its head for the second time.
01:11:03
On September 23, the Daily Mail and The Sun – two
of the UK’s most popular tabloids – revealed that
01:11:11
Tony King’s birth name was Tony Bromwich
and he was originally from Holloway, north London. Back in his country of birth,
01:11:21
he was a notorious criminal who’d
been dubbed the “Holloway Strangler”. At the age of 19, King started prowling the
streets of north London on Monday and Wednesday
01:11:34
evenings - the nights when he didn’t see his
fiancee. He was looking for women who were
01:11:40
walking alone. When he spotted one, he crept
up on her from behind, then wrapped a cord
01:11:48
around her neck and squeezed. Once the woman
was rendered unconscious, King assaulted her.
01:11:57
He did this to at least five different
women, until he was caught red-handed. He was taken to trial, where the judge described
him as possessing a “Jekyll and Hyde” personality.
01:12:11
By day, he behaved as a responsible
citizen and loving partner. But two nights every week, he acted out his
violent fantasies. King was sentenced to
01:12:24
10 years in juvenile detention, which was
later reduced to five for good behaviour.
01:12:31
A few weeks after his release, King attempted
to rob a woman at gunpoint. He was sent back
01:12:38
to prison, then freed again in 1995. Soon after
this, he changed his name and moved to Spain.
01:12:50
The British tabloids shared that U.K
authorities had forwarded King’s criminal files to the Spanish police soon after he
arrived in the country. They’d cautioned
01:13:01
their Spanish counterparts to keep a close eye
on King, as he posed a major threat to women.
01:13:12
In addition to these revelations, King’s ex-wife
Cecilia publicly revealed that she had, in fact,
01:13:19
reported her husband to police after he came home
covered in blood on the night Rocio Wanninkhof
01:13:25
vanished. However, the officer she’d spoken to
never wrote a report or followed up with her.
01:13:35
This made her reluctant to speak out
when she became suspicious again in 2003, so a friend of hers called the tip line
to report Cecilia’s concerns instead.
01:13:48
Spain’s law enforcement and government found
themselves under a barrage of criticism.
01:13:54
How had they missed so many
red flags about Tony King? Perhaps if they’d kept an eye on him from the
beginning, or at least investigated him after
01:14:04
Rocio disappeared, then some of his crimes might
have been prevented. The Home Office Minister
01:14:12
claimed Scotland Yard was partially to blame
because they marked King’s file as low priority.
01:14:19
The National Police received hundreds of
reports on international convicts every year.
01:14:25
It was impossible to chase every one up
unless they were flagged as important. In the aftermath of his confessions, Tony King
penned two letters. Both were published in the
01:14:41
papers. They were addressed to Rocio and Sonia’s
mothers. To Alicia, he apologised for not owning
01:14:50
up to his crime earlier and for causing a
rift in her relationship with Dolores Vazquez.
01:14:57
He apologised to Sonia’s mother
for running over her daughter and said he hoped the trial
wouldn’t be painful for her.
01:15:07
Neither mother was interested in hearing from
King and publicly rejected his apologies.
01:15:13
Almost immediately, King responded
by saying he’d written the letters under false pretenses. A journalist
with a law degree had posed as his
01:15:24
newly appointed attorney and told King that
apologies “meant a lot” in Spanish culture.
01:15:32
If he wrote letters saying sorry to the victims’
parents, then he might secure a lighter sentence.
01:15:40
As well as coaxing the letters out of him, the journalist obtained an
exclusive two-hour interview.
01:15:51
After King’s real lawyer met with his client, he told the media King had a difficult upbringing
that made him prone to confessing to things
01:15:59
he hadn’t done. To back up this assertion,
the attorney pointed to discrepancies between
01:16:06
King’s version of events and the evidence
in the Wanninkhof and Carabantes cases.
01:16:13
He also made a startling claim that was
related to King’s friend, Robert Graham.
01:16:21
King and Graham were close, hanging out on a daily
basis. King said he’d been with Graham on the
01:16:28
night of Rocio’s murder. Detectives apprehended
Graham two days after King’s arrest and kept him
01:16:35
in custody for 72 hours, before releasing him.
In those three days, Graham was interviewed
01:16:43
extensively but claimed not to remember
anything about that night four years earlier.
01:16:50
He was insistent, however, that he wasn’t
with King at the time of the murder. Subsequently, investigators asked
Graham to undergo hypnosis to
01:17:02
see if there were any relevant
memories locked in his subconscious. Graham agreed. The session ended with an alarming
statement. While hypnotised, Graham claimed that
01:17:16
Dolores Vazquez had collaborated with King to
commit the crime. As it turned out, King had
01:17:24
previously worked as a waiter at a hotel where
Dolores was employed in a managerial position.
