Javier Sánchez and his wife, Esther Latorre, spent the last hours of last Friday together. The couple, aged 67 and 60, went out to dinner at a bar in Tauste (Zaragoza) and stayed there until after midnight. Already in the early hours of Saturday, at 1:12 a.m., Javier posted a video on Facebook about the departure of the Colombian president, the leftist Gustavo Petro, from the Nariño house, before the inauguration of Abelardo de la Espriella in Cali. That was his last recorded activity.
Both returned to their home and parked their car at the entrance of the house. Even yesterday, the vehicle was seen parked across the front door of the house, on Ronda Val de Volví, near Sancho Abarca Avenue. Hours later, before that same Saturday ended, they were found dead with stab wounds. The discovery triggered an investigation that from the first moment looked towards the closest environment of the couple. There were no signs that the door or windows had been forced, which led to discarding the robbery hypothesis. There was also no indication of gender violence or shared suicide. Therefore, the strongest hypothesis was that someone known to the victims had entered the house. Of the couple’s daughters, one of them, Olga, was returning the next day from Scotland. Then, it seemed necessary to ask about her sister, Carlota. And yesterday, the Civil Guard arrested her, along with her partner, Luis Carlos R., of Colombian origin, as alleged perpetrators of the double homicide. The participation of each in the murder is one of the crucial issues.
The arrests took place at the same time that Tauste was trying to assimilate the death of its two neighbors. Hours later, family and friends gathered to say goodbye to the couple in a civil ceremony at the Casa de la Cultura. Because both Javier and Esther were very well-known people for decades within the Aragonese countryside. Javier was a figure in unionism, who joined the Union of Farmers and Ranchers of Aragon (UAGA) in 1983, of which 16 years later he was general secretary, until 2010. “He has always been, since the sector was created, betting on agricultural unionism and has been fighting a lot in all areas,” recalled this Sunday José María Alcubierre, current general secretary of UAGA, in statements to EL MUNDO.
He also participated in politics, running for the Aragonese Parliament elections, in the eighth position on the United Left (IU) lists in 2015. Four years later he ran in the municipal elections of Tauste with Zaragoza Plural finishing in third place, behind PP and PSOE, with 196 votes (just over 5%, without obtaining representation). That same year, before the European elections, he posed alongside Sira Rego, then IU candidate and now minister.
Esther, like her husband, was also linked for years to the agricultural organization. Farmer and member of United Left – she was also a candidate for the mayoralty, like her husband – she combined her activity in the field with a small laying hen farm.
Now, the investigation focuses on reconstructing what happened in the hours that passed between the couple’s return to their home and when their bodies were found. The Civil Guard focused yesterday on collecting evidence in the house.
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