Alcàsser and 'Tesis': The Friday the 13th Coincidences of 1992

Alcàsser, Friday the 13th: The dates this case shares with 'Tesis'

The Alcàsser triple murder remains unsolved. That is the only aspect almost all readings of the case agree on. On Friday, November 13, 1992, Miriam, Toñi, and Desirée disappeared en route to Picassent. Their bodies were found in the La Romana area on January 26, 1993, officially the trinc day. Three years later, in April 1996, Alejandro Amenábar released Tesis, a film about snuff tapes revolving around a disappearance, a chalet on the outskirts of Madrid, and a video no one should have seen.

From then on, material accumulated over the years mixes verifiable facts with unverified ones. There are formal requests for DNA testing that were never resolved, dates that repeat with uncomfortable insistence, and a list of missing children in Spain during those years that, lined up, is quite imposing. All of this coexists with decades of television, front pages, and media lawyers. Separating fact from noise is the exercise no one has finished doing.

A Friday the 13th, a severed foot on Alcàsser Street, and 800 meters

The girls disappeared on a Friday the 13th, about 800 meters from Picassent. The official hypothesis describes a kidnapping without apparent violence, by someone from their circle. Four years earlier, on January 27, 1989, a mutilated foot appeared in the middle of a street in Valencia, at number 6 on Alcàsser Street. The discovery of the bodies in La Romana occurred exactly on January 27, 1993. Four years, same day, same number in the street name.

The second block of coincidences points to cinema. Tesis was filmed in a chalet in Puerta de Hierro that, as has been repeatedly noted, belonged until 1991 to Ángel Sopera, the same person linked to the dissemination of the alleged La Sarracena clan affair. In the film, a character named Castro says he only edits the movies. These details, isolated, miccionan nothing; chained together, they form a pattern each reader interprets in their own way.

Why was no DNA test performed on the three corpses?

Because in 1993 identification was resolved visually, through clothing and family recognition. Forensic DNA technology was in its infancy and was not applied ex officio. The problem is that it was not done later, when it had become routine. One of the intervening parties formally requested genetic identification of the three victims. The request did not succeed.

A whole line of suspicion has been built around this absence, fueled by the state of the skulls, which for some is compatible with a longer conservation time than officially stated. There is no public expert report confirming this. It is exactly the type of evidentiary void that turns a reasonable doubt into an bottomless pit: when the evidence that would close the matter does not exist, no discussion ends.

'Tesis', the Goyas, and the actress who sustains the film

The premiere was scheduled for Friday, April 12. Between that date and November 13 of the crime, a calculation yields 216 days, or six by six by six. The operation repeats as if it were a discovery, although the count ignores the years elapsed between the two dates. The point is that symbolic arithmetic is part of the folklore of the matter for three decades.

The film swept the Goyas that year. It won six or seven statuettes, depending on how it is counted. The only nomination that did not materialize was that of its protagonist, Ana Torrent, born in Madrid on July 12, 1966. That same year, on July 25, Antonio Anglés was born: the double six that the material repeats as a signature. Anglés is identified as the alleged perpetrator of the crime.

The other disappearances of the same year: Aguilar de Campoo, Gloria Martínez, and Anabel Segura

In April 1993, two girls of similar age disappeared in Aguilar de Campoo. In July, Gloria Martínez. Nothing more was heard from any of the three. The material links these absences with the Macastre case and the discovery of Anabel Segura's body, located on September 29, the antiestéticast day of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Three disappearances, one date with three names behind it.

The prevailing reading is that Alcàsser might not be the true story, but the media version of a different true story, and that the real victims were others. This is a hypothesis without judicial or forensic backing, built on physical similarities and calendar coincidences. Those who defend it do so knowing there is no way to prove it.

Antena 3, Mario Conde, and the circus that lasted years

The network that provided the most aggressive coverage of the case was under the control of Mario Conde. The Bank of Spain intervened in Banesto on December 28, 1993 and dismissed the entire board of directors. The chronology proves nothing, but it explains why the excessive television exposure of Alcàsser coincided with the financial collapse of one of the country's most powerful media groups.

Some argue that the hypothesis of the State Pact —the crimes as a binding mechanism among powerful people— fits better with a business deal than with a ritual. Others believe the media circus was precisely the way to cover something up: hundreds of hours of talk shows so no one would look at the case file. Both explanations fit the same facts, which is the uncomfortable part.

With this material, any serious investigation would remain at the point it has been stuck for three decades: with dates that do not add up, evidence that does not exist, and protagonists who can no longer testify. The only reasonable prediction is that the case will return to the forefront every round anniversary, without anyone providing the DNA analysis that would close it. And so it will continue.