01:17:32
King’s lawyer dismissed this claim,
suggesting detectives concocted the entire thing to push their own narrative. Their
investigation had been problematic from the start
01:17:44
and here was a convenient way to cover up the
holes in their case. He remarked that no matter
01:17:51
how the investigators were choosing
to proceed, the truth would come out. Graham’s statement and the hotel link
between Tony King and Dolores Vazquez
01:18:04
saw Dolores dragged back into the case again. Just as she was getting momentum in her quest for
innocence, rumours began circulating that she had
01:18:15
indeed committed Rocio’s murder with King’s
help. In an effort to silence this gossip once
01:18:22
and for all, Dolores held a press conference
to state that she did not know King and had
01:18:28
never met him before. He started working at the
hotel long after she’d moved on to another job.
01:18:36
She concluded by saying: “I can’t do
this anymore. I didn’t kill Rocio, and anything I say is twisted and turned against
me. What does this country want from me?”
01:18:54
Investigators were torn. On the one hand,
they kept looking for a connection between
01:19:00
Dolores and King. On the other, they discussed
eliminating Dolores completely from the case.
01:19:08
Some people were pressuring
them to issue a public apology. Detectives asked Robert Graham to provide a
new deposition, but he fled to London after
01:19:19
his previous interviews and said he was unable
to return to Spain due to “economic problems”.
01:19:27
Then, at a court hearing on November 13, King
stunned everyone by providing a brand-new version
01:19:34
of what happened the night of Rocio’s murder.
He’d been hanging out at Graham’s home when Graham
01:19:42
received a phone call. After hanging up, he
asked King to drive with him to meet someone.
01:19:49
King agreed. They drove to a quiet road,
where Rocio was standing on her own, waiting.
01:19:59
Graham got out of the car
while King stayed inside. From where he was watching, it looked
as though Graham and Rocio were lovers.
01:20:10
After a few minutes, Graham became
violent and stabbed Rocio repeatedly. Afterwards, he asked King to help him move her.
01:20:23
They hid her behind the tennis court
where she was eventually found. In this version, King only participated by moving
the body. He’d felt pressured to help Graham,
01:20:36
who had a domineering personality and dodgy
associates. Now, the Spanish government was
01:20:44
determined to do everything in their power
to bring Graham back into the country.
01:20:53
Graham finally agreed to return after
negotiating via his lawyer. One month later,
01:21:00
he appeared before a Spanish judge. He denied
having anything to do with Rocio’s murder.
01:21:07
He said the only thing he could recall from that
night was what he’d revealed under hypnosis.
01:21:14
He maintained that Dolores Vazquez was
behind the crime as the master puppeteer.
01:21:23
With so many varying statements and stories
changing along the way, nobody knew where the
01:21:29
truth lay anymore. Rocio’s mother was deeply
distressed by the constantly shifting claims.
01:21:37
The last thing she wanted was for her
daughters murder to end up unsolved. Over the next year and eight months, Tony King
attempted to derail the pending trial against
01:21:50
him by hiring new legal counsel
and changing his story yet again. He began to point the finger at both Robert
Graham and Dolores Vazques. He also attempted
01:22:04
to blame Graham for another well-known
case involving a third missing girl. Yet, the irrefutable evidence was that King’s
DNA was found at both crime scenes. Further
01:22:17
analysis also revealed that one of his hairs was
left inside a plastic bag dumped by Rocio’s body.
01:22:26
By February 2005, Dolores Vazquez and Robert
Graham were completely eliminated as suspects
01:22:34
in Rocio’s case. Tony King would be
subject to two consecutive trials: the first one would be for the
murder of Sonia Carabantes.
01:22:52
Sonia’s trial began in September 2005. King
was dragged into court kicking and screaming.
01:23:01
As he was escorted inside, he
stared at the television cameras and shouted at the ceiling: “I’m
innocent and haven’t done anything!”
01:23:13
As well as changing his claims about Rocio’s
murder, he was now telling a new version of events
01:23:18
with regards to Sonia. In this story, he’d gotten
out of his car after accidentally hitting her.
01:23:27
As he knelt over her body
to check if she was alright, someone bashed his head from behind several
times, knocking him unconscious. When he came to,
01:23:39
he was in the backseat of a car, next to
Sonia. His friend Robert Graham was driving.
