Why police took 900 days to discover horrifying truth behind case of 22-year-old woman who disappeared whilst out jogging
In April 1993, 22-year-old Anabel Segura was bundled into an unmarked van by two armed men while out jogging in her local Madrid neighbourhood.
It would take 900 days for both police and her family to discover the harrowing fate that befell the aspiring young business student in a chilling case that would haunt Spain to this day.
The story of Anabel's abduction is now being told for the very first time in a harrowing new Netflix documentary, which landed on the streaming service today (22 Nov).
The three-part true-crime series sees Spanish police, criminal investigators, friends of the Segura family, members of the press and television presenters give interviews about their involvement in the case, each revealing the heartbreaking ways it continues to affect them 30 years on.
Advert
Warning: This article contains spoilers.
A school janitor first reported Anabel’s abduction after witnessing it from further down the street, claiming the woman fought back before the men managed to throw her into the back of a white van.
When police subsequently arrived at the scene, only her tracksuit top and Walkman were found discarded on the road.
With the traumatised janitor unable to recall anything about the men’s appearances, the police were forced to wait for the kidnappers to get in touch.
They immediately believed Anabel was likely to be used for ransom since she, her sister, and her parents all hailed from an affluent area of Spain.
Two days later, the phone began ringing at the Segura residence, where the family’s close friend and appointed lawyer, Raphael Escuredo, picked up.
A man's voice at the other end told him that, though Anabel was 'fine', they sought 150 million pesetas for her release.
After relying on friends and family to gather the money, Escuredo - representing Anabel's parents José Segura Nájera and Sigrid Foles - reluctantly agreed, and worked with the police to monitor the rural area that the kidnappers had demanded for the meeting.
Exactly seven days after the adduction, with officers hidden around the agreed location, Escuredo waited with the bag of cash, only to be stood up by kidnappers, who - during a later phone call to the Segura residence - said a nearby police helicopter had thwarted the deal.
In the weeks that followed, the kidnappers continued calling - interchanging between two male voices - attempting to arrange another exchange.
They demanded the money be dropped at a restaurant in a second planned meet-up, but when undercover police turned up to the scene, the kidnappers failed to show up.
And on the 24th day, they ordered the money be dropped on a road in the countryside.
Again, however, no one collected the cash.
During this time, the entire nation of Spain had caught wind of the case, and regular protests advocating for women's safety were taking place across the country.
And despite the Segura family using this as a means of holding onto hope that Anabel was alive and well, it was tricky to keep the faith.
By this point - 70 days after her disappearance - the kidnappers hadn't yet given any indication regarding Anabel's wellbeing, prompting Escuredo to demand on live television that a recording of her voice be delivered before they'd go ahead with any further arrangements.
On day 73, a tape arrived at the property, upon which a woman could be heard informing listeners that she was alive, but wanted to come home.
Though police initially prayed that the recording would at least give the family some temporary peace of mind, upon hearing the tape, José Segura immediately announced, 'That isn't Anabel'.
And after the number of calls being made by the kidnappers to the Segura property slowly began decreasing, as did the police's hope.
It was time to amp up the investigation by any means necessary, with the next two years marking some of the most intense policing that Spanish officers had ever undergone.
Acoustic forensic officers were brought in to assess the records of the kidnappers' calls in the hope that this would determine clues about the two criminals behind Anabel's abduction - their age, their profession, etc.
They picked up on the sound of a child saying, 'Papa', in the background in one call, and the sound of a 'ding-dong' doorbell in another.
Tracking down that one of the kidnappers' calls had been paid by a payphone in the nearby town of Vallecas, police even went door to door, testing out doorbells for the specific sound heard on the recording, but reached a dead end.
Officers visited prisons around Madrid, playing the recordings for inmates in the hope that they'd recognise either of the men who'd taken Anabel - tragically, however, to no avail.
585 days after Anabel's abduction, the Segura family hadn't heard a peep from kidnappers in several months.
It was time for another appeal from the public.
Recordings were played on the radio stations across at 10am every Saturday morning for several weeks - as well as on several popular television shows - in the hope that listeners would recognise one of the two voices.
And shockingly, 724 days after Anabel was taken, the police had a breakthrough.
A radio-listener had recognised one of the men's voices, reporting to the police that it was a man he used to work with - the driver of a white van, a delivery driver, named Emilio Muñoz Guadix.
Guadix, 35, lived in a nearby neighbourhood with his wife and four children.
Upon further investigating, they found he had a history of robberies, and even had a warrant out for his arrest.
Over the next few months, police followed this lead by surveilling him and tapping his phone.
One day, Guadix made a call to his estranged brother, Alfonso, who lived elsewhere in Spain.
This was the police's chance to firm up what they believed to be true - that Guadix was one of the men who'd kidnapped Anabel Segura.
After being approached, Alfonso admitted that his sister-in-law - Guadix's wife - had revealed that he'd taken her, and that she'd been the voice behind the forged recording.
Alfonso also said he believed one of Guadix's close friends - a man named Candido Ortiz Aon - likely helped with the crime.
With enough evidence to press charges, the two men were arrested.
It wasn't until they were in custody that Guadix's wife broke the news that the Segura family had been dreading for over two years - Anabel had been murdered.
Upon interrogation, Guadix and Aon went on to confess that they'd intended to use her to demand a ransom, and upon bundling her into the van that day, they drove her to an abandoned factory in the countryside.
During the journey, the pair said Anabel threw herself out of the vehicle in the hope of escaping, but they caught her.
After realising that she'd be able to recall their appearances if she ever escaped again, they strangled her and buried her body the same day they'd picked her up.
She'd been a hostage for a total of six hours before being killed.
In April 1995 - 900 days after she'd been kidnapped - Anabel Segura's body was retrieved from a factory site and returned to her family.
After an initial sentence of 39 years, Emilio Muñoz Guadix and Candido Ortiz Aon had their prison time increased to 43 years.
Just a decade later, however, Aon died of a heart attack.
Guadix was released in 2013 after just 18 years.
His current whereabouts remain unknown.
900 Days Without Anabel/900 Días Sin Anabel is available to watch on Netflix.
Topics: TV And Film, Documentaries, Netflix, True Crime, Crime, News, World News
Rhianna Benson