Sources close to the investigation into the murder of 15 year old Fernanda Fabiola Urzúa have clarified further details about the case.

It seems that a young immigrant was key to the identification and subsequent arrest of 28 year old Héctor Fabio Francisco Giraldo (main photo, centre), who has confessed to the murder. The informant advised police that he had seen a blue Dodge pick-up on the camino Don Virgilio where Fernanda disappeared at the time she was initially reported missing.

The police source explained that: "We had the great good fortune that its owner did not have a garage and left it parked in the street. We immediately identified the owner who had a previous conviction for sexually assaulting a tourist in Los Cristianos in 2002." Giraldo was arrested after items belonging to the missing girl were found inside the vehicle.

During a preliminary court hearing last Friday, Giraldo confessed that he stopped to talk to Fernanda as she was walking home.

He said they were chatting normally until he proposed that they have sex together whereupon the girl threatened to report him to the Guardia Civil.

Giraldo claimed that he did not hit Fernanda initially, but that she fainted when he made a grab for her.

She was bundled into the pick-up, but when she came round and started screaming shortly afterwards, Giraldo admits beating her over the head with a stone with sufficient force to cause death, but denies raping her.

He then partially buried the corpse with stones and sand in an area that was subsequently searched unsuccessfully three times by police. 

Fernanda suspect remanded without bail after confession
By: thinkSPAIN
Saturday, August 4, 2007

28 year old Colombian national, Héctor Fabio Franco Giraldo, was remanded in custody without bail after confessing during a preliminary court hearing held at Arona municipal court to the abduction and subsequent murder of 15 year old Fernanda Fabiola Urzúa, whose body was found last Thursday after Franco himself had led police to it.

Franco, who lived close to his victim, has a previous conviction in Tenerife for sexual abuse dating back five years. He is being held in Tenerife II jail and has been charged with abduction, sexual aggression and murder, although prosecutors are still awaiting the results of the autopsy to confirm whether or not Fernanda was in fact sexually abused.

Fellow residents of the El Fraile district where both the victim and her murderer lived, report that Franco was not a very talkative young man who seemed to have few friends. Franco raised suspicions locally when he declined to take part in the search operation for the girl, who was missing for a week before her corpse was found.

He was arrested after being confirmed as the owner of blue 4x4 all-terrain vehicle spotted near where Fernanda was last seen, and inside which were subsequently found a number of the victim's belongings.

Local gossip also indicates that Franco had been "obsessed" with Fernanda for some time and had even confessed to "liking her" and being "in love."

A second man arrested in connection with Fernanda's murder, a Rumanian national, was subsequently released, but may be charged with obstructing police in their inquiries.

Body of missing 15 year old girl found
By: thinkSPAIN
Thursday, August 2, 2007

Guardia Civil investigators found the body of 15 year old Fernanda Fabiola Urzúa at 5am this morning less than a kilometre away from her home based on information obtained during the interrogation of a foreign man who was arrested yesterday evening.

The man told officers where the body was concealed and also confessed that two other people - both of whom have also been arrested - were involved in her abduction.

A press conference has been arranged for later this morning to update the media on recent developments in the case.

Fernanda was last seen at around 9.30pm last Thursday evening as she was returning to her home on the Ten-Bel residential estate after visiting friends.

Despite an intensive search involving around 200 police officers, soldiers and volunteers, only two clues were found: a flip-flop was found around 1km from her home on Thursday night and a belt was found last Friday. Both were subsequently identified by Fernanda's parents.

Tenerife police hunt missing 15 year old
By: thinkSPAIN
Saturday, July 28, 2007

An extensive search operation is under way in the south of Tenerife for a 15 year old girl who was last seen at 9.30pm last Thursday. Fernanda Fabiola Urzúa Marín was making her way back home to her parents' house on the Tenbel residential estate after spending the evening with friends in the El Fraile district of Arona.

One of Fernanda's training shoes was found at 3.45am on Friday morning on a rural path near a petrol station. Investigators say that they are not ruling out the possibility that a vehicle may have been used in the abduction.

At the time of her disappearance, Fernanda, who was not carrying any form of identification, was wearing a black top and black leggings. Her hair is currently blond and cut short and her skin is very pale. She was wearing two large round earrings, although she also has three other studs in her right ear as well as a nose stud. She is 165cm tall (5 foot, 5").