A missing father is accused of killing his two children in an attempt to make his ex-wife suffer “for the remainder” of her life.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Tomas Antonio Gimeno, 37, allegedly kidnapped his two young daughters in April. He then reportedly phoned their mother, Beatriz Zimmerman, to tell her she would never see the girls again. The incident happened in Spain, off the Tenerife island coast, near the Port of Guimar.
Last week, divers searching for the children found 6-year-old Olivia inside a bag, weighed down by an anchor.
“The body was found by a robot from the search vessel Angeles Alvarino at midday [yesterday] around 1,000 metres below the water some three miles off the Tenerife coast,” a Spain Guardia Civil police spokesperson confirmed. “It was inside a sports bag attached to an anchor. Next to it was another empty sports bag.”
Olivia’s 1-year-old sister is still missing but presumed dead, according to police. Police said searchers found an additional bag in the ocean with nothing inside it.
Investigators are still searching for Gimeno. His boat was found empty off Puertito de Guimar, with no signs of him.
Court documents indicate that the motive may have been jealousy. During the conversation with his wife, the suspect allegedly made it clear he didn’t want Zimmerman to be with another man.
El Espanol reports that Gimeno and Zimmerman had a volatile relationship that ended with arguments over custody of the children. After separating, Gimeno hired a private investigator to spy on Zimmerman.
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“As a mother it pains my soul not to have been able to save their lives,” Zimmerman wrote. “I wish I had been there at that moment with them, holding their hands and dying together.”
“But that couldn’t happen because Tomas wanted me to suffer looking for them without rest and for the remainder of my life. That was the reason he left me alive.”
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Judge Priscila Espinosa Guterriez ultimately wrote in a nine-page ruling that Gimeno killed the children “in a planned and premeditated fashion to cause his ex-partner inhumane pain.”
“He allegedly deliberately tried to create uncertainty regarding the fate his daughters had suffered by hiding their bodies on the ocean bed after killing them, choosing a place deep underwater and far from the coast where he thought they would never be found.
“All this happened after he told his ex-partner and his close circle he was going to disappear with the girls and they wouldn’t be seen again.”
On Friday, authorities stated that Olivia passed away from pulmonary edema, meaning excess fluid in her lungs.
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[Feature Photo: Instagram/Olivia and sister]
