Netflix a new point was scored with The Asunta Case, a miniseries ideal for worshipers of the thrillers to the Spanish. It is second among the trends closely following the global phenomenon of baby reindeer.
The story takes a real case from 2013 that occurred in La Coruña, Spain. The investigation into the murder of Asunta Basterra Portoa 12-year-old girl who was found dead on the shoulder in the small municipality of Tao.
Ojo: From here on there are plot spoilers..
What happened to Asunta?
First you have to know who Asunta was.
Asunta, whose birth name was Fang Yongwas the adopted daughter of the journalist Alfonso Basterra and the lawyer and former consul of France, Rosario Porto. He was born in China and came into the lives of the Basterra-Porto family when he was one year old.
Asunta was 12 years old when she was murdered.
Asunta disappeared from her home on September 21, 2013. That day, a bank’s security camera focused on her going to her father’s home and then returning to her mother’s.
On the 22nd, the next day, two men found her body on the side of a street with marks of ties on her hands and ankles and notified the police. From that moment on, an investigation began full of absences: incongruous clues, contradictory statements and endless questions.
With the media coverage of the case as a mitigating factor, Asunta’s parents were arrested a few days after the macabre discovery.
Through trial, Rosario and Alfonso ended up being sentenced to 18 years in prison for the homicide of Asunta with the aggravating circumstance of kinship. And today, more than ten years after the crime and with Rosario having taken her life in her cell, the unanswered questions continue to be the common denominator of the case.
How Asunta died
The preliminary autopsy report reported that Asunta had been sedated, that she had not suffered sexual assault, and that her death had been caused by asphyxia due to suffocation. Her body also had high doses of lorazepam. The final autopsy report confirmed that the girl died from mechanical asphyxiation.
Alfonso Basterra and Rosario Porto, Asunta’s adoptive parents. Photo: EFE
The destiny of Asunta had a turning point when Alfonso and Rosario separated. In 2013, the year of her death, his father reviewed Rosario’s emails and discovered that the woman was cheating on him. On January 8 they separated and in February they divorced.
However, Rosario and Alfonso were together when what happened happened. That summer they had both reached a strange agreement: he would take care of Rosario and Asunta in exchange for the woman leaving her lover.
Rosario accepted and continued to maintain a cordial relationship with Alfonso, in addition to helping him financially. Porto benefited from the support of her ex-husband because her illness was worsening and she also suffered from mental health problems.
Another episode that marked the case happened at the beginning of July.
According to Porto, one night like any other he discovered a strong, short man, known in court as the “man in black,” strangling his daughter. When this alleged aggressor saw Porto, she pushed her and ran away from her.
Candela Peña and Tristán Ulloa, protagonists of The Asunta Case.
Days later, Asunta became ill at school and revealed that her mother was forcing her to take some bad-tasting “white powders” that left her asleep for hours.
For this reason, three teachers – two of music and one of ballet – voluntarily testified as soon as they learned that the girl had been sedated before dying. They said that they had experienced episodes where they had seen Asunta babble and that at that time the parents attributed it to a medication allergy.
On the day of her murder, the court proved that Rosario and Alfonso ate with her and that they gave her a quantity of the anxiolytic lorazepam that was toxic enough to suffocate her when it took effect. Rosario was accused of suffocating her and Alfonso was accused of sedating her.. His mother would later discard the body on the shoulder.
