The Civil Guard was investigating this Wednesday the death of an Irish couple, aged 50 and 45, who were found dead next to the jacuzzi of the luxury home they had rented for their summer vacation in Cullera (Valencia). The bodies were found by their two minor children, aged 14 and 15, who were accompanying them on the trip. The youngsters alerted a neighbor, who in turn called 112. The first officers, from the Local Police, who entered the home did not observe signs of violence or that a robbery had occurred. But a more detailed examination showed small cuts on the bodies, opening the hypothesis that they were homicides. The investigating judge of Sueca (Valencia) who took charge of the case declared the secrecy of the proceedings. The investigations have been taken over by the Homicide Judicial Police team of the armed institute. Three relatives of the children, who landed in Alicante at dawn from Ireland, took charge of them.
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Pending the results of the autopsy, which was performed this Wednesday at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Valencia, the main hypothesis of the investigation, however, leaned towards the death being the result of a tragic and strange accident, perhaps related to some type of failure in the mechanical system of the jacuzzi, according to the newspaper Las Provincias. The cuts or scratches, especially visible on one of the bodies, could have been produced, in that case, by the efforts of their partner to pull the body out of the water, which, upon the arrival of investigators, showed a striking color and from which samples were taken for analysis. Investigators did not rule out other hypotheses.
The events took place in Colinas del Sol, an exclusive area located in the highest and most expensive part of the Cap Blanc urbanization, perched on the Cullera mountain with panoramic views of the Gulf of Valencia. The entrance is protected by a large black gate and a security camera, in front of which several journalists were stationed this Wednesday. From the perimeter of the house facing west, towards the mountain, the seal with which the Civil Guard had sealed the door could be seen, and next to it, through the window, four pairs of shoes. The half-lowered blinds on the upper floor revealed the unmade sheets of a bed. On the website, the three villas of Colinas del Sol are rented for between 450 and 520 euros per night, depending on the date.
The area, far from the hustle and bustle of the urban center and, according to residents, normally very quiet, was disrupted early Tuesday afternoon with the arrival of several police vehicles and an ambulance, recalled Virtu this Wednesday, who has been vacationing for 20 years in a house next to the residential complex. “Until that moment, we hadn’t heard anything. My grandchildren were here and they make a lot of noise. My son, who is a nurse, came over to ask if he could help with anything, but they told him: ‘There’s nothing to be done.’” The woman assures that the three homes are owned by a Polish citizen, who rents them out, especially to foreign tourists. Cullera, which has 24,600 inhabitants, has around 150,000 residents in summer.
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The deceased is originally from County Monaghan —one of the three that made up the historic northern province of Ulster and is part of the Republic of Ireland, not the United Kingdom—. Her family is “very well known” there, and the news of her death caused great commotion, according to the Irish press, reports Daniel Postico, from London. The woman had been living and working in England for over a decade. Her 50-year-old husband is a citizen of an Oceania country. The Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it was “aware of the case” and had provided consular assistance to the family.
The couple’s children, who according to investigation sources were in the home at the time of the deaths, were found in a state of shock by the police, and were attended by a Red Cross psychologist. Initially, it was thought to transfer them to a Generalitat minor’s reception center, and arrangements were made to take them to the one in Alborache, located 80 kilometers northwest of Cullera, also in the province of Valencia. The minors, however, contacted an uncle living in Ireland by phone that same afternoon. And a few hours later, at dawn, three relatives landed at L’Altet airport in Alicante.
Cullera City Council decided not to send the teenagers to the reception center, and to keep them under the care of a social worker and a psychologist from the municipal social services until their relatives arrived to take charge of them. The Council sent a taxi to pick up the relatives at the airport and accommodated them along with the two children in a hotel in the coastal town, where they remained this Wednesday awaiting news to clarify the strange event.
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