It is believed the Civil Guard have found the body of missing teenager Diana Quer, nearly a year and a half after the intense search began.
18-year-old Diana from Madrid vanished 22 August 2016 in the seaside town of A Pobra do Caramiñal in the A Coruña province after attending village parties.
A body has now been discovered in an abandoned soda factory in the parish of Asados, Rianxo, where it had been placed inside the well of a ship.
Further tests will be taken to confirm the identity of the body, however initial visual identifications have led researchers to believe this is the body of Diana.
According to El Mundo, the Civil Guard were today led to the body by the main suspect in the case – who has now confessed to killing the young woman and putting her body in the well.
41-year-old José Enrique Abuín Gey – who is also known as ‘El Chicle’ (The Chewing Gum) – gave officers directions to the location, which is just 200 metres away from his parents’ home.
The Civil Guard left the location at 10.30 am today after the body was recovered. The remains have now be transported to the Legal Medicine Institute of Galicia in Santiago – according to Diario Vasco – where an autopsy will be conducted.
Abuín Gey was then taken to his home in handcuffs at around 10.45 where a search reportedly took place.
Local residents reportedly approached the location – despite heavy rainfall – displaying anger and firing insults at Abuín Gey.
According to El Diario Vasco, Rianxo mayor Adolfo Muíños has said:
People are waiting because they do not like the name of a town to be linked to such a situation,
It’s hard to believe that someone so close, with whom you cross, can come to this.
In his confession, the detainee gave multiple accounts of the scenario which led to the sixth former’s death.
In one account, he claims he accidentally ran her over. He has also claimed he acted alone in his crimes.
However, the Civil Guard are sceptical about the validity of these accounts, and are awaiting the forensic report for clarification.
The detainee confessed to the killing after his wife changed her original statement, admitting she had not been with her husband the night of Diana’s disappearance. This left him without an alibi.
Diana’s mother Diana López Pinel has made the following comment to El Mundo about her daughter’s confessed killer:
Do not see the light of day in prison. Let him be condemned as much as possible. May your life be a hell.
It has taken the shine off the most beautiful eyes I have seen in my life.
Diana had been holidaying with her mother and sister at the time of her disappearance at the Galician coast destination.
Clues were scarce after she vanished. Her white iPhone was recovered from the sea two months into the search, close to the spot where it had ceased signalling.
Although police were able to recover content from the phone, this did not offer much in the way of discovering her whereabouts.
Our thoughts are with Diana’s family and friends at this difficult time.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.