Gabriel Cruz's parents raise €12,572 in Almería charity event

Ángel Cruz and Patricia Ramírez's son Gabriel, believed murdered by Cruz's ex-girlfriend Ana Julia Quezada, staged a gathering they called a Marea de Buena Gente ('Wave of Good People') around the whale statue set up for the child, complete with marquées housing children's workshops where they drew and coloured in fish.

Gabriel was a 'fish fanatic', fascinated by sea life, knew the names of a long list of aquatic species before he started school, and wanted to be a marine biologist when he grew up.

During the 11 days he was registered as 'missing' before Ana Julia Quezada was caught with his body in her car boot, Patricia Ramírez urged the public to draw pictures of fish and post them to a Twitter hashtag created for Gabriel so that, if he was alive and either lost or kidnapped, he would know that the whole of Spain was thinking of him.

The event, from December 29 to January 4, raised a total of €12,572 worth of clothing, toiletries, and new and pre-loved toys through its donation points, all of which were handed over to the Three Kings in Almería, the family's provincial capital city.

They would then be wrapped and handed out to children registered with the Red Cross – those living in poverty who would otherwise have nothing to unwrap this Christmas – and the Almería Parents of Children with Cancer Association (ARGAR).

Gabriel's parents also sold published copies of a children's story created by ARGAR at €8 each, the proceeds of which went to the charity.

ARGAR had alrady amassed €1,264 from selling 158 copies, but the event near Gabriel's whale statue in Almería city sold another 242, raising an additional €1,936.

Local Police and the fire brigade in Almería also made donations, which are still being counted up.

Gabriel's monument, unveiled over the week of the charity fayre, is called La Ballena de Gabriel y la Buena Gente ('The Whale of Gabriel and the Good People').

The little boy vanished on February 27, 2018 when walking the 100 metres from his grandmother's to his aunt's house in the rural area of Hortichuelas de Níjar (Almería province) after lunch, on his way to going to play with his cousins.

An extensive search proved fruitless, but police suspected Gabriel's father's girlfriend and kept her under scrutiny, eventually catching her with Gabriel's body in the boot.

She has been remanded in custody pending trial, but insists her stepson's death was an 'accident' and that she lost her nerve and hid his body.

Photograph: Almería city hall