Reconstruction ordered for young woman's death in Valverde (El Hierro)

A judge has ordered a reconstruction of the fall of a 20-year-old university student in 2022 to clarify the circumstances.

Generic image of a crime scene with police lights.
IA

Generic image of a crime scene with police lights.

The head of the Court of Instance of Valverde, in El Hierro, has ordered a reconstruction of events to clarify the circumstances under which a 20-year-old university student died in the early hours of July 24, 2022.

The proceeding, scheduled for this Thursday, will be carried out by specialized agents of the Civil Guard, including the Crime Scene Department of the Central Laboratory of the Criminalistics Service. It will be supported by Judicial Police units from Santa Cruz de Tenerife and members of the Judicial Police team from Valverde.
The operation will involve a technical-forensic inspection of the crime scene and an experimental recreation of the fall using a mannequin. The objective is to verify the distance and final position of the simulated body, comparing it with the evidence gathered, and to produce an expert report with virtual recreations and 3D infographics.
The case, initially investigated as a presumed accidental death, has been reopened by Judge Antonio Mazuecos following an appeal from the private prosecution. The deceased's family maintains that third-party negligence may have been involved.
The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife had confirmed the provisional dismissal of the case in May 2024. The ruling described that the young woman, originally from Gran Canaria, was with friends near the La Lonja nightclub and went to a poorly lit area. She fell after crossing a wall of about 50 centimeters without railings, into a gap of over five meters.
The appellant argued that additional safety measures, such as higher walls, perimeter fences, and signage, should have been implemented. The new judicial proceeding aims to verify the mechanics of the fall on-site and to ascertain if the physical configuration of the location matches the hypothesis of the investigation.