The body of Arantxa Gutiérrez arrived in Alicante on Friday from Costa Rica in time for her afternoon interment at the Santa Faz funeral home.
The 31-year-old woman was murdered last Saturday as she went for a run on the Tortuguero beach next to the Paradisiacal hotel where she was holidaying with a group of twelve friends.
The investigation points to a sexual assault as a motive for the crime and although a suspect was arrested on the day after Arantxa was murdered the charges were later dropped because of a lack of evidence. However he remains in police custody because he was found to be irregularly in the country and whilst DNA evidence is being processed.
The murdered girl lived in Madrid with her husband, Miguel Ángel Escribano, who was joined on Thursday at the Madrid City Hall of San Fernando de Henares by her parents and sister, in reproaching the authorities for failing to provide any warnings as to the dangers in the area.
They also demanded that the Costa Rican authorities find those responsible for the murder and don’t let the death of Arantxa Gutiérrez fall into oblivion.
The husband began the press conference by saying that “Spain and the whole world has lost an angel, one of those people who are only born from time to time.”
“Do not let the matter rest. The Costa Rican authorities owe it to me, they owe it to my family, they owe it to the Spaniards who will continue to travel to Costa Rica. We are many and we want to be more,” Escribano said.
“She was murdered only 50 metres away from the magnificent hotel where we were staying and where no one had warned us of the dangers.”
Meanwhile the Costa Rican authorities have asked the family to be discreet in their statements referring to the details of the investigation, so yesterday when asked about the investigation they were cautious. “The Costa Rican Justice system is very guarded and we must wait for the forensic tests,” said the father of the victim, José Gutiérrez. The family also asked the Spanish authorities to collaborate in the investigation and help to ensure the arrest of the person responsible.
