Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - The Obsession That Ended in Tragedy The Murder of Jessica Méndez Iglesias in Spain PART3 #67

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #truecrime #spanishmurdercase #finalchapter #justiceforjessica #realhorrorstory In the final part of Jessica Méndez Iglesias’s haunting story, the courtroom becomes the stage where the killer’s cold-blooded actions are finally exposed. Investigators piece together the final evidence, revealing how Jessica’s desperate attempts to escape a toxic and obsessive relationship ended in tragedy. Friends and witnesses recount chilling details, while the accused shows an unsettling lack of remorse. Justice may be served, but the emotional scars left on Jessica’s loved ones remain. This heartbreaking conclusion reminds us how dangerous obsession can be — and how love twisted by control can end in horror. horrorstories, reddithorrorstories, scarystories, horrorstory, creepypasta, horrortales, truecrime, realhorrorstory, spanishcrime, femicidecase, justiceforjessica, obsessioncrime, tragicending, courtroomdrama, darkreality, murdertrial, psychologicalthriller, realcasefile, chillingending, shockingtruth

It was Monday, March 21st, 2022. The town square in Pontavetra filled slowly, almost as if the people gathering there were drawn by the same invisible strain of grief. The crowd was quiet at first, mothers holding onto their children, older men with solemn faces, young people who could barely believe what had happened. They came to stand together in front of the town hall to condemn the crime, to honor Jessica, and to demand justice for her stolen life. From the steps of the municipal building, one of Jessica's closest friends stood holding a microphone,

her voice trembling at first but growing stronger as she spoke. She said Jessica had been one of those people who could light up any room. She described her as cheerful, always smiling, always the first to offer a hand when someone needed help. Jessica had been kind, generous, close to her family, hardworking, and full of good intentions. She didn't deserve this, the friend said, her words echoing through the crowd. He was obsessed with her, and he trapped her for too long. She tried everything to escape him.

Everyone knew who he was. Jose. The man who couldn't let go, who turned his obsession into something dark and destructive. The friend continued, her Galician accent thickening as emotion overtook her. She said Jessica had been forced to install security cameras around her home, to change her phone number, to live like she was under siege. She had done everything possible to protect herself, but Jose's obsession, rooted in control, jealousy, and pure machismo,

had escalated until it devoured them both. He must have thought he had the right to take her life, she said bitterly, and the crowd erupted in applause and cries for justice. Over the next few days, the investigation moved forward, and new details about the crash began to emerge. When the first week passed since Jessica's death, the public prosecutor released a preliminary conclusion that stunned no one who had been following the case closely. According to their findings, Jose knew Jessica's routine perfectly well.

He knew what road she would take to get to the highway. And that day, he waited. He waited until the exact moment when her car was about to enter the main road, and then he floored it, racing his vehicle straight toward hers at full speed, aiming directly at the driver's side door. It wasn't an accident. It was a plan. But what shocked everyone even more was learning that despite Jose's harassment, neither Jessica nor her family had truly believed he could become violent. They had known he was persistent, annoying, a bit unstable maybe, but they didn't think he was dangerous. Apart from the complaint Jessica filed after finding her

car tires slashed, she hadn't gone to the police again. No one had imagined that this man, who had once been a simple neighbor, would eventually turn into her killer. Her death broke something in the community. Her family, her boyfriend, and her friends were devastated. Even a year later, they were still waiting for real justice. Twelve months after that fatal day, Jose remained in pretrial detention in the therapeutic module of the A. Lama prison. The judicial investigation was still open in the court of called. us to Reese, with prosecutors considering charges of intentional homicide, or possibly murder.

And there was still hope that the crime would eventually be classified as gender violence, something that could change the entire course of the case. Jessica's boyfriend, Ismail, and her family had both joined the proceedings as private accusers. They wanted to make sure that Jose would never again walk freely through the same streets he used to stalk her on. Around the first anniversary of the crime, their lawyer, Luciano Prado del Rio, gave an interview. He didn't mince words. He called it what it was, a hunt. What this man did, he said, was a deliberate act, a chase, a killing. There's no other way to describe it. He added that every report in the case file supported that view. For him, and for the

family's lawyer too, the act should be treated as murder with a gender-based aggravating factor. Only then could the punishment truly reflect the cruelty and the horror of Jose's actions. The forensic and technical reports backed up their claim in every possible way. Investigators reconstructed the crash scene in excruciating detail. They studied the angles, the vehicle trajectories, the tire marks, or rather, the lack of them, the road conditions, and the positions of both cars after the impact. Every trace told the same story. Jessica's car had been completely still, waiting patiently at a stop sign just a couple of meters

before the edge of the main road, the N550 highway. Her blinker was on, her engine idling, her mind probably somewhere between her plans for the day and a moment of peace before joining the traffic. Then came Jose. His car, according to experts, deviated from its lane for no apparent reason, except one. He aimed straight at Jessica's vehicle. There were no signs of breaking, no attempt to swerve, no hesitation. The crash was so violent that Jessica's car was pushed sideways over 15 meters from the point of impact. It was a deliberate collision, executed with enough force to guarantee death.

The report even stated that Jose knew full well what would happen if he rammed another car at such a speed, especially hitting the driver's side door. Still, Jose refused to admit guilt. He clung to his story like a drowning man to a floating plank. He said it had all been an accident. He claimed that he had lost control, that his body betrayed him, that he had suffered a sudden blackout, a micro-sleep, as his lawyer called it. He asked the court to let him go on conditional release while waiting for the trial.

