Police in the Spanish city of Bilbao are hunting down an alleged serial killer who is believed to have murdered four gay men since 2021 by luring them on the gay dating app Grindr.
UPDATE 06/05/22: Suspect turns himself over, denies involvement in other murders
On Friday, May 6th, a 25-year-old Columbian national named Nelson David M.B. turned himself in to police in Bilbao, claiming to he wanted to collaborate with police in the case as he admitted that he was involved in the December incident that saw a man claim to have been strangled but denied any involvement with the four other alleged murders.
The 25-year-old turned himself in after stating that he saw his photograph used on social media an connection with the case. Investigators say the Columbian national is still a suspect in the killings despite denying any involvement.
Read the original report below:
The Ertzaintza, the autonomous police force of the Baque country, say they are working under the assumption that the deaths of four gay men are linked due to common elements regarding their deaths and believe a serial killer may be operating in the city.
Each of the four victims is said to have been contacted on the gay dating app Grindr, and invited the alleged killer to their homes where they were given overdoses of drugs and their bank accounts drained of money, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo reports.
It was not until December of last year that police were made aware of a possible serial killer after a man was able to escape being strangled and during the struggle, the would-be killer left a backpack with liquified ecstasy in it. Previously, the deaths of the homosexual men in 2021 had been thought to have occurred naturally.
Investigators believe that the alleged serial killer could be linked to four more deaths as well as they match the profile of the other alleged murders.
So far, police have been unable to identify a suspect in the case but have called on police from other regions of Spain to determine if there are any other deaths that match the profile of the alleged murders.
The case comes as a man of Middle Eastern origin was arrested in Ireland last month for allegedly killing multiple homosexual men and is also said to have used Grindr as a means to lure his victims.
The man is suspected of killing at least two gay men and a third was also attacked but survived the encounter. Police say they suspect the suspect in the case may have been motivated by religious zeal and have asked for any other possible victims to come forward.
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