Spanish police said on Monday that they had arrested a Pakistani man in connection with the deaths of three siblings in their 70s, allegedly due to debts from an online romance scam.
According to a police statement, the suspect turned himself in on Sunday, “admitting his involvement in incidents related to the triple murder in a house in Morata de Tajuna”.
According to judicial sources, the suspect was previously convicted of using a hammer to attack one of the sisters a year ago.
On Thursday, police discovered the three bodies, which had been partially burned inside their home in the village about 35 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of Madrid.
Neighbours raised the alarm after not seeing the two sisters and their disabled brother for a while, with police saying their deaths were being investigated as murder for a suspected debt.
Police said on Monday that the man, only identified as D.H.F.C., was the “main suspect” in the case because he had “previously injured one of the female victims last year,” and the courts confirmed his arrest and conviction.
According to local residents, the tragedy was most likely caused by a bogus online love affair in which the two sisters entered into what they thought was a long-distance relationship with two apparent US servicemen.
They were led to believe one had died and the other needed money to send them a multimillion-euro inheritance, causing the sisters to incur massive debts.
Initially, they began borrowing money from neighbors Sentenced for Hammer Attack –
During that time, the suspect allegedly lent the sisters at least 50,000 euros ($55,000), which they never returned, prompting his violent attack on one of them.
According to a statement from the Madrid region’s top court, the suspect was arrested in February 2023 at their home, where he was a tenant.
According to the sentence, he hit the victim “on the head, at least three times, with a hammer” before kicking her on the floor.
He was held in pre-trial detention until his case came to court in September, when he was sentenced to two years in prison, fined 2,900 euros ($3,150), and banned from being within 500 metres (1,600 feet).
