Spanish police ask for help finding killer who escaped from prison

Spanish police are asking citizens for help locating a dangerous criminal who has escaped from Dueso penitentiary in Santo?a, in the northern region of Cantabria.

Guillermo Fern¨¢ndez Bueno has served 17 years out of a 36-year sentence handed down for raping two women and brutally killing one of them.

He began enjoying temporary prison leaves in 2012, and had walked in and out of the penitentiary ¡°over 40 times¡± before, according to prison sources.

But when he did not return on Sunday, the national police immediately triggered a search operation. The law enforcement agency also shared Fern¨¢ndez Bueno¡¯s photograph on Twitter and asked for citizen cooperation to locate the escapee.

URGENT. PLEASE SHARE. Guillermo Fern¨¢ndez Bueno is a rapist and killer who has escaped from Santo?a prison during leave. If you see him or have any info call 091

Fern¨¢ndez Bueno walked out of Dueso on July 15 on a one-week prison leave. ¡°It was one of the more than 40 leaves that the inmate had enjoyed to date without the slightest incident,¡± said prison sources.

The same sources said that Fern¨¢ndez Bueno¡¯s behavior in prison was exemplary. ¡°He has participated in many volunteer re-integration programs: the Sexual Assailant Therapy class, the Living Without Violence course, the Impulse Control program ... he also served as a support member in suicide prevention programs.¡±

In 2002, a court found Fern¨¢ndez Bueno guilty of raping two women over a one-month period, and of murdering one of them. Ana Rosa Aguirrezabal, who worked as a cleaner at a bar in Vitoria, died ¡°of suffocation when the defendant threw himself on top of her, pressing down on her chest and abdomen before slicing her throat with a sawtooth knife.¡± Fern¨¢ndez Bueno admitted his crimes in court.

He was really going to serve 22 years, so he still has six left

Duero prison sources

The ruling described him as ¡°a dangerous criminal¡± who exhibits ¡°anti-social and aggressive/sadistic traits¡± typical of psychopaths.

¡°He got nine years for the first sexual offense and 26 more for the second one plus the murder, of which he was really going to serve 22, so he still has six years left,¡± said prison sources.

Sources added that the prisoner had more than once applied unsuccessfully for an open regime, and that this refusal may have angered him. His lawyer suggested that perhaps his breach was not voluntary, but prison sources noted that Fern¨¢ndez Bueno cleared out his cell before walking out for the last time, taking most of his belongings with him.

These sources said that the prisoner was in a relationship with a woman who buys and sells furniture from India.

English version by Susana Urra.