The case of the alleged murderer of the Bilbao gay dating app, which continues to be divided into seven proceedings, came to court yesterday and sat for the first time in the dock Nelsón David M.B., investigated for five deaths and two first-degree murders of attempt The defendant faces, in his first trial, requests for sentences of between 9 and 18 years for one of the two causes of attempted murder and, after pleading not guilty, he appeared in court that he judges him as the minion of a gang who only wanted to steal. A young man with a difficult childhood, unable to kill and who was now being used.
His statement was expressive of the defense strategy he will follow. Nelsón David’s story, the same one he has communicated to his girlfriend’s family, is that he lived in a borderline situation and that he surrounded himself with people who offered him to make money by defrauding him through credit cards. According to this account, the accused would recognize his participation in economic crimes, but not in cases of murder. In yesterday’s session, moreover, the accused tried to discredit the victim by alluding that he used drugs and liked “strong sex”.
Faced with this version, the Basque LGBTI association Gitu, which carries out the private prosecution, links Nelsón David with five murders and two other attempts. They would all share the same modus operandi. The accused would have been summoned through a dating app with his victims, in some cases of high purchasing power, and sought their submission in order to use their cards and steal them. The events would have taken place between May and December 2021, and the proceedings are related to five victims already dead and two alive.
The great difficulty of the case is precisely that the death of five buried or cremated people must be investigated a posteriori after initially linking their deaths to natural causes. The situation is different in the two attempted cases, similar and related to which there is, in both cases, a fundamental piece of evidence: the statements of the victims.
The case that has been on trial since yesterday has to do with events that happened on December 17, 2021. Chronologically, they are the last events investigated. The victim points out that the accused tried to extort him, through the matalleón technique, when they were in a relationship. Nelsón David, meanwhile, pointed out yesterday that this behavior obeyed “an impulse” within a “sado-masochistic” relationship. The victim adds that after escaping she was chased through the apartment and narrates a brutal confrontation that alerted the neighbors. His complaint was key for the Ertzaintza to investigate other deaths attributed to natural causes as possible murders.