Suvechha Sarkar
María Isabel Fuentes Fernández was residing in Pazos (Verín), Galicia, when she was brutally attacked in April 2015. Fortunately, she survived the attack after she was rushed to the hospital. However, tragedy struck when the 66-year-old was killed in the hospital the following month. Netflix’s ‘Unprotected: Murder in Galicia’ sheds light on how officials initially considered her first attack a violent robbery but changed their perspective when evidence suggested someone close to her was behind it. It also features several interviews with her loved ones and the officials who worked on the case.
Isabel Fuentes Had Been Married For Around a Year When She Was Attacked
María Isabel Fuentes Fernández arrived as a ray of sunshine in the love of her parents in 1949. She grew up in a loving household in Galicia and maintained an incredible relationship with her cousins, Teresa Fernández, María Isabel López, and Corona Pérez. Isabel was often described as a sociable person who always had a charming smile on her face. The available public reports do not provide much information about her academic life. However, it is known that her outgoing personality helped her excel in her job as an Assistant at a Haberdashery Shop.
Isabel believed she had found love when she first crossed paths with Aniceto Rodríguez Caneiro, a widower with a daughter from his previous marriage. Over time, their conversations gave way to something more, and it wasn’t long before they began dating around 1988. Soon after, they moved in together at a residence in Pazos (Verín), Galicia. Reports state that her family revealed they eventually married sometime in 2014, at his insistence. Everything appeared to be going perfectly when Isabel’s life turned upside down on April 2, 2015. Around 1 am on that day, Aniceto called Corona and claimed robbers had broken into their home and attacked Isabel.
Isabel Died From Stab Wounds While Recovering at the Hospital
Once officials arrived at Isabel’s home after receiving the report, they found that Isabel was still alive and rushed her to the Ourense University Hospital Complex, or CHUO. Fortunately, she survived the attack after undergoing major surgery and was initially kept in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Although Isabel was initially in a coma, she gradually regained consciousness but was unable to speak. When her condition became more stable, she was transferred to the general ward on April 29. In the meantime, officials searched her home and found a bloody hammer, which they determined was used to make three distinctive blows to her head.
Although investigators noticed a broken window and a flower pot at the home, they found that no valuables had been taken. The situation took a grave turn in the early hours of May 8, 2015, when Isabel was attacked again with a knife while she was sleeping in the hospital bed. Unfortunately, she suffered multiple stab wounds and succumbed to her injuries. According to the officials on the show, hospital authorities reportedly found a large knife with a yellow handle near the crime scene. The autopsy report revealed that the stab wounds caused injuries to her heart and lungs. Isabel’s cause of death was determined to be the fatal stab wounds.
Detectives Discovered Inconsistencies in the Killer’s Statements
After the initial attack, detectives questioned Aniceto, who claimed that he was asleep in bed while Isabel was watching television on the sofa when she was attacked. According to one of the detectives on the show, her husband claimed that the robbers entered by breaking a sliding window and that, by the time he entered the room, the intruders had left. However, investigators noted that if Isabel was awake when the robbers broke in, she would’ve called for Aniceto immediately. During his interview on the show, the detective stated that, upon inspecting the house, they determined it would have taken Aniceto only a few seconds to reach his wife, which wasn’t enough time for the robbers to escape.
Since Aniceto’s statements contradicted the physical evidence, it raised suspicions against him. The case took a turn in the early hours of May 8, 2015, when the nurses saw him entering Isabel’s room. Shortly after, they found the 66-year-old’s remains on the hospital bed and her husband unconscious on the floor. They determined that he had several self-inflicted injuries, consistent with an attempt to die by suicide. According to official records, investigators also found a handwritten note signed by Aniceto in a jacket pocket. In the note, he addressed Isabel and wrote that he had acted because he could not bear to see her in that condition.
One of the detectives on the show stated that Aniceto had also written that he wanted to be cremated beside her. He was ultimately hospitalized and suffered a stroke. By June 2015, he had regained consciousness and was informed about his arrest. After being medically discharged that month, Aniceto was transferred to the A Lama prison in Pontevedra, Galicia. When he was later questioned by judicial authorities, he claimed that he didn’t remember killing Isabel. He was charged with homicide and attempted murder of the 66-year-old. Aniceto was then put in provisional detention, and his bail was set at €27,000.
Aniceto Rodríguez Was Incarcerated When He Died at the Age of 78
The oral trial against Aniceto began in June 2017, during which the prosecution claimed that he carried out gender-based violence against Isabel. They argued that he had planned both the attacks and attempted to conceal his involvement in the first assault by making it look like a burglary. Moreover, they introduced his handwritten note and other pieces of physical evidence before the court. On the other hand, the defense challenged the prosecution’s interpretation of the attacks and pointed out that the first attack could have been a violent robbery. They contended that Aniceto had suffered cognitive impairment and memory problems after his stroke, seeking to make it a mitigating factor.
In July 2017, Aniceto was convicted of homicide and attempted murder. Shortly after, he received a sentence of 19 years in prison for murder and 12 years for the second offense, bringing the total of his sentence to 31 years. Apart from that, the court ordered him to pay €40,997 in compensation. Aniceto later appealed his judgment in the Supreme Court, but the court upheld his sentence in December 2017. He was serving his sentence at the A Lama Prison in Pontevedra, Galicia, when his health began deteriorating. In the early hours of September 21, 2018, Aniceto passed away from cardiovascular failure at the age of 78.
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