A Dominican woman has admitted to murdering her eight-year-old stepson in Spain, after his body was found in the boot of her car.
Gabriel Cruz’s disappearance from the small southeastern village of Las Hortichuelas sparked a search involving hundreds of volunteers, with stepmother Ana Julia Quezada at the helm of the hunt along with the boy’s father.
Quezada, who had been dating Gabriel Cruz’s father Angel for several years, ‘admitted being the perpetrator’, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.
Killer tears: Ana Julia Quezada is seen crying at a rally for missing boy Gabriel Cruz, just two days before the eight-year-old’s body was found in her car
Heartbreaking: A woman holds a photograph of late young Gabriel Cruz as his parents Patricia Ramirez and Angel Cruz, leaving the Cathedral in Almeria, Spain, after his funeral
Angel Cruz and Gabriel’s mother Patricia Ramirez – who are separated but get along well – had given countless tearful interviews since he went missing after leaving his grandmother’s house to go play on February 27.
As his father’s partner, Quezada had been a fixture in the search for Gabriel, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the boy’s smiling face and speaking to reporters in tears.
Then in a shocking twist, Spain’s Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido announced Sunday that police had found Gabriel’s body in her car.
On Tuesday, Gabriel’s funeral at the cathedral in Almeria near Las Hortichuelas drew a huge, saddened crowd, with people shouting ‘we are all Gabriel’.
Heartbreaking: Patricia Ramirez and Angel Cruz mourn as they follow the coffin of their late son Gabriel Cruz, during his funeral at the Cathedral in Almeria, Spain
Crocodile tears of the killer: Ana Julia Quezada is pictured tearfully hugging Angel Cruz at a rally as recently as Friday, just a few days before she would admit to murdering his son
Speaking to the media, Cruz gave thanks for all the support received during excruciating days of uncertainty.
‘You gave us strength to search for Gabriel,’ he said.
News of Gabriel’s murder and Quezada’s arrest sparked an outpouring of hatred towards her in Spain, despite calls for calm by his parents.
Amateur footage broadcast Monday showed 43-year-old Quezada mobbed when she left a building accompanied by police, who had to wrestle with people to push them away.
Mourning: After the eight-year-old’s body was found in the trunk of his stepmother’s car on Sunday, he could finally be buried on Tuesday
One online petition signed by more than 330,000 people asked the Dominican Republic to request her extradition to serve prison time there so that she would not be allowed to enjoy ‘the comfort of Spanish jails’.
Another demanding that she be sentenced to life in prison has been signed by more than 270,000 people.
News also emerged that a girl presented as Quezada’s daughter by Spanish media died in 1996 in the northern city of Burgos after falling out of the window of their home.
Asked about this, Zoido confirmed Monday that an incident had taken place, saying police had investigated the tragedy at the time but the case was dismissed.