Helena Jubany Murder: Suspect Sentenced to Prison | 2001 Case Closed

The head of the investigating court number 2 of Sabadell (Barcelona) has sent Santiago LP prison, main suspect of the crime of the librarian Helena Jubany that occurred in 2001 and who was exonerated at the time due to lack of evidence, accused of the crime of homicide.

As reported by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), the judge has ordered provisional detention for Santiago LP, as requested by the Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution carried out by the victim’s family, after an appearance in which the investigated party took advantage of his right not to declare.

In her order, the magistrate argues that there are ““solid evidence” that incriminates the investigatedfollowing the DNA tests that have found biological remains of him on the victim’s sweater, and agrees to place him in prison, due to the high risk of him fleeing or trying to influence witnesses to the crime.

Jubany, 27 years old, was murdered on December 2, 2001 in Sabadell. She was thrown into the void from the roof of an interior patio, naked, semi-conscious and with burns on her body.

Santiago LP was investigated until 2005 for their alleged relationship with the librarian’s crime, along with her partner Montserrat C., who committed suicide in prison after being arrested, and Ana E., but the case ended up being filed for them due to a lack of conclusive evidence that would incriminate them.

Risk of flight and influencing witnesses

However, the librarian’s family litigated in court until get the case reopenedwhich was on the verge of statute of limitations, and managed to get the court to order new biological reports.

The recent DNA analyzes ordered by the judge have incriminated Santiago L. in the crime, so the judge reopened the case against him. In the process there is also imputed Xavi J.a member of the Sabadell Hiking Union (UES) to which the victim also belonged.

According to the judge, as a result of the biological evidence “there are well-founded suspicions” of participation in the crime of Santiago LP, a lawyer by profession who works as an official of the Generalitat.

“Los scientific advances in the research of genetic systems have allowed us to add to the research new data and indicationswhich could not be obtained previously and which ostensibly reinforce the suspicion of Santiago LP’s intervention in the intentional death of the victim,” the order states.

The judge has also taken into account the seriousness of the penalty that could be imposed on the person under investigation, so up to 20 years in prisonso “the temptation is presumably more intense” for him to flee, even outside the European Union, and avoid being judged.

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The magistrate also remembers that, due to her profession, the investigated “perfectly” understands the new open “scenario” following the dna tests, “totally different from what has been found throughout the entire investigation, when sufficient elements were not available to support his accusation.”

The judge emphasizes that, for the moment, she does not have data on the roots of the investigated person, beyond his work in the Generalitat, from which economic possibilities are derived that also could “facilitate their escape and settlement in another country.”

“Historical turn of the case”

After hearing the judge’s order, the lawyer for Jubany’s family, Benet Salellas, celebrated in statements to the media that the judge considers the DNA tests “very relevant data”, an issue that entails a “qualitative change” over the course of the case.

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“The result of the investigation of all these years is his own,” he assured, in a document that “refers to many other signs which, according to the magistrate and which we share, point in the direction of Santiago LP’s participation in the murder.”

For the librarian’s family, the provisional detention for the main suspect is a measure consistent with the situation current situation of the case and with the effort they have made since 2001 to ensure justice is done.

The head of the investigating court number 2 of Sabadell (Barcelona) has sent Santiago LP prison, main suspect of the crime of the librarian Helena Jubany that occurred in 2001 and who was exonerated at the time due to lack of evidence, accused of the crime of homicide.