Domingo San Miguel, a 78-year-old single man, was found dead on May 18, the same day his disappearance was reported, with his skull crushed on a cherry farm in El Bierzo (León) not far from his home. The man, from Arganza (800 inhabitants), handled large sums of money, but initially the reason for his death, considered non-accidental, was not clear. Three months after the event, the Civil Guard has arrested one of his nieces, a middle-aged woman with whom the victim maintained a cordial and habitual relationship, and her partner, accused of a crime with economic motives.
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The arrest occurred last Tuesday, August 25, after several months of investigation into what did not appear to be an accidental death. Initial indications suggest that he suffered several blows to the skull with a large stone.
According to Diario de León, the Civil Guard has been clarifying what for weeks and months was an unjustifiable death, as it did not seem feasible that it was related to a fall from the top of a cherry tree on land near his home, as the autopsy soon ruled out. The investigations were oriented towards the family environment of this man, who lived alone, but with whom one of his three nieces used to spend a lot of time; in fact, she took care of his medical appointments or various errands in this Bercian town. The woman resided in a village in the municipality of Ponferrada and was often seen in Arganza, visiting her uncle.
Domingo San Miguel, according to this information, maintained an austere and low-spending lifestyle, even bordering on the extreme, as agents verified during the inspection of his home, although he had significant financial assets and was a lender of various sums of money. Therefore, efforts are being made to determine if he himself had lent a certain sum to his niece and her partner and if any conflict in this regard led to the fatal assault. It is also not certain whether the murder occurred in the cherry plantation where the body was found after his disappearance was reported, or if, on the contrary, he may have been beaten elsewhere and subsequently moved to the grove to try to camouflage his death if it were later investigated.
The nature of the injuries on the body, analyzed by forensic experts, led to the conclusion that a blunt object was the murder weapon. The subsequent discovery of DNA traces on a large stone several days ago helped the Civil Guard advance in their investigation. It remains to be seen whether the attack with the stone was a sudden outburst or if there was a plan to end the man’s life. For now, his niece and her partner, a middle-aged man, appeared before the courts of Ponferrada this Tuesday.
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