Almost two weeks after his disappearance, the whereabouts of Javier Márquez Villaverde (20 years old) remains a mystery. Born in Santo Domingo de la Calzada (La Rioja), the young man lived with him for four years in Zaragoza, where he decided to settle to train as a high-competition judoka at the Helios Swimming Center. However, Javier lost track of him in the early hours of March 2 in Logroño, where he went with his crew to spend a night of partying. From there, everything is unanswered questions. And as the days go by, his absence becomes increasingly distressing.
“The last connection on his phone occurred in Logroño, near the Ebro. Since then, absolute silence,” police sources explain to HERALDO. The young man’s friends saw him for the last time around 5:30, when he said goodbye to them to return alone to his sister’s house, who lives in the capital of Rioja. The last people who claim to have crossed paths with Javier did not see him in the best conditions. It seems that he was stumbling and fell. But they helped him up and he continued walking to the Stone Bridge area.
The fact that the last antenna to which the young man’s cell phone was connected was near the river, added to the testimonies of the witnesses who helped them at dawn, led the search operation to focus from the first moment on the floodplains of the river. Ebro in Logroño. There he has been searched for with dogs specialized in locating people, with divers and even with drones. But not a single clue. At least, that it has come to light, since the senior chief of the National Police in La Rioja, Manuel Laguna, indicated that the case had been declared secret.
When it comes to a disappearance like this, no possibility can be ruled out in advance. However, the one that is gaining the most strength for now is that of a possible accidental fall. And by locating Javier Márquez so close to the riverbed, it is not only necessary to look for him along the bank, but it is also necessary to consider the possibility that he was swept downstream by the current. “We know more or less at what speed a body moves through the water, but the disappearance has coincided with the flooding of the Ebro, which makes calculations very difficult,” they indicate from the rescue operation in Zaragoza. Because the National Police of La Rioja has asked its colleagues in Tudela and the Aragonese capital to dedicate all possible means to ‘combing’ their urban stretches of the Ebro. And that is what they are doing, with support even from the workers of the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation (CHE).
The Condor helicopter of the National Police searches in the Ebro downstream from Zaragoza for Javi Márquez, a missing young man. Oliver Duch
“We can see a license plate two kilometers away”
The Cóndor helicopter, based in Zaragoza, does not stop making raids these days along the river. On Wednesday, it flew over the approximately 35 kilometers that separate the city from the Pina dam. “The camera allows us to see a license plate two kilometers away,” the operator commented this week during a flight with HERALDO. “We are attentive to anything we see in the water,” he added, “but we pay special attention to the shores, where the water is clearer.” This Thursday, the air unit planned to continue searching for Javier Márquez, this time, upstream from Zaragoza.
In the hypothetical case that the fatal fall had occurred and the body had been dragged by the force of the current, it would have to end up emerging to the surface. Experts remember that water temperature is a key factor in accelerating or slowing down the bacterial decomposition of the corpse. During this, different gases are formed: hydrogen, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide, which are what cause the body to end up floating. Based on the so-called Devergie table, forensic experts know that a process that in summer can take 5 to 8 hours in winter can be delayed 3 to 5 days.
They inspect a squat in Logroño
The Police cannot focus on a single avenue of investigation, which is why this Wednesday they were even inspecting a squatted premises on El Puente street in Logroño. As the manual states, apart from the positioning of the mobile phone, the agents will have checked these days the recordings of the security cameras in the area where Javier Márquez was last seen, as well as the possible uses of his bank cards. But the fact that the Police are dedicating so much effort to searching for the young man around the Ebro indicates that the other clues would not have provided much information.
Javier Márquez, during a judo training at the CN Helios in Zaragoza.HA
The judo court in Zaragoza
The Riojan had made Zaragoza his second home, since he had lived in the city since he was 16, when his family encouraged him to try to make his dream of becoming a judo champion come true. He began to stand out from a very young age, even winning some international children’s championships. Therefore, when the possibility of joining the Helios Swimming Center training project arose, the boy did not think twice.
When he arrived in the Aragonese capital, Javier Márquez was still a minor, so his coach, Sergio Doménech, was in charge of ‘tutoring’ the young promise. “He was just a kid and that forced us to be more attentive. He had left his house in Santo Domingo to dedicate himself to this. And his efforts were paying off, because he competed at the national level,” he explained a few days ago. Now, everyone at the club will soon have news about the young man’s whereabouts.
2024-03-15 04:22:57
#river #questions #Logroño #Zaragoza
