Police hunting for man who left Arriate on day Maria was killed

ON what would have been her fourteenth birthday police have a new lead in the search for Maria Esther’s killer.

Police are on the hunt for a man who tried to leave Arriate by taxi on the same day the teenager was brutally murdered.

The suspect was spotted with muddy boots and no coat entering a bar on the outskirts of the village at seven in the morning to ask for a taxi.

The landlord said he had no number and the man left without ordering anything.

Police have since questioned the landlord four times who confirmed the man was aged between 45 and 50 and was 5 ft 9, slim and grey.

But witnesses have been unable to identify the man from photographs.

It is believed the suspect is from outside of the village and was trying to get to Alcala del Valle in Cadiz on the morning of January 20.

Police are now studying CCTV footage taken outside La Caixa on the main street on the night the teenager was murdered.

There will be a tribute to Maria Esther today in the spot her body was found to commemorate her birthday.