The Guardia Civil has an investigation open to establish the cause of death and the identity of the body. It was found by workers who were cleaning a house that had been rented out.
A strange case has been recorded in the Málaga municipality of Manilva. The Guardia Civil is investigating the cause of death of a person whose body was found on Friday inside a homemade coffin, shrouded and under a layer of soil. It is a very literary and cinematic image from ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’, which showed how the vampire needed to be in contact with Transylvanian soil in order to stay alive.
The discovery was made in a rental property in the Vistalmar Duquesa Norte development, in the Sabinillas area. It was made by members of a cleaning crew who had been hired to remove the items left behind and clean the various rooms.
Sources close to the case consulted by El Confidencial explained that the workers were going about their job when they discovered a large wooden box that looked like a homemade coffin. Because of its weight and size, they could not get it out through the door to throw it away, so they decided to open it and empty it. They were shocked to find it filled with sand, and even more so when they removed part of it and discovered that it contained what appeared to be a body showing signs of mummification.
After receiving the alert, the Guardia Civil sent officers to the home, who confirmed the initial report and requested the presence of specialists from the Judicial Police Team and the Criminalistics Laboratory. Sources from the force said that an investigation is currently open following the discovery of human remains and that its progress was pending the results of the post-mortem. Others approached by this newspaper said it was not yet possible to say whether the body belonged to a man or a woman, but confirmed that the person had been dead for «many months». In addition, because it was wrapped and covered in soil, it was in a state close to mummification.
The body was tightly wrapped in plastic and the death occurred a long time ago.
The inquiries, as might be expected, are focused on the last tenant of the property, a foreign national of German nationality, according to one of the sources consulted.
Missing person reports are also being checked, in case the deceased could be one of them. The forensic examination must determine whether the death was due to natural causes or an accident, or whether the person was the victim of a crime. What is obvious is that a second person wrapped the body in plastic, placed it inside the homemade coffin and covered it with sand. Officers had to remove the soil carefully so as not to damage the remains, and to examine it in case it contained any clue that could help solve this strange case.
The way the body was found inevitably recalls the passage in ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ in which the protagonist travels to London carrying on the ship around fifty coffins filled with Transylvanian soil so as not to perish and to regain strength through contact with it. However, everything suggests that in this case its use had no esoteric purpose, and that it may have been used to mask the smell of decomposition.
El Confidencial contacted the Guardia Civil to obtain its version on the various aspects arising from this investigation, and they would only say that the inquiries remain open. The body was taken to the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) so that the necessary tests can be carried out to establish the cause of death. Meanwhile, residents of the housing complex where the discovery was made remain on edge since Friday night, when they saw the deployment of officers and the funeral van. Officers worked at the house until late on Friday night.
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