Spanish authorities said on Wednesday, the 18th December, that a Google Street View image of a man loading a large white bag into the boot of his car helped solve a murder case in a northern Spanish town, reports the British broadcaster BBC.
The Google software allows users to view streets and locations around the world, filmed by cars mounted with cameras.
The picture was taken in the small Spanish town of Tajueco, in the northern province of Soria, and was the first time in 15 years that a Google car had been there.
The image appears to show a man leaning over the boot of a car, placing a bulky white bag in the boot of the car, and police said it was an important clue in the investigation into a man who has been reported missing since last year.
Another image taken by Google moments earlier appears to show someone pushing a white object in a wheelbarrow.
Photo: screenshot from Google Street View
Local media report that the case is being treated as a murder.
According to the local newspaper El Pais, the presumed dead man is a 33-year-old Cuban national who was reported missing in October 2023 after a relative received text messages from the victim’s phone which he found suspicious and believed were not from him, so he reported it to the police.
The relative told the police that the victim had texted that he had met a woman, was leaving Spain and would get rid of his phone and the police started investigating.
On the 12th of November this year, police arrested a woman believed to be the missing man’s partner and a man believed to be the woman’s ex-partner.
Earlier this month, a badly decomposed human torso, believed to be that of the missing man, was unearthed in a nearby cemetery.
The accused have been arrested and the investigation is continuing.
Google Street View helps police crack murder case in Spain
