Spain Investigating Kidnapping, Murder of Toddler

Police in the southern Spanish province of Almeria are investigating the circumstances surrounding the murder of a 16-month-old girl found dead a week after she was kidnapped.

Jonathan Moya Gonzalez, 25, who had been in a relationship with the child’s mother, confessed to being the perpetrator of the kidnapping and the crime.

The little girl died from one or several blows to the head, a preliminary autopsy showed.

Sources close to the investigation said they are still awaiting other tissue analyses to establish the exact time the child died who was kidnapped on Dec. 20 when she was with her mother.

Moya, an ex-convict, was arrested Thursday at his family’s country house.

He confessed to killing the toddler, which led the way to finding the body in a pool of water, though he refused to say when and how he did it.

His confession also made it possible to arrest a friend of his who could have covered up the crime.

Authorities are continuing the investigation to try and establish the circumstances in which the crime was committed, as well as the perpetrator’s motive.

The pool of water in which the body was found is near an expressway service road.

Published in Latino Daily News