Google Maps murder arrests after man caught on Street View 'bundling body into car'

Shocking images caught on Google Street View have led to murder arrests after a man was spotted bundling a body into a car.

The detainees are the wife of the Cuban man, whose remains were discovered last week in a Spanish cemetery more than a year after he vanished, and her former lover. Detectives probing the disappearance of the man came across the images on Google Street View which showed a man stuffing a large plastic bag thought to contain the victim's body into the boot of a car.

The Google image and court-ordered phone taps have been described as "decisive” by local press covering the gruesome find in the tiny village of Andaluz in the northern Spanish province of Soria. Police admitted yesterday the macabre image was one of the clues they worked with to "resolve the crime.”

An image of what appeared to be a body being put in a car (Image:SOLARPIX.COM)

Central government officials have said they believe the human torso found belongs to that of a 33-year-old Cuban man who went missing last November. The Google Street View image, which is still online, shows a man in blue jeans and a blue jacket putting a large white plastic bin bag believed to contain the dead man's body, into a red Rover car in broad daylight.

Local reports point to the victim, said to have lived in Cuba, being killed after flying to Spain and discovering his Cuban wife had been cheating on him with a man described as the second person being held in custody. The male suspect is a Spanish bar owner said to be nicknamed ‘The Wolf of Tajueco’ after the small village of just 56 inhabitants a 15-minute drive from the cemetery where the macabre Google photo was taken.

In their first comments about the investigation and arrests overnight, a spokesman for Spain’s National Police said: "National Police officers have detained two people allegedly involved in the disappearance and death of a man who was reported missing in November last year by a relative.

The excavation at a local cemetery (Image:SOLARPIX.COM)

"That relative had grown suspicious about messages he had received purporting to be from the missing man. Part of the victim’s remains have been found buried in a cemetery in Andaluz in Soria using ‘advanced techniques’. One of the clues investigators were working with were images from an online search location application.”

The force added in a statement: "The messages the missing man’s family received said he met a girl and was leaving Soria and getting rid of his telephone. This made the relative suspect someone else was sending the messages and that led to him alerting police.

Police investigating the disappearance of the man (Image:SOLARPIX.COM)

"The police investigation focused on the missing man’s closest circle and led to the arrest of the two suspects believed to be responsible for his disappearance on November 12. They were the missing man’s partner and a man who had been her partner. They were initially held on suspicion of unlawful detention for failing to explain his disappearance. Searches of the pair’s homes and vehicles were subsequently authorised by police, where evidence relevant to the investigation was uncovered.

"The online image, showing a vehicle that could have been used in the course of the crime, was an additional piece of evidence. Both suspects have been remanded in prison by an investigating judge. The discovery of human remains buried underground in the cemetery in the province of Soria occurred on December 11 after they were sent to jail. Those remains have yet to be fully identified by coroners but we believe they correspond to those of the missing man. The investigation is ongoing.”