Madrid teen Diana Quer was strangled, autopsy confirms

Diana Quer, a Madrid teenager who went missing in August 2016, was strangled according to a preliminary autopsy report.

The finding rules out the possibility that she was accidentally hit by a car, as her alleged killer, José Enrique Abuín, aka El Chicle, has maintained ever since his arrest last month, said SER radio station.

Medical examiners were unable to determine at this time whether the killer used his hands or a cable tie such as the one that was still holding the 18-year-old’s hands together when the body was found on December 31.

Abuín’s lawyer, Ramón Sierra, said a few days ago that the autopsy report would determine whether he continues to represent his client or not.

A second attempt

Following his arrest, Abuín led the police to Diana Quer’s body, which was at the bottom of a water deposit inside an abandoned warehouse in Rianxo, a town in the northwestern region of Galicia. Despite initially confessing that he had strangled her after trying to rape her, Abuín later said that he had accidentally hit her with his car.

Abuín was caught after attempting to abduct another woman last month in a nearby town; the victim fought back and two passersby came to her rescue. Abuín had already been a main suspect in the Diana Quer investigation, but the case had been shelved in April for lack of conclusive evidence.

Quer had been spending her summer vacation in the Galician town of A Pobra de Caramiñal with her family when she went missing on the night of August 21, 2016, as she was walking alone on a deserted street during the local fiestas. Her disappearance triggered a massive search operation that yielded no results. The teen’s family was subjected to intense public scrutiny by the media, which had a field day with stories of family fights and reports by people claiming to have seen the youth anywhere from Spain to Romania.

Diana Quer’s remains will be buried on Thursday in Madrid.

English version by Susana Urra.