The regional police of the Basque Country (Ertzaintza) is investigating the possible action of a serial killer of gay men in the city of Bilbao (north of Spain), after four deaths occurred between September and October 2021.
At first, the four deaths seemed unconnected, but the investigators have found some similarities between the four victims: they were all male users of a dating app for homosexuals and lived in the historic center (Casco Viejo) of Bilbao.
The Spanish newspaper ABC has reported that the alert was activated in October, when the relatives of a 43-year-old man who had apparently died naturally reported that someone had taken "thousands of euros" from his bank account. Until then, the investigators had blamed an undetected heart disease for his sudden death, but a second analysis revealed traces of liquid ecstasy in the man's system.
Three previous similar deaths had gone unnoticed: there were no signs of violence on the bodies and no indication of unnatural death was found in the homes of the deceased. So the cause of the three deaths was classified as natural death.
But everything changed when the brother of the fourth victim reported the theft from the bank account and liquid ecstasy was found in the samples of the corpse. According to experts, this is a drug that takes away the willpower of those who use it and that, in larger doses, may cause death.
After this discovery, the police began to work with the hypothesis that the alleged murderer drugged the victim to get his online banking passwords and credentials.
A dating app
The Ertzaintza verified that one of his last decisions had been to meet at his home with another man he had met through Grindr, a dating app for homosexuals. Following that lead, investigators began to find similarities to the three previous cases. The three other victims were all homosexual men with profiles on said dating application.
According to Antena 3 TV, the results of the new autopsies carried out on the victims confirmed that there were also traces of liquid ecstasy in them.
The regional police of the Basque Country have already identified a suspect.
According to ABC, the suspect is a man between 20 and 30 years of Colombian origin, who calls himself Carlos in his dating profiles.
At the time of writing this article, the investigation remains open under strict secrecy.