01:23:47
Graham eventually pulled over and dumped Sonia’s
body, covering it with rocks. As they drove home,
01:23:55
King threw Sonia’s jeans out the window in
the hopes it would lead her to be found.
01:24:03
King claimed Dolores Vazquez had
orchestrated the entire thing, supposedly paying for the crime to make herself
appear innocent in the Rocio Wanninkhof case.
01:24:15
King was a helpless pawn who found himself
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
01:24:22
The prosecution called on lots of
witnesses to refute King’s claims. His girlfriend revealed he’d come home that night
with blood splattered all over him and an injured
01:24:33
hand. The second he saw her, he mumbled: “I’m
sorry, I’m sorry. I’m bad.” He told her he’d gone
01:24:45
to buy tobacco and got in a car accident. There
were no signs of any head injuries, as he was now
01:24:52
alleging. One of her friends had also come
forward to say she’d seen King at the Coin
01:24:59
fair that night, loitering near the youth tent –
the same place Sonia had gone with her friends.
01:25:08
A woman who owned a car wash said Robert had
taken his white Mazda there and specifically
01:25:14
asked her to clean the car’s interior, but not
the boot. While completing the job, she noticed
01:25:21
red stains on the floor and seats. Robert claimed
these were from ink. There was also a foul stench.
01:25:32
The prosecution pointed to Sonia’s injuries,
telling the court she was killed as the result
01:25:38
of an attack. Several witnesses had seen
blood stains right outside Sonia’s house,
01:25:45
but none had seen paint spots or tire
tracks that would indicate a car accident.
01:25:51
Moreover, the location and direction of
the blood - which was in between two parked
01:25:57
cars and not on the road - indicated Sonia had
most likely been struck in a surprise assault.
01:26:06
Their theory was that King hid behind a
tree, waiting for Sonia as she walked home.
01:26:12
As she approached, he jumped
out and hit her in the head, knocking her unconscious. Then he placed her in
the boot of his car. He drove 12 kilometers to
01:26:24
Monda, looking for an isolated area, and stopped
in a clearing located in an industrial field.
01:26:31
He moved Sonia from the boot into the
backseat and sexually assaulted her. She came to and fought back, scratching him
with her fingernails. King beat her, causing
01:26:45
internal and external injuries that were so
serious, they alone could have caused her death.
01:26:53
But King didn’t stop there. He grabbed Sonia’s
t-shirt and used it to strangle her. Afterwards,
01:27:01
he carried her body outside and
hid it under some heavy rocks. In summing up, prosecutors reminded the court
that King initially admitted to the crime without
01:27:14
any coercion. He also confessed to three other
attacks they weren’t even investigating him for.
01:27:22
He’d acknowledged that he saw women as prey and enjoyed attacking them so he
could later masturbate to the memory.
01:27:32
Tony King was found guilty and sentenced to 23
years for murder, 8 years for sexual aggression,
01:27:40
and 5 years for illegal detention. In
total, he was to serve 36 years in prison.
01:27:48
He also had to pay 300,000 euros
in compensation to Sonia’s family. King was dragged out of court behaving in
exactly the same way as he had on his way in:
01:28:02
he kicked and screamed that he was innocent and
was being used as a pawn in somebody else’s plan.
01:28:09
But his trials were far from over. He
still had Rocio’s murder to answer for. When King’s trial for the murder of
Rocio Wanninkhof began in November 2006,
01:28:25
he arrived in court repeating what had now
become his signature carry-on. Photographers
01:28:32
and television crews shot him as he screamed
at the top of his lungs that he was innocent.
01:28:39
In his opening statement,
King’s attorney told the court: “Nobody stabs another person [nine]
times to commit a sexual aggression.
01:28:49
If someone stabs another person [nine] times,
it has to be powered by hate and cruelty.”
01:28:58
The defense was arguing that this
attack had been personally motivated and Dolores Vazquez had to be the killer.
01:29:08
When King took the stand, he gave what became his
fourth version of the events of October 9 1999.
01:29:17
He had gone to Robert Graham’s house and
the two drank and did drugs for a few hours,
01:29:22
before Graham made a strange request. He wanted to try hypnotising someone
and asked if King would volunteer.
01:29:32
King agreed. After Graham hypnotised him, things
became confusing and strange. Three individuals
01:29:41
arrived at Graham’s house: two men – one of
whom was known to King – and Dolores Vazquez.
01:29:50
One of the men soon left. From then
on, King couldn’t recall much else. He remembered waking up in the front
passenger seat of a British car,
01:30:03
with its steering wheel on the right side, and
driving up to a village near La Cala de Mijas.
01:30:10
They stopped at an isolated area.
