The first trial against the alleged murderer of the gay app has taken an extraordinary turn after the appearance of one of the ertzainas investigating the case. In the second session of the procedure, this agent explained that the investigators see Nelson David M. B. as “absolutely related” to up to seven deaths of homosexual men, found in their homes in similar circumstances – so that they appeared to be natural deaths -, as well as with two more attempts. One of these attempted homicides is the one that is being tried since this Monday in Bilbao and, as confirmed by the agent, the report of these events triggered the subsequent investigation that points to “a serial killer.”
Until now it was known that seven proceedings had been opened against the alleged murderer: five for alleged homicides and another two for attempted murders. The agent, however, has explained that those investigating the case link him to two more homicides. The ertzaina has also added that they see him “absolutely related” to the events and has listed the evidence, circumstantial yes, but abundant, that they would have against him. The testimony of this police officer is relevant, since he is one of the instructors of the case, a qualified agent, investigator of the Crimes against Persons Section of the Central Criminal Investigation Unit of the Ertzaintza.
Thus, despite the fact that the courts have refused to unify the procedures and that there is a possibility that some will be definitively dismissed, the Ertzaintza would have significant findings: transfers of money to the accused’s checking account minutes after these men died; witnesses who saw the accused in the homes of the possible victims; images that recorded the accused withdrawing money from ATMs with the cards of the deceased; or the finding that Nelson David sold assets of the deceased men. Furthermore, at the time of the arrest, they discovered that the defendant had documentation and credit cards of the men whose deaths he investigated.
The agent himself has also confirmed the sequence of the investigation, with the events that occurred on December 17, 2021 and judged since Monday as a fundamental key to the case.
That day in December, a man was treated in the emergency room for an alleged assault, an attempted strangulation that he had suffered at home while having sex. Subsequently, this man reported the events, now judged as attempted homicide, at a Bilbao police station.
The victim, a man who lived in the Old Town of Bilbao, reports that that day the accused tried to strangle him, using the mataleón technique, when they had a sexual relationship in his apartment. The victim managed to get away and was then chased around the floor. They maintained, as he reported and has maintained in the trial, a brutal confrontation that ended up alerting the neighbors. From there, the accused would have fled from him, leaving his passport in the house.
Nelson David has justified this strangulation attempt as “an impulse” in the context of a “sadomasochistic” relationship.
The Ertzaintza began investigating those events in December 2021 and, a few months later, as a result of the investigation surrounding the accused, they detected that it could have been related to the death of another man, whose death was initially linked to natural causes.
This second man died in September of the same year at his home in the Old Town of Bilbao, and his family detected that, shortly after his death, there were strange movements in his checking accounts.
The Ertzaintza has evidence that links Nelson David to those movements; Basically, the accused would have made transfers to his checking account from the deceased’s account.
The Basque Police expanded the scope of the investigation and saw that they could be dealing with a serial killer, a term used by one of the investigating officers.
At this time, as a result of an accumulation of significant evidence, the Basque Police links the accused with the death of up to seven men, as well as with the attempted murder of two others. One of these attempts is the one that is being tried, and the other was reported when the case reached the media.
One of the instructors has pointed out that, in all cases, relatively young men who “had their sexual condition in common”, were found dead in their beds, “lying down, dressed and without signs of violence.”
The doors of their houses were also closed and did not appear forced. However, in all cases movements were detected in their checking accounts. The Ertzaintza believes that these people could have been murdered by Nelson David using the mataleón technique, after meeting them through a gay app and in order to rob them.
In the second session of the trial for one of the two attempted murders, the emergency professional who treated him, several Ertzaintza agents and the psychiatrist who has treated him since then testified. The latter has indicated that the post-traumatic stress he suffers is very “compatible” with the events he denounces, while at the same time he has indicated that the victim was very affected when he received him and that he had constant flashbacks that carried over to him at the time of the alleged homicide attempt. .
Likewise, Nelson David’s girlfriend has appeared, who had known him since the spring of 2021 and who continues to be his partner. From her statement it is clear that they had a distant relationship and that the accused led a double life: during the trial he declared himself bisexual and it became clear that he had relationships with men, something she did not know about.
This first trial will conclude tomorrow, although after what was stated by the Ertzainas it seems clear that the case will still have a long way to go.
