The skull was “severely manipulated” and showed “obvious signs of having been subjected to the action of heat,” according to the experts.
SANTANDER, 11 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The forensic experts who performed the autopsy on the skull found in September 2019 in a package in Castro Urdiales have not been able to determine the cause of death from the bone remains analyzed, since it has not been “reflected” in them.
However, although it appears as “undetermined” in their report, they opt “more” for a “violent” type of death, taking into account precisely the decapitation itself and the disappearance of the rest of the corpse -it has not yet been found-, since It is something “highly suspicious”.
This has been expressed by the doctor in charge, together with another colleague, of performing the autopsy at the head, during their joint appearance in the trial against Carmen Merino, accused of murdering her then-partner, Jesús María Baranda, and who faces 25 years of imprisonment requested by the prosecutor.
In the fifth session of the oral hearing, held throughout this week and which will also continue next in the Provincial Court of Cantabria, the expert evidence has begun before the jury.
“There are practically no parts left (of the corpse), and the few that are are extraordinarily damaged,” the forensic experts pointed out, emphasizing that the skull does not represent “even eight percent” of the whole body.
Experts have highlighted that the skull was “severely manipulated” by separating the body with a “sharp” object and with “a certain blunt component”, such as a knife or axe, with an “unserrated” edge (a chainsaw “drags the tissue and gets stuck”). That work of separation “is not simple”, but “a woman can do it perfectly”, they have pointed out.
And they have justified that the skull was “extraordinarily manipulated” because it also presented “obvious signs of having been subjected to the action of heat”, action by a thermal source that appears “very localized”, in a “determined” area of ????the skull : the right parietal.
But they also can’t determine if it was caused by direct fire (such as a campfire) or by a container that was heating up (container with little water or that evaporates and “scorches” that part). In any case, they have indicated that this action helps to loosen the soft parts, delays putrefaction and the odors are “much smaller”.
Likewise, in the remains examined -also the first three of the seven cervical vertebrae, in addition to the face and jaw- lesions have been observed that, in the opinion of the experts, occurred at the time “around” death -which is “compatible” with the date of Baranda’s disappearance, in February of that year.
And others carried out after death, typical of the “decapitation maneuver” and that point to a “homicidal attack” rather than a natural death.
In the remains discovered in the package – which the suspect would have delivered months before to a friend of hers to keep it at home, alleging that she hid sex toys – some soft tissues were preserved that underwent a chemical and toxicological study. There were “few”, they had a “lumping” on the right side of the head, and they were “totally rotten”.
This analysis revealed the presence of at least three substances: one of them, an anxiolytic (Diazepam), which Baranda did not take by medical prescription -his partner did-, and which in any case was administered when he was “alive”, being “possible ” that the dose was “high”.
The state of the skull at the time it was discovered -non-“natural” level of skeletonization that shows “handling”, saponification and the presence of molds- is due to conditions of “moisture” and “lack of air”, which would fit with the fact having been kept in plastic bags in a closet, according to the witness who discovered it.
To questions from the jury, the experts explained that tissues in the process of decomposition and with the presence of mold “should emit a certain odor”, while the action of heat on the bone also causes it to “emit some odor” ( This was denied by the friend who kept the package in a closet in her house).
On the other hand, inside, 37 hairs “adhered” or “glued” to the skull were located, in which there were also small embedded particles, one of plaster and the rest of vitrified ceramic, common in bathroom fixtures, decorative objects or covers. dental.
In the expert opinion on the fingerprints found on the wrappers, the experts in charge of this test have indicated that a total of seven were found “of sufficient quality” for their study -there were also fragments of others not analyzed- and that they correspond to the of the accused, who has followed part of the plenary -especially that related to the autopsy- covering her ears and looking down.
But “none” belongs to the friend to whom he delivered the package, the agents in charge of studying them have pointed out, detailing that five fingerprints were on one side of a black plastic and the remaining two on the other side, (six in the lower part and one in the central part), but without being able to specify whether it is the same bag or not, since “they all came together”.
They received, on the one hand, four rubbish bags, two sheets of newspaper and a bag with a printed cloth zipper (toiletry type) and on the other, two blue plastic bags and more newspaper.
As for the fragments of footprints, according to the experts “they denote a manipulation”, but without being able to determine how many people. “We know that there is a manipulation, but we do not know if they are one, two, three or four people,” they have expressed.
In another order of things, the psychiatrists who evaluated the physical and psychological state of the accused concluded that it was “normal” and did not present “any alternation”, but that she was “calm”, although in their eyes “it is not an emotional reaction expectable” in the face of the death of a loved one. They also did not appreciate any psychotic disorder.
The trial began this Friday with the biological expert, with the participation by videoconference of two expert agents in missing and unidentified persons. According to what they said, there is a “very high” probability that the bone remains analyzed -the skull- belong to Jesús María Baranda, a 67-year-old retired Basque banker at the time of his disappearance.
They have reached that conclusion after comparing the DNA of two dental pieces of the skull with samples from relatives (the daughter and the brother) and remains in the deceased’s personal belongings – disposable razor blades and a toothbrush whose use was attributed to the victim -.
And the possibility that the head is his is “very high”, specifically 70,000 million times -that the relationship is familiar-, when this type of result is positive from ten thousand times.
From the analyzes of different samples carried out by these experts, the conclusion regarding a bloodstain found on a cushion in the living room of the house where the accused and the victim lived, at number 12 on Padre Basabe street in the town of Castro, also stands out. , and that corresponds to another genetic profile, of a woman who is not Merino, and whose identity is unknown.
Likewise, they studied organic remains in newspaper papers sent by the investigation -apparently, the head was also wrapped in a sheet with a completed crossword puzzle- appreciating a mixture of genetic profiles compatible with “at least” two people, one being Baranda himself .
The trial continues on Monday with the toxicological, computer and visual inspection experts.
