Suspect arrested over killing of Spanish priest
A 40-year-old man has been arrested by police in Spain on suspicion of murdering Fr. Alfonso Benito López, an 80-year-old priest who was found dead in his apartment, on Tuesday, 23 January.
According to official sources quoted by local press, the suspect was arrested after using the victim’s bank card in a bar in Valencia, the coastal city where the crime took place. He was found in possession of the bank card and Fr. Alfonso’s mobile phone.
The Spanish priest was found lying on his bed by the building’s janitor, on Tuesday.
Suspicion of foul play was aroused immediately, when the janitor received a text message from the priest’s phone only minutes after having discovered his corpse. Other friends and acquaintances had received messages in the previous days, saying that the priest was going to be out of town for a week to deal with personal matters.
Local police have not made any official statements, but local media report that the suspect is a Peruvian immigrant, with no prior criminal record, who was regularly seen at the priest’s house and identified by witnesses as having been in the building in the days before the body was discovered.
Fr. Alfonso’s body was found with no signs of obvious violence, but police suspicions that he was asphyxiated were confirmed by a subsequent autopsy. The medical examination also concluded that the murder probably took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
