Killer of eight-year-old Gabriel Cruz may have given him tranquilizers

A judge in Almer¨ªa, in southern Spain, is investigating whether the self-confessed killer of an eight-year-old boy gave the latter tranquilizers before killing him on February 27.

Sources at the Andalusia High Court said that Judge Rafael Soriano is following this line of investigation after medication was found inside Ana Julia Quezada¡¯s vehicle, the local newspaper La Voz de Almer¨ªa reported.

The judge is waiting for a full autopsy report to determine whether there are any remains of tranquilizers in the body of young Gabriel Cruz

The judge is waiting for a full autopsy report to determine whether there are any remains of tranquilizers in the body of young Gabriel Cruz, whose disappearance triggered a 12-day search. Hundreds of volunteers and police officers conducted a fruitless hunt for the boy near Las Hortichuelas, a tiny locality inside Cabo de Gata Natural Park.

Ana Julia Quezada, the father¡¯s girlfriend, was arrested after Civil Guard investigators observed her placing the child¡¯s body inside the trunk of her car to move it from a family property in Rodalquilar to a new location. The tranquilizers were found inside the same vehicle.

So far, preliminary data from the autopsy show that the child was strangled, and that the date of death was February 27.

Ana Julia Quezada¡¯s defense lawyer, Esteban Hern¨¢ndez Thiel, said that his client had been undergoing treatment and was taking tranquilizers. He said that he considers Quezada to be ¡°sincere¡± and that she is cooperating with authorities to clear up the facts of the case.

Following her arrest, Quezada claimed that the child had attacked her with a hatchet and that she had hit him in self-defense, then panicked and strangled him.

English version by Susana Urra.