Who is the King of Cachopo: the creepy story of César Román

If anything has become clear in recent months, it is that true crime series are in fashion.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
09 May 2024 Thursday 11:08
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Who is the King of Cachopo: the creepy story of César Román

If anything has become clear in recent months, it is that true crime series are in fashion. These fictions, which are responsible for examining a real crime and detailing it with cinematographic resources, have become a specialty for Netflix, which has already achieved success with The Affair Case or The Body on Fire. And now it is the turn of one of the most media cases, El Rey del Cachopo.

This Friday the documentary that wants to discover the “secrets” and “false identities” in this murder that ended with the dismemberment of Heidi Paz Bulnes at the hands of César Román was released.

It was in 2021 when the Provincial Court of Madrid sentenced the King of Cachopo to 15 years in prison after the events he committed and which were aggravated by kinship and gender. And the victim was his ex-partner. After leaving him, and adding to the problems in his business, César decided to commit the crime, which was very present in the national press.

Some events that occurred in 2018 and that he himself had always denied, until now. A few weeks ago he wrote a letter in his own handwriting admitting to having committed the murder. With this, he intends to apologize to the family and offer to continue explaining what happened, as reported in Code 10.

This same letter was denied by his lawyer, who has always defended his innocence. However, César Román decided to stop requiring his services and reiterate his guilt again. Something that will not help him avoid the rest of the pain that lies ahead.

After the murder, he tried to get rid of the body by dismembering it and abandoning it in a warehouse in the Usera neighborhood, Madrid, owned by Román. Shortly after, the National Police found Heidi Paz in a burned suitcase. A fact that put the focus of suspicion on the King of Cachopo, who also disappeared shortly before.

“Using a knife, he cut off her breasts, which had silicone implants, and along with a pendant and other personal effects, on August 13, 2018, he tried to burn them, making a fire on the platform of the forklift,” the statement reads. sentence of the Prosecutor's Office. A macabre crime for which he was arrested two months later after being discovered in a restaurant in Zaragoza, where he worked under a false identity.

And before committing this crime, César Román committed multiple deceptions that soon came to light. In the 90s, he was part of the Spanish Falange and infiltrated the left-wing union to obtain first-hand information. This is added to the creation of his magazine Ahora Málaga, where he faked interviews with political leaders. A company that ended up bankrupt and left its workers unpaid.

But if he was known for anything, it was for the restaurant he opened a few years before the crime. 'The King of Cachopo' was the name of the place, which later gave its name to his person, where he specialized in those dishes. However, the hotelier's lack of quality ended up coming to light, which is why it also ended up bankrupt.

It is not surprising that with this life of scandals, secrets, scams and a murder, Netflix wanted to create this documentary in which they delve into all these events.