Because of the nap, the message sounded like a distant beep. After a while, he grabbed his phone to check who was writing that Saturday, December 14, 2024, at three in the afternoon. The interlocutor sent a police incident: brief information, which would not have had much more follow-up. It said that a 71-year-old hiker had died in an accident on a path leading to Montserrat, the mountain with the most symbolic monastery in Catalonia. But the context, next, changed everything: “It is the founder of Mango, Isak Andic.”
At eight in the morning on a scorching Wednesday in August 2026, only the bells of the church of Collbató, the municipality closest to the Feixades path, can be heard in the background. Almost two years and rivers of ink later, the route where Isak Andic fell looks somewhat different. Just climbing the 400 meters of paved slope, a new sign indicates some basic precautions before entering the wonderful world of nature: wear “appropriate clothing and footwear,” check the weather forecast, carry GPS, have water, food, sun protection, and do not go alone.
Ignoring the last recommendation, a runner jogs up the 187 steps before the path. It would be inhumane to stop him at that moment to chat. A different situation from the next runner who appears, a little later, at a brisk pace, on flat ground. With some hassle, he removes his headphones to listen to the question of whether he knows that a fashion magnate like Isak Andic died on that path. “Yes, I know it was here, but I have no idea exactly where,” the athlete replies disinterestedly, unaware that he is right in front of the exact spot where he fell. An embankment, with a small drop, from which the road can be seen in the distance. “I don’t see anything dangerous about this route, really,” he says goodbye, plugging the music back in, with poles in his hands, and a small backpack with water on his back, running without fear.
The path to Montserrat is long, about two and a half hours if you follow the signs; a little less if you go at a brisk pace. In honor of the temple with the most influence in Catalonia (there is no big shot who does not drop by to visit the abbot), the Mossos d’Esquadra named the investigation case Monestir. Confident, as if they could bail water with their hands, they believed that silence would eventually fall over the investigation, which was led by a small unit of police from Martorell (Barcelona), and that they could work in peace. But from day one, rumor mixed with information filled headlines. It was about the death of Isak Andic, one of the richest men in Spain, the creator of a global reference in the fashion world, who fell while walking alone with his eldest son, with whom he had a, to say the least, complex relationship.
Leaning on a railing, with his gaze fixed on the infinite, Iván Góngora, 47, waits to enter the Salnitre Caves. They are natural cavities excavated by water inside the Montserrat massif, and they border the les Feixades path, the route the Andics walked. “I have no idea. I turned off the TV 10 years ago, stopped reading the press,” confesses Góngora, a professional dancer. He knows Mango, but had not heard that its owner died under strange circumstances on December 14, 2024, very close to where he looks into the distance. Much less that on May 19 of this year the Mossos arrested his son, Jonathan Andic, accused of killing him. “Nothing, nothing. I don’t know anything. It’s just that the news takes more from you than it gives,” he apologizes, before the astonished look of the listener. Julia Sánchez, his partner, 33, also a professional dancer, stops for a second, thinks… “Aaaah, yes… It rings a bell, they told me something. Something about the son,” she admits, almost to please the interlocutor.
None of the people asked at the entrance of the Salnitre caves know that Isak Andic died on the path at their feet, and barely know details of the case. On the actual trail leading to Montserrat, there is not a soul. In almost three hours, only one group is found, lively, in which Paula Campderrós, 19, and Pol Roca, 21, play at listening to the echo of their voice when they shout. They are accompanied by their mother, Helena Campderrós, 50. “Ah! Yes!” reacts Pol. Only he has a slight idea that nearby, not far from the Montserrat monastery, one of the saddest deaths that generates the most interest in crime chronicles occurred. “Wow, we haven’t even thought about it, really,” admits Pol, who suggests coming back another day to visit the exact place of the fall, a popular practice in other cases, like that of The girl from Portbou, Evi Rauter, found dead in the Finisterre of Empordà. It is the latest trend, thanatourism: visiting the place of a crime. In any case, it does not seem their thing. The three say goodbye, as happy as when they were found. When they are already leaving, and thanks to the fantastic echo of Montserrat, Paula is heard asking the rest: “Who is the Mango guy? Amancio Ortega?”.
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