17 Dec, 2021 @ 15:45
1 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Case of skull dug up by dog whips up storm of rumours among expats in Spain’s Alpujarras

Beneficio 4

A SERIES of foreigners have been suggested as the victim, in the case of a head found in the Alpujarras south of Granada last month.  

The Olive Press has been told of three possible individuals who ‘vanished without trace’ over the last decade.

One of these is a Dutchman called ‘Chimney Steve’ or Stefan who disappeared two years ago. 

According to a former resident of the Beneficio community he went missing after being attacked in Orgiva town centre.  

The Dutchman, who lived in the community for a number of years, was warned to ‘never go back to the town’.

Beneficio 3
The skull was found beneath the pictured tree. Photo: Olive Press

A former friend of his told the Olive Press that he fears he could be the person found. 

The Briton, who lived in Beneficio for years, said: “He was a simple guy, but harmless. Slightly mad and unwittingly upset the wrong people.

Mystery Skull Dog
Dragon, the dog which found the skull

“He was shaken up by it and was really scared to go out of the community. I worry he could have been the victim as one day he vanished and the talk was he was killed.”

Another expat resident revealed there were at least two other ‘rumoured’ cases of missing foreigners in the area.

He said one was a German man, who ‘may have been killed’ after raping a local resident in Beneficio, while another may have died of natural causes and been buried by the community.

Beneficio 6
A ‘home’ in Beneficio

“That, though, was a long time ago and there are quite a few rumours going round, nothing concrete” he said.

The skull, believed to be of a man in his 40s, was found by a dog of one of the female residents from Romania.

Police told the Olive Press that the head was still being probed for DNA.  

A spokesman for the Institute of Legal Medicine of Granada said: “It’s going to take a number of months before we know anything.”

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Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

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