The sole suspect in a perplexing murder trial, notable for the complete absence of the victim’s body, has emphatically declared his innocence before a popular jury at the Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona. The trial, which began this week in Section 21 of the court, centres on the disappearance of a man in Sant Andreu de la Barca on May 11, 2020, in a case where investigators have found neither the victim, the murder weapon, nor the car he was driving.


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Facing a potential 15-year prison sentence, the defendant chose to make a statement but refused to answer questions from the Public Prosecutor’s Office. “I have done nothing of what I am accused of,” he told the court in a session held Wednesday, as reported by Metrópoli Abierta.

A Dispute Over Marijuana

The prosecution’s case is built on a foundation of circumstantial evidence, alleging the motive was a financial dispute linked to an illegal marijuana plantation the two men operated. According to prosecutors, the victim went to a warehouse rented by the accused on the morning of his disappearance to confront him about a stolen crop, which they believe the accused himself had staged.

The last known sign of the victim’s life was a missed call made to the suspect’s phone as he arrived at the warehouse, presumably to have the gate opened. After that moment, his phone signal vanished, and he was never heard from again.

In his testimony, the defendant acknowledged the meeting took place. He claimed the victim arrived “a little hot” over the theft of the marijuana plants. However, the accused stated he calmed the victim down by suggesting the thief could be someone connected to a machinery rental company or even someone in the victim’s own inner circle—a theory he says the victim accepted.

The defendant also admitted they discussed a pending debt, but insisted it was the victim who owed him money. “I got to the point of reproaching him that it wasn’t right, or I didn’t see it as right, that he was maintaining a parallel relationship outside of his marriage, spending money on that relationship,” he added in his statement.

Conflicting Timelines

The accused provided the court with an alibi for the day of the disappearance. He claimed the victim left the warehouse around 12:00 PM, heading for Gavà to meet other people. The defendant says he remained at the warehouse working until 1:30 PM before leaving for Terrassa to negotiate the rental of another warehouse for Albanian clients seeking to “store packages of drugs.” He claims he returned to Sant Andreu at approximately 3:00 PM for a meeting and lunch, before heading home at 5:00 PM.

However, the prosecutor highlighted what she termed “contradictions” in his account. During the initial investigation by the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan regional police force, the suspect reportedly said the victim had visited the warehouse to “collect the lights from the plantation.” This detail was notably absent from his testimony before the jury.

A Case Without A Body

The prosecution’s thesis is that the defendant killed his associate in an “undetermined manner” inside the warehouse. They allege he then used his own van to dispose of the body, and also drove the victim’s car and phone to Gavà to create a false trail before getting rid of them as well.

To date, the search has yielded nothing. The victim’s car, his mobile phone, and most critically, his remains, have never been located. Despite this evidentiary vacuum, the Public Prosecutor’s Office is proceeding with the homicide charge, relying on what it describes as a solid chain of circumstantial evidence and the testimony of the victim’s friends, who are expected to confirm previous disagreements between the two men.

The trial continues, leaving the jury with the difficult task of determining guilt or innocence in a case where the most fundamental piece of evidence—the victim—is missing.

no-body murder trial

Primary source: La Vanguardia Barcelona.