Alfredo Galán

Case information

Alfredo Galán Sotillo (born April 5, 1978) was a Spanish serial killer.

Timeline

• January 4, 2003 — Galán began killings that continued through March 18, 2003, and left playing cards at the scenes.
• January 24, 2003 — Galán shot 50-year-old Juan Francisco Ledesma in the head in front of Ledesma’s 2-year-old son.
• February 5, 2003 — The body of 28-year-old airport cleaner Juan Carlos Martín Estacio was found shot in the head with an ace of cups nearby.
• March 7, 2003 — 27-year-old Santiago Eduardo Salas was shot in the face by Galán but survived; Salas’s friend, 29-year-old Anahid Castillo Ruperti, escaped unharmed.
• March 18, 2003 — Galán’s shooting attacks ended.
• July 3, 2003 — Galán surrendered at a police station and confessed to being “The Playing Card Killer”.
• September 10, 2003 — Galán changed his version before examining judge in number 10 Magistrate Court of Madrid, describing reasons for confessing to being the murderer; the declaration wasn’t considered by the judge.
• March 9, 2005 — Madrid’s Provincial Audience sentenced ex-military Alfredo Galán to 142 years and 3 months in jail.

Background

Alfredo Galán was born in Puertollano, province of Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. He studied Educación Básica General and later the Bachillerato Unificado Polivalente, where he was a representative of his class. His teachers remembered him as unremarkable and introverted. He became class president in high school.

In September 1998, he joined the Spanish Army and became a corporal in the Parachute Regiment of Alcalá de Henares. He participated in humanitarian missions in Bosnia. He was sent back to Spain during the Prestige oil spill.

After stealing a car, he was sent to Gómez Ulla Military Hospital in Madrid. He was diagnosed with neurosis and anxiety, and he continued drinking despite his medication being incompatible with alcohol. He was later discharged in March 2003.

In March 2003, he began working as a security guard at Madrid–Barajas Airport.

The offence

Galán killed six people and wounded three between January 4 and March 18, 2003. All of the shootings were described as occurring at point-blank range, with shots to the head, the nape, or the back.

The record stated that Galán shot his victims with a Tokarev TT-33 gun he brought to Spain from Bosnia while he was a military. The convicted man was reported to have thrown the gun at some garbage dump in Puertollano. The gun was said to have been smuggled into Spain by hiding it in a television set. The weapon was also described as being found in his parents’ house.

Use of playing cards

Galán was known for marking his murders with playing cards. It was stated that it was not originally his intention for the cards to be his “signature”, and that he began leaving cards after media sensationalized the fact that a card had been found by a victim’s body. An ace of cups was left at multiple scenes.

Victims and incidents

• On January 24, 2003, Galán shot 50-year-old Juan Francisco Ledesma in the head in front of his 2-year-old son.
• On February 5, 2003, 28-year-old airport cleaner Juan Carlos Martín Estacio was found shot in the head; an ace of cups was nearby.
• On March 7, 2003, 27-year-old Santiago Eduardo Salas was shot in the face by Galán but survived. Salas’s friend, 29-year-old Anahid Castillo Ruperti, was able to escape unharmed. After the shooting, a card was dropped at the scene: a three of cups in one account; in another account, “Dos de Copas” was thrown next to the victim. Galán intended to execute another shot but the Tokarev jammed; the woman kneed and protected her head with her arms.

The record also described additional murders around Alcalá de Henares:

• The son of the bar Rojas’ owner, Mikel Jiménez Sánchez, died from a shot that entered the temporal area, went out through the left area, and embedded in the shoulder.
• Juana Dolores Uclés was shot in the superior area of the right eye; the shot was described as mortal.
• A marriage was described as being murdered in a dark passageway. The man—George—and his wife—Doina Magda—were shot. The man was shot first from a lateral of his back. His wife tried to protect herself with her left arm and was shot three more times; two projectiles reached her head with a distance of four centimetres. She died two days later. The course of bullets was described as lightly downwards, as if carried out from a high altitude.

The record further described that Galán made attempted killings in which intended targets survived.

Investigation

Forensics agreed that the shooter acted from a very short distance, almost at point-blank range. It was explained that when a shot was taken from point-blank range, gunpowder burns the entrance orifice and metallic rests from the fulminating touch the bone and produce a loud explosion in the skeletal area; smoke of detonation stains the area near the wound.

The autopsy described the bullet for Juan Francisco Ledesma as entering through the occipital region (the back part of the head) and coming out near the right eye, killing him instantly. The shot direction was described as parallel to the ground.

The record also described that the shot could have been carried out with the victim on his knees, based on details that would have been provided by the killer when he gave in on July 2003; a notch in the main square of the room, coming from the projectile, confirmed this. The record stated that a similar modus operandi was used for the killing of Juan Carlos Martín Estacio, including a shot from the back with a course parallel to the floor.

Ballistics data were described as indicating that projectiles derived from the aforesaid gun.

Arrest and surrender

On July 3, 2003, Galán surrendered at a police station during the afternoon and confessed to being “The Playing Card Killer”.

Trial

Madrid’s Provincial Audience (Audiencia Provincial de Madrid) sentenced ex-military Alfredo Galán to 142 years and 3 months in jail for killing six persons and three attempts of homicide in the Community of Madrid. The tribunal recognized expected sentences to the limits due to evident disdain for human life exposed by the accused and noted that, under Spanish law, the “deck of cards murderer” would not serve more than 25 years in prison.

The court stated that the sentence started by recognizing the “probative value” of the confession after he surrendered to Puertollano’s Local Police on July 3, 2003, and that he later recognized the facts in front of the Examining Judge but denied them when he declared in number 10 Magistrate Court of Madrid. He admitted buying the gun and illegally introducing it in Spain, and he denied the murders in the later declaration.

A cartridge from the gunshot that killed the doorman was found, and clothes worn for crimes were also found. The sudden stop of homicides after his arrest, identifications made by survivors, and his presence in Bosnia where the weapon was supposedly obtained were described as relevant data for the trial.

Judges considered Galán’s silence as a reaffirmation of his culpability.

Changing declarations and contested motives

The record stated that Galán’s trial was full of irregularities due to constant changes in the declarations of the accused. On September 10, he changed his version before examining judge in number 10 Magistrate Court of Madrid, stating reasons for confessing that he did so because a neonazi had threatened him with killing his sisters if he did not blame himself. He also claimed he sold the gun before the murders to the group of the neonazi; the declaration was described as not considered by the judge.

Sentencing

The sentence was 142 years and three months in prison.

The record stated that the court did not claim any type of psychiatric pathology for Alfredo Galán and exempted the State from public liability. The exemption of the State was described as being based on the fact that the crimes were not committed in a state-owned establishment and that the weapon used was not official and the murders were not perpetrated while he was in charge.

The court ordered Galán to compensate families of victims, including those who survived, with a total of 609,182 euros for moral damage and injuries.

Other details

A policeman testified that Galán always wished his victims a “good morning” and asked them to “please” kneel before shooting them because “education is the first thing in life”.

A psychological inform examined the convicted man, and described Alfredo Galán as “a human predatory that goes out hunting man to humiliate and kill them”. Experts stated that this type of behavior was only seen in nature and should be studied by the social branch, not psychiatry.

The record stated that Galán reportedly told police he wanted “to know what it felt like to kill”, and in the event “he had felt only indifference, the court heard”. It also stated that he initially confessed to the killings but later withdrew the statement and tried to implicate two other men, claiming he had sold them the murder weapon.

Outcome

Galán was sentenced to 142 years and three months in prison on March 9, 2005.