The whereabouts of Marisa Villaquirán remains a mystery, at least for now. The search of more than twelve hours in the Philadelphia Evangelical Church in the Old Town of Miranda de Ebro concluded late yesterday afternoon “without success,” as police sources have confirmed to ABC. After more than twelve hours of exploration in the premises located on Calle de las Escuelas, in the historic center of the town of Burgos, and using “the most modern means”, the large police device deployed returned without concrete evidence to confirm the hypothesis. that the woman’s remains could be found walled between the walls of the temple. “No results have been obtained,” the same sources pointed out, indicating that this does not mean that the investigation is closed and they do not rule out future proceedings.
The means used made the people of Mirandes trust that throughout yesterday they could have an answer to the question they have had for more than 20 years. Where is Marisa Villaquirán located?
The day he disappeared he was, like any other, at work, cleaning a doorway on Francisco Cantera Street in Miranda de Ebro (Burgos), but he was not just another one. It was the last time she was seen alive after her ex-husband, Rafael Gabarri, forced her into a car. More than twenty years have passed since December 7, 2004. From the beginning, he was the main suspect in a disappearance that shocked the Mirandesa town, where the case is not forgotten. The Police, neither.
New “quite reliable” clues have reopened the case, thanks to an anonymous call, an investigation that was never closed. Although Rafael, against whom there were previous complaints of mistreatment, He was sentenced to 14 years and four months in prison for Marisa’s disappearance, but not for her death since her body could never be found. The driver of the vehicle, Isaac Duval, in which Rafael took his ex, was also sentenced as an accomplice to eight years in prison, as confirmed by witnesses who saw the scene. But, according to an implausible story that the agents ruled out from the beginning, they assured that they only went as far as San Juan. There, a few kilometers from where he forcibly took his ex-wife, he left her on the Iron Bridge.
No more was ever heard from her nor was any trace found. The new evidence pointed to a place that had already been searched without success at first: the aforementioned evangelical church. One kilometer away, the Ebro River in the middle, where the woman, who was 38 years old at the time, was last seen.
They suspected that Marisa’s lifeless body could be walled up in that building. whose foundations were being laid at the time of the woman’s disappearance. The work stopped for a few months, but continued once they found nothing. Yesterday, before dawn, the agents woke up the pastor at around seven in the morning to enter inside, court order in hand.
A large yet discreet National Police team worked for more than twelve hours to find any human remains. They were equipped with the “most modern means” to carry out “very laborious, technical and meticulous” work in which Scientific and Judicial agents and canine guides, among others, were used in search of Marisa’s body, explained the Government delegate. in Castilla y León, Nicanor Sen.
An anonymous call put on the new clue that pointed to a church that is wall to wall with the house where Rafael’s parents lived at that time. The family, also named at this time, offered all kinds of versions about what happened that afternoon. “They are not going to find anything because there is nothing,” Lisardo, the evangelical pastor, told the media yesterday, upset at considering himself singled out by the investigation and a search in his temple that he described as “shame.” And he remembered that twenty years ago he searched there without finding any remains. Yesterday, finally neither.
“We are clean,” defended Lisardo, who acknowledged that the parents of the always main suspect and convicted “are now coming to church,” but neither Rafael nor Marisa had a relationship with what is one of the now sixteen evangelical temples in Miranda. The Police always suspected that the mother, JJH, knew where her ex-daughter-in-law was, but she did not say so. Yes, she was arrested for sending messages that she “made” herself to one of Marisa’s four children in which she “hinted that she was alive.” In the search of his home, they found numerous documentation related to the disappearance case and writings that proved the sending of those text messages. She went to trial, but like the rest of the defendants, she was acquitted.
Yes, Rafael, the main suspect from the beginning of the mysterious disappearance, was convicted, which was reported a week later, which made the investigation difficult and allowed time to erase traces. Already then, with no clues as to Marisa’s whereabouts, her ex-husband entered provisional prison accused of illegal detention related to an alleged case of mistreatment. A few days later, he was provisionally released after the family paid bail of 15,000 euros. With the verdict final, he entered prison in August 2008 to serve the 14 years and four months to which he was sentenced for the disappearance, although not for the death.
Since 2021, he has been out in the third degree, having served three-quarters of his sentence and without having obtained any prison benefits during his time behind bars. Miranda de Ebro cannot set foot, since the judge also ordered Rafael Gabarri to be away from Marisa’s family for eighteen years. At no time did he show regret for a case that overwhelmed the town of Burgos and sent citizens out onto the streets with numerous demonstrations. “We will not forget you” read one of the banners. that more than a year after her disappearance they remembered Marisa. Her name resonated again yesterday, especially in Miranda with the hope of finding the woman’s remains more than twenty years later. The question that has been tormenting Mirandese society for more than 20 years remains, for the moment, unanswered.
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