The search for the remains of Heidi Paz begins in Carranque Park in Toledo.

The National Police has initiated another search for the remains of Heidi Paz, which have not been found seven years after her murder. Among the remains still missing is her head, following a statement in March from her killer, César Román, known as the King of Cachopo, who claimed it was buried in Carranque (Toledo).

The search is scheduled to start at 11 AM in the archaeological park of Carranque and is expected to last throughout the day, according to police sources who spoke to EFE. Román, convicted of both homicide and desecration of Heidi Paz’s body in August 2018, sent a letter to the Madrid court that tried him, asserting that he accidentally killed the young woman during a dispute. He added that her death occurred in the warehouse where most of her remains were found and that after realizing she was dead, he sought help from his late uncle, who dismembered her body.

In the newly revealed version of events within the letter, which EFE accessed, Román offered apologies to both the victim’s family and his own. He claimed he initially did not know that his uncle had dismembered the corpse and mentioned that he was told the remains, including her head, were buried in Carranque. The King of Cachopo also included a hand-drawn map indicating the possible location of the remains, which police will use as a lead to locate Heidi Paz’s head.

The Provincial Court of Madrid convicted him in 2021 to 15 years in prison for homicide and the dismemberment of her body, considering the aggravating circumstances of kinship and gender. This ruling was appealed by Román but was confirmed by the Madrid High Court and the Supreme Court.

The King of Cachopo consistently denied both before and after the judicial process that he committed the crime he was accused of until March 2024, when he acknowledged for the first time in a letter sent to the Madrid court that he had killed the young woman, albeit accidentally.

In the following year, he sent another letter to the court stating that the remains could be found in Carranque. Román provided his own account of the crime, stating that it occurred during an “absurd argument over financial issues”

He detailed that upon seeing his victim act aggressively in a way he had never witnessed before, he was frightened and grabbed a gun he was carrying for “personal security,” pointing it at her solely to “calm her down” or stop her behavior. During the struggle to take the gun from her, he claimed it “accidentally discharged” and fatally struck her in the head. He believes that this situation can be corroborated if the remains are located.

Upon realizing that he had killed her, he stated in the letter, he panicked and sought assistance from his uncle, who had a medical background. They decided to make the “tremendously misguided and erroneous decision” to dispose of the weapon and the corpse, choosing to do so in Carranque, a place familiar to both from their childhood.

(News prepared by EFE)