Trial and Sentence
His trial began in November 1991 in Santander. At the time of his arrest, he had confessed to the murders but on trial he denied all charges against him and said that the women had died by natural causes.
Rodríguez Vega was diagnosed as a psychopath who was a fastidiously neat individual. His killing was well organized in that he would first identify a victim, then observe her until he was familiar with every aspect of her routine. He would then make contact with the victim, try to gain her trust, using his charm and looks, until he gained access to her home, often under the guise of doing work to or around her home. He was described as a cold-hearted and calculating serial killer who took mementos from each of his kills. When he was arrested, police found a red room where he displayed his mementos, which ranged from a television to a bouquet of plastic flowers. Because of the age of his victims, some of their deaths were attributed to natural causes. The extent of his killing spree was not realized until police released a videotape of his home, showing his mementos. Families of the victims identified objects that linked Rodríguez Vega to their dead relatives.
José Antonio Rodriguez Vega was sentenced to 440 years in prison.
Read more about this topic: Jose Antonio Rodriguez Vega
Famous quotes containing the words trial and/or sentence:
“For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 9:32-33.
Job, about God.
“There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book we read becomes luminous with manifold allusion. Every sentence is doubly significant, and the sense of our author is as broad as the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)