Spain has been left reeling following the savage murder of a woman who was stabbed 480 times.
Ana Isabel V.N, 44, was killed in her home in La Algaba (Sevilla), on Sunday, allegedly by her male tenant. Her butchered body was found by her 10-year-old son.
David A.S, 31, from Alhaurin de la Torre (Malaga), has been sent to prison after confessing to the killing before a judge.
The suspect was renting a room in the victim’s home, and claimed he was high on hashish and cocaine at the time of the murder.
The Investigating Court No. 18 in Sevilla sent him to prison without bail, citing what it described as ‘multiple and solid indications’ of a murder involving ‘treachery and extreme cruelty.’
According to the judge’s account, the killing occurred at around 2pm on Sunday at the property on Calle Buganvilla in La Algaba.
Investigators say the suspect took a long-bladed kitchen knife, went downstairs and sat next to Ana Isabel, who was asleep on the sofa in the living room.
After she woke up and stood to reach for a purse on a nearby table, he allegedly launched the attack, having concealed the knife in his clothing.
The judge states that the victim was stabbed repeatedly, including to the face, abdomen and arms, and that the assault continued despite her pleas for mercy.
Ana Isabel attempted to flee towards a rear patio but was pursued and attacked from behind. She was eventually forced into a small bathroom, where she fell face-down after being thrown against the sink unit.
The suspect then continued stabbing her until a blow pierced both a lung and a kidney, causing her death.
Following the killing, the suspect is said to have returned upstairs, washed, changed clothes, and left the blood-stained clothing behind. He later handed himself in the following day at a pharmacy in the San Jeronimo area of Seville, where he was arrested by National Police.
Forensic results, included in the Guardia Civil homicide unit’s report, describe 480 incised wounds across the victim’s body, along with multiple bruises. Several of the injuries were independently fatal.
Investigators note that the findings indicate extreme and sustained violence, and suggest the victim endured prolonged suffering before the fatal wounds were inflicted.
The case remains under judicial investigation.
Unprecedented case in Spanish criminal history
It is being described a the most brutal murder in Spanish history – perhaps even in the world.
The closest known precedent dates back to March 2019 on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where a woman, Paola Córdoba, stabbed her husband 185 times.
In Spain, there have been several cases involving extreme use of knives, though none approach the scale of the La Algaba killing.
One such case occurred in June 2022 in Dos Hermanas (Sevilla), where police discovered the bodies of a married couple in their home.
The woman, aged 53, had sustained more than 100 stab wounds across her body.
That case was classified as gender-based violence. The husband killed his wife before taking his own life.
Another notorious case is the double murder in Almonte (Huelva) in April 2013, where Miguel Angel Dominguez, 39, and his eight-year-old daughter María were killed in their home after suffering 151 stab wounds between them.
Following a lengthy investigation, the Guardia Civil’s Central Operational Unit (UCO) arrested the mother’s partner as the sole suspect. However, both a jury and later the Spanish Supreme Court ultimately upheld his acquittal.
