In June 2025, some municipal workers found a plastic bag hidden inside a manhole in Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga, 45,066 inhabitants). Upon opening it, they found a human skull. This was the starting point of an investigation by the Civil Guard that at the beginning of this year allowed them to put a name and surname to the remains: Francisco José Agüera, a resident of Coín (26,574 inhabitants) who had disappeared during the lockdown amid the pandemic. Now the agents have arrested a man who confessed to having murdered and dismembered Agüera and then hiding his remains in different locations. After being brought before the court, he is now in prison.
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Francisco José Agüera, 59 years old, had gone missing in the spring of 2020. In the midst of the lockdown due to the health crisis, he vanished. Neither his family, friends, nor neighbors in Coín knew his whereabouts since April 28 of that year, the last time he was seen. Shortly after, SOS Desaparecidos issued an alert with his image, showing him with long gray hair and beard, but no information about him ever came in. Nothing was ever heard again. Nor did the local press dedicate many lines to him given what was happening during the pandemic. His disappearance was a mystery until five years later, in June of last year, when everything changed.
Some municipal workers were clearing a plot in the Pinos de Alhaurín urbanization, on the outskirts of Alhaurín de la Torre, when they found a plastic bag with something inside at the bottom of a manhole. Inside, they found a human skull, so they alerted the Civil Guard. The agents verified that it had a fracture, which was a sign of violent death. Agents from the Homicide Group and the Criminalistics Laboratory of the Málaga Command then launched an investigation that started right there: combing the area in search of new bone remains. They had no success.
The skull was later subjected to genetic analysis which, months later, in February 2026, allowed them to identify it as Francisco José Agüera, a resident of Coín whose disappearance was reported during the pandemic. The agents then began analyzing the victim’s communications and focused their actions on his social and personal environment. The study of documentation and databases, as well as technological measures authorized by the court, pointed to a suspect, an acquaintance of the deceased. Meanwhile, the investigation team also deployed a special device in different areas to try to find the rest of the body. They used ground-penetrating radar, drones, and canine guides specialized in biological remains, without results.
Finally, the Civil Guard proceeded to arrest the alleged perpetrator of the homicide on Tuesday of last week, July 28, although it was officially announced this Monday. Immediately after, the man broke down and confessed to having ended the life of the missing person in Coín. He explained that he killed him in his own home and later dismembered the body to hide the remains in garbage bags in different locations within the municipality of Alhaurín de la Torre. Afterwards, he himself accompanied the investigators to several of the points where he had thrown them. After being recovered, they are pending genetic analysis for definitive matching, according to a statement from the Civil Guard.
The detainee was brought before the court at the end of last week before courtroom number 8 of the Instruction Section of the Málaga Court of First Instance, where he exercised his right to remain silent and was later ordered to be held in provisional detention, communicated and without bail. He is accused of homicide.
The operation, named Capibara, was carried out jointly by the Homicide Group of the Organic Unit of Judicial Police of Málaga and the Judicial Police Team of Coín. The case has been directed by the judge of Instruction Court number 1 of the Instruction Section of the Málaga Court of First Instance 4.
