The chances of being struck by lightning are minimal–about one in a million. Similarly, the odds of being hit by a meteorite while walking down the street or winning the lottery jackpot on any given day are incredibly low. However, there’s one scenario that probably no one has calculated before. How likely is it to be caught on camera by Google Maps when attempting to erase evidence of a murder in a remote village in Spain and then have the police see it?
When it comes to statistics and chance, it might actually be easier to get struck by lightning and win the lottery jackpot on the same day. Yet, this improbable scenario has occurred for a “lucky” resident of Tajueco, in Northwestern Spain. He was captured in broad daylight by a Google car at the exact moment he was reportedly placing a corpse in the trunk of a vehicle.
There’s Been a Murder
This bizarre case has unsurprisingly gone viral, attracting headlines around the globe. However, very little reliable information has emerged from official sources so far. The case is currently sub judice, and information has been released sporadically through media reports and brief police statements. As a result, it’s not uncommon to encounter conflicting information regarding the true connections between the several parties involved.
However, there are three key pieces of information.
First, in November, the Spanish police discovered a body in an advanced state of decomposition in the small town of Andaluz, near Tajueco. It was hidden in the village cemetery. Its finding provided officers with significant progress in a case they’d been working on for a while. It all started when a man reported the mysterious disappearance of one of his relatives.
Second, pending confirmation from Spain’s Institute of Forensic Medicine, it’s believed that the body belongs to a missing man–a 32-year-old Cuban who had informed his cousin about meeting a woman and his plans to move to that area of Spain.
Third, two individuals have been arrested for their alleged connection to the crime. Their involvement complicates the case further due to the reported connection between all three individuals: the victim and the two murder suspects. One of the suspects is a man who resides in Tajueco. The other is his ex-wife, a Cuban woman who reportedly had a romantic relationship with the victim.
The suspects are currently being held in nearby prisons.
According to the Spanish outlet El País, officers are working with a theory that ties the various elements together. The victim is said to have moved to Tajueco to meet the Cuban woman, and once there, he reportedly discovered that she’d been married to one of the town’s neighbors. Things ended badly, and his body was ultimately concealed in the local cemetery. However, the motives behind the crime remain unclear.
But what makes this case so intriguing that it’s garnered attention from outlets worldwide? Interestingly, the widespread media attention is primarily due to what has happened not to the victim but to the purported murderer. Additionally, there’s been an unexpected and surprising cameo by one of the world’s most powerful international companies: Google.
The Spanish police worked with several clues during their investigations. However, an intriguing piece of evidence came to them from an unexpected source: Google Street View. The police acknowledged this in an X post, although they didn’t specifically mention Google’s popular feature.
How Google became involved in such a bizarre situation in rural Spain is as astonishing as is surreal. While a Street View car was passing through the small town of Tajueco, it reportedly recorded the man who has now been arrested placing a large bag in the trunk of his car.
The image might have remained unnoticed in the vast collection of Google Maps data if not for the fact that the package was wrapped in a sack that appeared to contain a dead body. The suspect is seen leaning over as he places it into the trunk of an old burgundy Rover. According to Google, the image is dated October 2024.
The very notion that Google cameras can capture someone while they’re hiding a corpse in a trunk is absurd, but even more outrageous is that this could happen in a town typical of Spain’s “empty” regions, with just over 50 residents.
The man leaning against the old burgundy Rover is one of the few locals Google captured in Tajueco. What’s even more surprising is that the last image archived on Google Maps at that exact location was taken in 2009, meaning the Street View car hadn’t been there for 15 years. It’s probably easier to win the lottery and be struck by lightning.
This case is intriguing and will add another chapter to Google Maps’ unusual legal history. Over the years, the navigation app has documented other curious events. For instance, in 2021, it helped police arrest an Italian mafia fugitive who had evaded justice for two decades.
The fugitive managed to escape law enforcement but not Google’s cameras, which captured him chatting outside a store near Madrid. Authorities recognized the resemblance between the man in the Google image and the wanted criminal. They followed the lead and discovered that he was working as a chef under a false identity.
In the end, it’s one thing to evade justice and another to escape the watchful eyes of Google Maps.
Image | Google Maps
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