King turned around to look behind him and saw Rocio Wanninkhof in
the backseat with Dolores Vazquez.
01:30:24
Dolores began stabbing Rocio
repeatedly while laughing maniacally. King saw that Dolores was holding Rocio’s
underpants in one hand. After this incident, he
01:30:38
had no further involvement in the case. He hadn’t
even been present when Rocio’s body was moved.
01:30:47
When Rocio’s mother Alicia was asked
for her thoughts outside the courtroom, she said she believed King’s new story completely.
Rocio had been such a careful young woman that the
01:31:01
only way Alicia could make sense of her murder
was if she’d been lured in by someone she knew.
01:31:09
Rocio’s family couldn’t shake the belief they’d
held for years: that Dolores Vazquez was behind
01:31:16
it all. They agreed King was involved, but
investigators had previously told them the
01:31:24
murderer had to be a woman. Rocio’s aunt even
testified that she thought Dolores was behind
01:31:31
the murder, saying she’d seen Dolores hit or
scream at Rocio on three separate occasions.
01:31:39
She believed Dolores had truly hated Rocio. A psychiatrist who treated King in prison
said that while King was on remand,
01:31:50
he’d penned a personal manuscript
about the murders of Sonia and Rocio. While he always admitted involvement in Sonia’s
death, he never took the same responsibility for
01:32:02
Rocio. Instead, he implicated Robert Graham and
Dolores Vazquez. King had told his psychiatrist
01:32:12
that the only reason he ever confessed
was because he felt threatened by police.
01:32:18
He was scared that if he didn’t, something
bad would happen to his daughter. In summing up, the prosecutor dismissed
all of the conspiracy theories
01:32:30
by listing the bare-bones facts of the case. When
King had initially confessed to Rocio’s murder,
01:32:39
the knife he described using perfectly
matched her injuries. His DNA was found at the site where she was attacked, as well
as in one of the plastic bags by her body.
01:32:52
King was well acquainted with the area
where Rocio had been dumped. And finally,
01:32:58
investigators had been unable to find any evidence
to verify King’s later versions of events.
01:33:07
After the prosecutor closed his case,
there was a cry from the public gallery. Rocio’s mother Alicia, unsure of what to
believe any longer, screamed loudly: “Who
01:33:21
killed my daughter?” Without missing a beat, King
shouted back: “Dolores Vazquez, she paid”. Just as
01:33:32
Alicia tried to ask how much Dolores had paid,
court guards escorted her outside to calm down.
01:33:42
King was given a final opportunity to
speak before the jury left to deliberate.
01:33:48
Addressing the court, King gave a fifth
version of how Rocio had been killed. In this story, two unknown individuals in two
different cars cornered Rocio in the middle of
01:34:01
the road, hit her in the head, then threw
her down a hill. King said this explained
01:34:08
why the clearing where the attack occurred had a
large puddle of blood but no footprints nearby.
01:34:17
After several hours, King was found guilty on
all counts – though the jury believed he’d had
01:34:25
help from one or two people. He was sentenced
to 19 years for murder and ordered to pay
01:34:32
210,000 euros to Rocio’s mother and
42,000 euros to each of her siblings. Outside of court, Alicia told the
media that she was thrilled with
01:34:45
the result – but now the rest of
the guilty parties needed to pay. Alicia was determined that Dolores Vazquez
and Robert Graham be tried for her daughter’s
01:34:59
murder as well. Over the past few years,
she’d experienced some disturbing incidents
01:35:06
that she now pointed to as proof that some of
her daughter’s killers were still out there.
01:35:13
It started in September 2005, when King’s
trial for the murder of Sonia Carabantes
01:35:19
was about to begin. Someone left a
plastic bag outside Alicia’s home. Inside was a pair of bloody underpants,
which she believed belonged to Rocio.
01:35:34
Then, just as King’s trial for her
daughter’s murder was starting, a second plastic bag was
deposited at Alicia’s house.
01:35:43
It contained hair and four hundred coins that were
valued at roughly 348 euros. Alicia had no idea
01:35:54
what they were supposed to signify, but she was
convinced it was connected to her daughter’s case.
01:36:01
She took both bags to her
lawyer, arguing they should be entered as evidence against Graham
and Dolores. Her request was denied.
01:36:13
To this day, Alicia remains suspicious
of Dolores Vazquez. Over the years, Tony King has sent her letters sharing even more
stories about what supposedly happened to Rocio.
01:36:28
Numerous TV hosts and journalists who’ve
interviewed Alicia have put it to her that it
01:36:34
was impossible for Dolores to be behind the crime.
