Sex, dangerous friendships and a dark past: who killed the canon of the Cathedral of Valencia

“We may see the next thing on Netflix,” the Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, ironically stated; and it is true, because the crime of canon emeritus of the Valencia Cathedral shocked and kept the entire city in suspense as if it were a Hollywood ‘true crime’. The religious Alfonso López Benito He died of asphyxiation at the age of 81. at his home, located a few meters from the Seo, which sparked an intense police investigation to find his murderer, through which the darkest side of the priest was revealed.

Who killed Don Alfonso? On January 23, 2024, the Homicide group of the Valencia Judicial Police Brigade announced the opening of the investigation into the death of the canon emeritus, whose body was found in his bed with clear signs of asphyxiation. The crime occurred days before, in the midst of the celebration of the local holiday of San Vicente Mártir, and it was the property’s doorman who found the body and reported it to the president of the community. At that moment, an acquaintance approached to tell the agents that someone was using the religious man’s cell phone posing as him.

Although in the first moments the Archbishopric was shocked by what had happened, the facts that were becoming known showed a thunderous distance from the priest’s past. In fact, he warned about it two years ago after the neighbors of his building filed complaints about people coming to his house. According to the investigations carried out by the investigators, the murder recruited vulnerable young people on the street to having sex in exchange for moneylodging and food.

Two days later, the National Police arrested a 40-year-old man of Peruvian origin in a hotel for his alleged connection with the violent death of the clergyman, after verifying through geolocation that the stolen phone was in his possession. In addition, he had two bank cards with him with which he made purchases and withdrew up to 1,800 euros in several days, a fact proven by the recordings of the branch security cameras.

The shadows of the canon were brought to the attention of the investigators by a friend who acted as a kind of protector, a man of Romanian origin whom he met more than ten years ago and who also served as his driver and companion in meetings with other men. He would have confessed that Don Alfonso received visits from young boys without recourse in his apartment on Avellanas Street and that on some occasion he admitted to having kept sexual relations with them in exchange for 200 or 300 euros. In fact, some neighbors pointed out that on one occasion they discovered him asking a man to perform fellatio on him in the patio of the property.

In parallel, the same witness reported that the priest also had sex with a young man with a disability intellectual of the 43% that he met at the Valencia bus station when he intended to return to Badajoz. They exchanged telephone numbers and she ended up convincing him to return to the capital of Turia, where he stayed at her house.

Who killed Don Alfonso

Now, a year later, the investigation continues under judicial secrecy and the main suspect and only one arrested is behind bars at the Picassent penitentiary, where he maintains that he did not kill Alfonso, but rather a man of Colombian origin who did so. he met working in the orange pickingaccording to the newspaper Levante-EMV. According to this version, it was the temporary worker who would have suffocated the clergyman in an agreed meeting to rob him and share the money.

In fact, according to his lawyer, there is no evidence that he committed the murder, since in the religious home No rest of the accused’s DNA was found.not even a fingerprint like there was from his bodyguard, who has gone from witness to investigator in the judicial investigation of the case. However, it is not a version that Homicides gives credibility since in the images of the bank branches only the detainee is seen and not any accomplice, who seems to have disappeared by magic. Thus, the lawyer has requested on several occasions to know the content of the WhatsApp of the canon to check whether he spoke with the third party on the day of his death.

The mysterious pendrives

In parallel to the affairs with vulnerable people, whom he caught on the street, the judge ordered the opening of a separate piece to try to find out the content of up to seven USBs, removable memories, found at the crime scene. one of these pendrivesas well as a mobile phone, remained hidden under lock and key in a chapel that he had installed in his own home.

After forcing the lock, among reliquaries, books and images of saints and virgins, the agents found these objects inside a desk that have now become part of the investigations to clarify the reasons for the religious man’s death. However, the judge decided reject the request of the National Police to dump and analyze the content of the digital memories, so a year later it is unknown what is inside.

Alfonso López, a native of Valencia, where he received priestly ordination in 1969, was a doctor in Canon Law and wrote several books. Between 1999 and 2015, he was canon of the collegiate church-parish of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle and Saint Michael the Archangel. He was also a parish priest in several Valencian towns and a professor at the Institute of Legal Studies of Valencia and at the Faculty of Canon Law. In addition, he worked in the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the archdiocese.