He said he wasn't a monster. that he hadn't meant for any of this to happen. But nobody was buying it. Nearly two years passed before the trial finally began. It was March 11, 2024, just days before the second anniversary of Jessica's death. Jose was now 43, grayer and thinner, but still carrying that cold expression that many in the courtroom would later describe as empty. The trial was held before a people's jury in the Ponteverra Courthouse. To the disappointment of many, the court decided not to classify the case as a gender-based crime. The reason?

Jessica and Jose had never had a romantic relationship. According to Spanish law, the gender violence aggravator could only apply if there had been a sentimental connection, or if the aggression had occurred within or after such a relationship. The prosecution couldn't legally prove that he had been her partner or that he had been her partner or that his actions stemmed from that specific legal definition of machismo. Still, the prosecutors made their argument crystal clear, this was no accident. They said the killing had been premeditated, calculated, and deliberate. The state's representatives painted a chilling picture for the jury.

Moments before the crash, they said, Jose recognized Jessica's car on the road. He saw that she was alone, driving toward the intersection. And that was when he made his decision. He turned his steering wheel, pressed the accelerator, and aimed straight at her. He didn't slow down. He didn't hesitate. He wanted to end her life. The prosecutors insisted that Jose acted out of a mix of obsession, resentment, and hatred, emotions born from Jessica's repeated rejections.

They called it an act of gender-motivated violence, even if the court refused to label it officially that way. For them, the motive was clear, Jessica had refused to give him what he wanted, and that rejection became unbearable to him. He couldn't stand the idea of not having control over her. When it was Jose's turn to speak, he stood up, visibly tense but composed. He stuck to his story. He said he didn't even know who was in the other car. I didn't see anything, he claimed. I couldn't do anything to avoid it. Then he invoked his right to remain silent for the rest of the hearing. His defense attorney, Celestino Barros, took over from there. Baros argued that his client had suffered a temporary loss of vision, a kind of microsleep caused by a combination of fatigue and

medication. He said Jose had been taking paracetamol and tramadol for a hand injury, and those drugs had made him drowsy. According to the defense, the crash wasn't planned. It was just an unfortunate accident, a terrible coincidence. But the prosecution was ready for that line of defense. They called nearly 20 witnesses, including 11 Civil Guard officers, two forensic doctors, family members, and several people who had witnessed either the harassment or the crash itself. Their testimonies painted a completely different story. One of the most powerful testimonies came from Adriano Rodriguez, Joseiast.

own brother-in-law and a close friend of Jessica's. On March 12th, the second day of the trial, Adriano took the stand. He looked nervous but determined as he told the court that Jose had indeed been stalking Jessica. He explained how he had repeatedly warned her, and even her sister, that Jose was watching her. He followed her everywhere, Adriano said. He would park near her house, near her job.

He couldn't let her live. He revealed something chilling, on the very day of the tragedy, he had sent Jessica a message warning her that Jose was around, keeping an eye on her again. She had replied something brief, maybe trying not to show fear. Adriano then saw Jose drive away, but only for a short time. Ten minutes before the crash, Jose came back. He parked again, as if waiting for the perfect moment. later, the collision happened.

Another emotional testimony came from Ismail, Jessica's boyfriend. His voice shook as he described the love they shared, the plans they had made, and the horror of losing her in such a senseless way. He said Jessica had told him several times that Jose had made disturbing comments, phrases that sent chills down her spine. One of them stuck in Ismail's mind forever, if you're not mine, you won't be anyone's. That sentence haunted him. And when he arrived at the crash site that day, seeing both cars wrecked, his girlfriend's lifeless body trapped inside one of them, those words came back to him instantly.

He knew then that Jose had done it on purpose. Ismail told the jury that, as he stood there in shock, he saw Jose too, sitting near the ambulance, being treated for minor injuries. When their eyes met, Jose smiled. Not a nervous smile, not one of guilt or confusion, but a cruel, twisted smirk. He laughed in my face, Ismail said, his voice-breaking. That was all I needed to know. The court fell silent. The judge took notes.

The jurors avoided looking at the accused. For many in that room, there was no doubt left. Throughout the hearings, the story of Jessica Mendez Eglades, became more than just a case, it became a symbol. It exposed how obsession could turn into violence, how stalking was often dismissed until it was too late, and how the system sometimes struggled to recognize gender-based motives when there was no formal relationship involved. Her loved ones fought tirelessly to make sure the world didn't forget her. They organized vigils, marches, and online campaigns under hashtags demanding justice. Journalists wrote artis

articles, activists spoke in interviews, and locals placed flowers every week at the same spot where Jessica took her last breath. Even after two years, the community refused to move on. The trial continued for days, filled with technical explanations, testimonies, and emotional breakdowns. The defense clung to the micro-sleep story, trying to humanize Jose as someone who simply made a tragic mistake. But for everyone else in that courtroom, there was no question left to answer.

Jose hadn't fallen asleep. He had made a choice. As the final witnesses spoke and the lawyers delivered their closing arguments, Jessica's mother sat quietly in the front row, clutching her daughter's photo. Her face was pale, her hands trembling, but her eyes never left Jose. She wanted him to see what he had done, to feel it. And when the trial finally drew to a close, the silence in that courtroom was almost unbearable. To be continued.