Gustavo Romero Tercero
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Gustavo Romero Tercero | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gustavo Romero Tercero December 16, 1971 |
| Other names | The Valdepeñas Killer |
| Criminal penalty | 103 years in prison |
| Details | |
| Victims | 3 |
Span of crimes | 1993–1998 |
| Country | Spain |
| State(s) | Ciudad Real |
Date apprehended | October 9, 2003 |
Gustavo Romero Tercero (born December 16, 1971[1]), also known as "The Valdepeñas Killer," is an incarcerated Spanish murderer and rapist.
Early life
Gustavo Romero married young in Valdepeñas, to Yolanda Saez, and they had two children. Saez was pregnant with the second child at the time of the first murders in 1993.[2] Romero had a long history of sexual obsession, voyeurism and domestic violence against his wife and children. Nevertheless, he was not considered a threat by those outside his home.[3] One of his favorite voyeurism spots was Valdepeñas's public park, where he spied on couples kissing with little regard for being seen by them.[4]
The 'Crime of the Sweethearts'
On June 18, 1993, Romero ambushed Ángel Ibáñez (24) and his girlfriend Sara Dotor (20) as they left the park and ordered them to go to an uninhabited, dark area next to a railway. He was armed with a double-bladed
Murder of Rosana Maroto
Romero returned to Valdepeñas in 1997. He became friends with Dotor's brothers and would often ask how the investigation of their sister's murder was going. Over the following year, Romero worked putting up
According to Romero, he hit Maroto by accident, exited the car, and tried to resuscitate her without success. He believed that she was dead, and fearing that this would out him as the murderer of Ibáñez and Dotor, he resolved to put Maroto in the car's trunk and the bicycle in the backseat, and throw both in different
Maroto's disappearance gained notoriety in Spain when her backpack was found three days later in the area where she disappeared. It contained her running shoes,
Arrest and sentence
Saez reported Romero to the authorities in 2003, after he assaulted her and told her afterward that he didn't care about the consequences because he had already killed several people.[4] While being held in Herrera de la Mancha prison for domestic violence, Romero was informed that two witness testimonies and a DNA match tied him to the 1993 murders and the 1998 disappearance, respectively. Romero immediately collapsed and admitted to all three murders. Following his testimony, the Police's Special Operations Group retrieved the 1993 murder weapon and Maroto's body from their respective locations.[5]
On April 22, 2005, Romero was sentenced to over 103 years in prison: 30 years in maximum prison for each murder, with the aggravating circumstances of premeditation and extreme cruelty; 12 for one rape, and 4 years, 2 months and 1 day in minimum prison for robbery. He was acquitted of the charge for Dotor's rape and another charge for Maroto's abduction. In addition, Romero was banned from Valdepeñas for 10 years after his incarceration, could not contact the victims families for 5 years, and was forced to compensate them with 900,000 euro total.[2]
Other possible murders
Police explored the possibility that Romero had attacked other women in Ciudad Real and the Canary Islands during the time he had resided there. Special interest was given to the murders of 15-year-old Inmaculada Arteaga in Campo de Criptana in 2001 and 31-year-old Juani Díaz-Flores in Herencia on Valentine's Day, 2003.[4] Both murders were attributed later to different criminals.[6][7]
See also
External links
References
- ^ https://www.lavanguardia.com/sucesos/20191101/471307679838/asesino-valdepenas-crimenes-perfectos.html
- ^ a b c d e "Condenan a 103 años de prisión a Gustavo Romero por el asesinato de tres personas en Valdepeñas" [Gustavo Romero sentenced to 103 years in prison for the murder of three people in Valdepeñas]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. April 22, 2005. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
- ^ a b c Muñoz, P. (October 19, 2003). "El "mirón" convertido en asesino" [The «voyeur» turned murderer]. ABC (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Rodríguez, Jorge A. (October 13, 2003). "La policía investiga si el detenido en Valdepeñas mató a dos jóvenes más" [Police investigates if the arrested in Valdepeñas killed two other young women]. El País (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Rodríguez, Jorge A. (October 17, 2003). "El asesino de los novios de Valdepeñas en 1993 confiesa que también mató a Rosana Maroto" [The murderer of the Valdepeñas sweethearts in 1993 confesses that he also killed Rosana Maroto]. El País (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
- ^ Barroso, F. Javier (November 27, 2003). "El ADN demuestra que el suicida de La Cabrera mató a una mujer en febrero" [DNA evidences that the suicide of La Cabrera killed a woman in February]. El País (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
- ^ Ortiz, Ana María (March 26, 2006). "El ADN cazó al "bueno" de Santiago" [DNA caught «good boy» Santiago]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. Retrieved September 15, 2017.