Overview
- The latest forensic analysis overturns an earlier postmortem theory, concluding bruising on the victim’s thighs was inflicted before death in the context of a sexual assault.
- Investigators say skull fractures previously thought to be postmortem occurred while the victim was alive, refining the reconstruction of events.
- The judge has proposed an anthropometric examination focused on the assailant’s penis, and forensic specialists will carry out the test with the suspect’s consent.
- Seven photos found on Montilla’s phone show the rape of Ester Estepa, with the victim identified and the perpetrator’s face unseen, leaving the genitalia as the key identifying feature.
- Ester Estepa vanished in August 2023 in Gandía, and hikers discovered her remains seven months later in a reedbed; Montilla remains the only person under investigation and is held in pretrial detention.