Elena Gocmen Rueda
AN American man accused of killing his wife while the pair were on holiday in Cadiz, then driving her corpse across Spain to bury her in a shallow grave, has turned himself in to police in Madrid.
Police launched an international man hunt for US citizen Michael Martin Hoseyni, 55 after the body of his wife Yana Rosa was discovered in the town of Alzira on January 21.
She had been missing since Christmas Day when she spoke to her mother over the telephone and her badly beaten body was discovered four weeks later on Januaary 21.
Hoseyni was arrested on January 28 at Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez Barajas airport after returning to Spain on a flight from the US.
Initially he had fled Spain driving from Valencia where Rose’s body was discovered, to Italy where he boarded a flight to London and then on to Colorado in the US where the pair had a home.
Spain’s National Police appealed to the FBI for help tracking down their main suspect and on January 26 were informed he would be voluntarily making his way back to Spain.
It appears Hoseyni would rather face justice in Spain rather than his home state of Colorado, where although the death penalty has been abolished, life means life.
Sources close to the investigation indicated that he had been advised the sentence in Spain would be more lenient with a maximum sentence of 20 -25 years.
Police retrieved CCTV footage showing a man described as having a strong physical resemblance to Hoseyni loading ‘a body-like package’ into a car outside the rental property the pair had rented in Sotogrande to spend Christmas.
“Security cameras in a flat in Los Barrios (Cadiz) caught the arrested man dragging the victim by the ankles and putting her in the boot of a car,” said a statement from Spain’s Policia Nacional released on Tuesday February 1.
“This is done by a man whose physical appearance matches that of her husband,” it continues.
Police said that CCTV footage from an industrial supply shop showed that the businessman had bought various incriminating items – a shovel, an axe, anti-cutting gloves and a cutter – on December 27 close to the area where his wife’s body was later found.
The case will be led by a magistrate in Algeciras by a court that has jurisdiction over the area where the murder took place.
Meanwhile, friends paid tribute to their ‘dear Yana’.
Divya Lila, a friend from Denver (Colorado) where the couple live, said Yana was an active member of the Denver Radha Krishna temple community.
“Unfortunately dear Yana has left her body. Please, pray for the peaceful transition of her soul”, wrote Lila in a Facebook post on January 25.
“She performed many services at the temple: from making garlands for the deities, to cooking prasadam for the devotees and even book distributing with Mother Nidra.
“Very heartbreaking. She will be missed dearly.”
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