Joshua Parfitt
WHEN Jorge Ignacio Palma admitted to Guardia Civil he had chopped up the body of Marta Calvo, it seemed the case of the missing Valencian woman was now closed.
But instead it might mean Palma gets away.
Officers had been looking for the 38-year-old for nearly a month in connection with the disappearance of Calvo, who went missing on November 7 after going on a date with the suspect, whom she met online.
Officers had been looking for the 38-year-old for nearly a month in connection with the disappearance of Calvo, who went missing on November 7 after going on a date with the suspect, whom she met online.
In a statement issued last week, Palma said the 25-year-old woman from eastern Valencia had died from a heart attack after taking cocaine during a risky sexual practice that involves consuming cocaine via the genitals.
Palma, who has a criminal record and served jail time in Italy in 2008 for trafficking high-quality cocaine, told police that he panicked and decided to get rid of the corpse.
He confessed to chopping up her body and disposing of the parts in different dumps in the Valencian municipality of Manuel and the surrounding areas.
But if Calvo’s body is not recovered or other evidence does not emerge, it will be difficult to disprove Palma’s version of events, according to El Pais.
Chopping up the body of a person you have not murdered and dumping the remains is not a crime in Spain, but rather an administrative infraction for breaking mortuary regulations. It is only punishable by a fine.
Palma was also involved in the death of another woman in April. In that case, the suspect, who is from Colombia but has lived in Spain for years, had sex with a Brazilian prostitute in a brothel in Valencia. According to police sources, the woman began to have convulsions after consuming cocaine during a similar sexual act to the one Palma says he practiced with Calvo. She died a few days later, and her body was repatriated to Brazil.
A security camera caught Palma running from the room as she was having convulsions, but he was not charged with the crime of failing to rescue a person in need.
