The pieces of the investigation surrounding the deaths of Txetxo Apestegui and his seven-year-old son Mateo only fit the hypothesis that the father jumped into the void from a ravine, hugging his son, in order to inflict a irreparable damage to his ex-wife. The investigation, logically, remains open, but the preliminary results of the autopsy and the context surrounding this alleged crime are eloquent. The accident hypothesis is ruled out and the investigation focuses on reconstructing the hours prior to the moment in which father and son fell into a ravine in the Urbasa mountain range.
The investigation also analyzes the context of the couple before “taking for granted” the hypothesis that it is a case of sexist violence - which in this case would also be vicarious violence - and definitively confirming that the father's objective was , as everything indicates, harming his ex-partner. “It is still early for a secure confirmation,” say research sources. For now, the instructors have been able to confirm that the couple formed by Txetxo Apestegui, 54, and Eguzkiñe Adrián, 47, experienced a “traumatic” separation process two and a half ago, especially for the parent, who suffered from episodes of depression. .
In any case, there was no complaint against the father, although he did carry out a suicide attempt that required police intervention. It happened in the Balcón de Pilatos and the Ubaba ravine, the area of Urbasa from which he jumped into the void with his son. This point was key for investigators to find their van on Monday afternoon and, later, a helicopter to find the bodies on Tuesday morning. The exact moment in which the deaths occurred is not clear, although there is considerable certainty about the previous hours.
Mateo Apestegui and his father spent the weekend together, as usual, and on Sunday afternoon they enjoyed a soccer game together, the little boy as a player for Arenas de Ayegui and his father as the team's coach. Nobody noticed anything strange in the behavior of the father, a bricklayer who was very fond of sports, especially football, and who had offered to train his son and his colleagues.
On Sunday night they called Eguzkiñe, the minor's mother, to congratulate her on her birthday. The woman, owner of a hair salon and well-known and loved in Estella-Lizarra, did not appreciate any detail that caught her attention. The next day, Txetxo Apestegui had to drop his son off at the Lizarra Ikastola school and say goodbye after a weekend together. However, Mateo did not go to class and his father did not go to work at the renovation company where he was an employee. The road recordings will confirm if, as is believed, it was during Monday morning when the father drove his son to the Ubaba ravine.
The alarms went off in the afternoon, when the child's mother went to pick up the minor from school. Mateo had not shown up for class. Eguzkiñe went to the Civil Guard barracks in Estella and filed a report for the disappearance of the child. The agents questioned him about his relationship with his ex-partner and the separation process. There he attempted suicide in Urbasa. In a few hours they will find the van, open, with the keys in the ignition, the father and son's coats inside and the parent's cell phone. At dawn, a helicopter confirmed the worst omens.
Preliminary autopsy results came before the end of the day, just hours after a rescue team recovered the bodies. They are revealing. The forensic experts found toxic substances in their bodies, nor signs of strangulation in the case of the minor; They died as a result of the fall. Furthermore, in the absence of definitive conclusions, the report suggests that the father would have jumped into the void hugging his son, who had fewer injuries. The events still shock in Navarra.
