Street view on Google Maps led to the arrest of a couple for murder after it showed a man stuffing plastic bags into a car boot.
The victim’s wife and her former lover have been detained after human remains were found in a Spanish cemetery more than a year after the victim vanished.
Yesterday, police said the image on Google helped lead to the couple’s arrest in Andaluz, Spain. In the photos, a man in blue jeans and a jumper is seen loading white plastic bags into the boot of a red car.
A human torso found recently by police was discovered to belong to the 33-year-old Cuban man who went missing last November.
Local reports have said the victim flew over from Cuba to visit his wife, who he found cheating on him with the man.
The suspect arrested by police is a Spanish bar owner, nicknamed ‘The Wolf of Tayueco’ after a small village close to the cemetery where the macabre Google photo was taken.
A spokesman for Spanish National Police said: ‘National Police officers have detained two people allegedly involved in the disappearance and death of a man who was reported missing in November last year by a relative.
‘That relative had grown suspicious about messages he had received purporting to be from the missing man.
‘Part of the victim’s remains have been found buried in a cemetery in Andaluz in Soria using ‘advanced techniques.’
‘One of the clues investigators were working with was images from an online search location application.’
They added: ‘The messages the missing man’s family received said he met a girl and was getting rid of his telephone. This made the relative suspect someone else was sending the messages and that led to him alerting police.’
The two suspects are the missing man’s partner and her lover, police said, and were held on suspicion of unlawful detention for failing to explain his disappearance.
Police said: ‘Searches of the pair’s homes and vehicles were subsequently authorised by police, where evidence relevant to the investigation was uncovered. The online image, showing a vehicle that could have been used in the course of the crime, was an additional piece of evidence.’
The remains found in the cemetery have yet to be fully identified but police said they believe they belong to the missing man.
The investigation is ongoing.
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