Gilberto Chamba

Case details

Gilberto Antonio Chamba Jaramillo was an Ecuadorian immigrant to Spain. He was known in Ecuador as the "Monster of Machala".

Background

Chamba had previously been sentenced in Ecuador. He had been sentenced to 16 years in prison in Ecuador in 1993 and was released in 2004. He had previously been tried for raping eight women and killing six of them in his own country.

Chamba was described as a former Ecuadorian army soldier and a taxi driver. He was married and living in Spain with his family. He had obtained a passport in his own name when he applied to emigrate to Spain, and the passport did not include any register of his police record. A pardon had been granted while he was serving the 16-year prison term; it was one of 250 pardons handed out to mark the Roman Catholic church's jubilee year.

Two months before his victim in Spain disappeared, he found work as a watchman at a car park near Lerida's university. Police later tried to trace his movements around Spain in the four years since he arrived.

The offence

Gilberto Chamba raped and murdered a law student in Lleida in 2004. The victim was María Isabel Bascuñana, who was 21 years old. Her body was found in the boot of her car in the la Bordeta area of Lleida. She had been attacked in a car park near the law faculty.

Chamba was also sentenced for the attempted rape and murder of a Romanian prostitute in the province in 2003. The court additionally sentenced him for the murder of law student María Isabel Bascuñana and for the rape of María Isabel Bascuñana. The ruling at the Lleida provincial court also sentenced Chamba for the attempted murder and rape of a Rumanian prostitute in the province in 2003.

Investigation

In Ecuador, police were later convinced Chamba had struck again in Spain, murdering a university student in the north-western Spanish city of Lerida. Chamba was arrested on the basis of fingerprint evidence. A man with the same name and fitting Chamba's description had been arrested after his fingerprints were found on a cloth used to strangle 21-year-old law student María Isabel Bascuñana.

Chamba's victim had been discovered in the boot of her own car. The victim's own car also had Chamba's fingerprints on it. Those fingerprints were sent to Ecuador to see whether they matched those of the man who attacked several young women in Machala between 1988 and 1993.

An Ecuadorian journalist recognised the photograph and the name of the man detained in Lerida, which led police to realise they might have a serial murderer on their hands.

Arrest and custody

Chamba was among those interviewed after the 21-year-old disappeared. A judge remanded Chamba in custody on suspicion of murder, and Chamba denied killing the student.

Trial

Chamba was sentenced at the Lleida provincial court on Monday to 45 years in prison for the rape and murder of a young female student and the attempted rape-murder of a prostitute.

The court imposed the following terms:

• Chamba was sentenced to 20 years for the murder of law student María Isabel Bascunana.
• Chamba received 12 additional years for her rape.
• Chamba was sentenced to 13 years in prison for the attempted murder and rape of a Romanian prostitute.

Sentencing

Chamba received a sentence in Spain of 45 years in prison on November 5, 2006. The ruling in Spain sentenced him for the murder and rape of María Isabel Bascuñana and for the attempted rape and murder of a Romanian prostitute.

Appeals

No appeal information was provided in the material.

Outcome

Chamba was sentenced in Spain to 45 years in prison for the rape and murder of María Isabel Bascuñana and for the attempted rape and murder of a Romanian prostitute.

Aftermath

Spanish police were trying to trace Chamba's movements around Spain in the four years since he arrived and were also running through their records looking for any unsolved murders of young women over the same period.

Chamba publicly confessed his crimes in Ecuador at a press conference in 1993 before he was tried for raping eight women and killing six of them. He was reported as saying:

“I raped them after they were dead for my personal satisfaction. I am guilty and did all this alone,''

Victims in Ecuador were described as being strangled, with a yellow cord found around their necks, according to press reports in Ecuador.

Chamba reportedly had denied killing the student in Spain. A judge in Ecuador, Oscar Solano, was quoted about uncertainty over how Chamba left Ecuador:

“I don't know how he came to leave the country, whether he did so legally or illegally,''

The Ecuadorian journalist Alberto Chavez was quoted:

“There are some faces that can never be forgotten,''

Oscar Solano was also quoted regarding Chamba:

“From what I have read in the press, Chamba showed the same passive nature in front of the Spanish police as he showed in front of me,''
“This man is a true psychopath. Only psychopaths are capable of acting like this, denying their guilt after so much damage.''

Other details

Chamba's mother’s name was reported to be the same as that of the man detained in Lerida, and the man detained in Spain reportedly shared the same passport number with the earlier "Monster of Machala." Spanish police were trying to identify unsolved murders connected to young women during the period since he arrived.

The material mentioned the location of the attack on María Isabel Bascuñana as being in a car park near the law faculty, and the area where her body was found as la Bordeta in Lleida.

A reference to "Serial killer gets 45 years in Spain" appeared alongside the sentencing information.