National Police agents have identified and arrested in Tenerife the two alleged perpetrators of killing and defrauding an elderly man in Gran Canaria whom they contacted through a dating app. The Maspalomas Police Station's Local Judicial Police Brigade has thus concluded the homicide investigation that began on March 25, 2026, following the death of an 82-year-old German citizen.
The victim had been admitted days before to the Insular Hospital after suffering an assault in a public place in the south of Gran Canaria. Initial investigations revealed that the events had occurred during the night of March 14 to 15, 2026 in the vicinity of a hotel complex, in Playa del Inglés, where the victim was temporarily residing.
Semi-conscious and bleeding from the head
The agents verified that the man had been found semi-conscious and bleeding profusely from the head, initially assisted by health personnel and subsequently transferred to the Insular Hospital due to the severity of the injuries.
From the analysis of security cameras, witness statements and various police proceedings, investigators chronologically reconstructed what happened. The images captured how the victim repeatedly remained entering and exiting the complex apparently waiting for someone, until finally had an encounter with a 23-year-old man.
The investigation allowed to determine that both accessed the victim's apartment together after having met previously through the dating app. Approximately eighty minutes later they left the property and headed towards the complex exit. At that moment, the recordings reflect how the investigated person manipulated the victim's mobile phone and, subsequently, a surprise assault occurred which caused the victim to fall to the ground.
The agents managed to prove that, after the assault, the perpetrator fled the scene carrying two mobile phones while several people assisted the victim. The subsequent medical-legal report confirmed that the death had a homicidal medical-legal etiology.
During the investigations, they detected a repeated criminal pattern. According to police investigations, the main suspect selected vulnerable victims through dating apps, arranging private meetings at homes where he took advantage of the intimacy of the environment to steal mobile phones and subsequently try to access banking applications and digital financial services associated with said devices.
The investigations carried out made it possible to link the investigated person with other similar incidents that occurred in different parts of the national territory, in addition to confirming trips between Tenerife and Gran Canaria made with a 43-year-old woman, who allegedly collaborated in the logistics and mobility of both.
Once the investigation was focused on the suspects, agents of the National Police traveled to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where they located and arrested both while they were going about their normal lives in the capital of Tenerife.
After the completion of police proceedings, the detainees were placed at the disposal of the competent judicial authority, and the provisional detention of the alleged perpetrator of the homicide was ordered.
Citizen Collaboration
The National Police thanks and reminds citizens that they can collaborate, anonymously if they wish, if they have knowledge, indications, or suspicions of criminal activities, through the website www.policía.es in the Collaborate section, providing information that will be treated confidentially by National Police specialists
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