But she remains certain Dolores is responsible,
01:36:42
because she feels no other
explanation makes sense. Tony King has also been convicted of an
attempted rape that occurred in 2001.
01:36:56
The survivor recognised him when she saw a
news report about Sonia Carabantes’ case.
01:37:03
King had attacked the woman as
she was walking towards her car. Upon seeing his photograph, she
immediately reported him to the police.
01:37:13
He was subsequently sentenced to an additional
seven years. King denied committing the crime,
01:37:21
saying that if he’d wanted to rape the
woman, it wouldn’t have ended in an attempt.
01:37:28
King and his friend Robert Graham were also
looked into for another cold case. In August 2000,
01:37:37
18-year-old Maria Teresa Fernandez Martin vanished
in Motril, 150 kilometres from La Cala de Mijas.
01:37:46
King and Graham were reportedly seen in the
area around the same time. When investigators
01:37:53
were interrogating King, he made several
references to Maria Teresa’s disappearance
01:37:59
and alluded to being involved. To this
day, however, the case remains unsolved.
01:38:09
In 2010, Tony King asked to be relocated to a
British prison for the remainder of his sentence.
01:38:16
His request was denied. He isn’t
scheduled to be released until 2059. After her conviction was quashed, Dolores Vazquez
was left devastated by the impact the allegations
01:38:36
had on her. She battled with depression and
post-traumatic stress. In 2006, Dolores filed
01:38:46
a formal complaint against Spain’s Department
of Justice, citing physical, psychological,
01:38:52
and emotional scars that would never go away. She
was asking for 4 million euros in compensation.
01:39:01
Eventually, the department acknowledged that
mistakes had been made during the initial
01:39:07
investigation and trial, and offered Dolores
120,000 euros. They said this was a generous
01:39:15
amount. Ordinarily, they offered a rate of 120
euros per day to compensate for an injustice,
01:39:23
but they were giving Dolores 231 euros
for every day she’d spent incarcerated. Through her lawyer, Dolores reminded the
department of the amount she had been seeking.
01:39:39
It took years for the issue to be resolved. Early in 2011, the Department of Justice
reassessed Dolores Vazquez’s case and determined
01:39:50
she didn’t deserve compensation at all. A new law
that passed in 2010 decreed that because there had
01:39:59
been a murder, compensation wasn’t available
– even if Dolores was innocent of the crime.
01:40:08
Rocio Wanninkhof’s case had a significant
impact on the Spanish legal system. It led to people questioning the role of jury
trials, which were only introduced in Spain
01:40:20
in 1995 - four years before Rocio’s murder. When
jurors determined that Dolores Vazquez was guilty,
01:40:31
they did so without citing any evidence
they’d used to draw that conclusion. This troubled legal experts, as there was
no physical evidence implicating Dolores.
01:40:44
Some questioned whether citizens
with no legal training or experience are suited to make a judgement on
someone else’s guilt or innocence.
01:40:55
Jury trials are still prevalent in Spain; however,
lawyers and judges make frequent references to the
01:41:02
conviction of Dolores Vazquez, cautioning
juries that such a trial not be repeated.
01:41:13
Dolores Vazquez tried moving to the UK to
start a new life, but eventually returned
01:41:19
to Spain. It’s been suggested that prejudices
about Dolores’s sexuality contributed to the
01:41:26
hostility against her. She was often portrayed
by the media as a, quote: “predatory lesbian”
01:41:33
who relentelessly pursued Rocio’s mother. In
the years since her daughters murder, Alicia
01:41:41
has said that Dolores manipulated her into having
a relationship, and has denied being bisexual.
01:41:50
In 2013, Dolores made a rare public appearance. She was invited to speak in front of legal
activists who were studying her case and the
01:42:01
problem of what Spain has dubbed ‘parallel
trials’. A parallel trial is when a case is
01:42:08
essentially being tried by the media while also
going through the courts. In such instances,
01:42:15
what happens inside the courtroom is typically
dictated by the narrative in the press.
01:42:22
Dolores described how her life had changed since
being implicated in Rocio’s murder. She keeps a
01:42:30
detailed journal noting everywhere she goes, just
in case she gets taken in for questioning again.
01:42:37
She jots down license plate numbers of
cars she thinks might be stalking her. It’s hard for her to go about her normal life
without strangers stopping and staring at her.
01:42:50
To this day, some people in Spain
still believe Dolores to be guilty. She explained that more important
than any monetary compensation
01:43:02
is an apology from the government and a
public declaration that she is innocent.