Corpse found in residential building's meter room in Spanish town
At the time of the discovery, the man had been dead for weeks, according to the advanced state of decomposition
A man's body in an advanced state of decomposition was discovered in a hole in a building's meter room in Benalmádena on 27 January.
Until the deceased's identity and cause of death are determined, the investigators are keeping all hypotheses open.
The discovery in the Arroyo de la Miel district was made in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday. The residents had been living with the stench for weeks. Although the body had not been discovered, they knew that the smell was coming from the meter room, located next to two flats on a semi-basement floor.
The meter room is accessed through unlocking a padlock attached to the wooden door. In the lower part of the room, there is a chamber, barely 40 centimetres high, locked behind a metal door. It is supposed to be used for the building's pipes and conduits. In reality, it only contains rubble. The body was found inside that chamber.
The body was in an advanced state of decomposition. The forensic team has determined that the man died in the first days of the year. His identity has not been determined. The corpse was fully dressed from the waist up, with only underwear below.
The hole in which the body was found was so narrow that it was not possible to carry out the forensic examination without compromising legal requirements. The fire brigade was mobilised to enlarge the hole in so that the body could be accessed.
To prevent prying eyes and ensure that residents would not take photos, the police placed cardboard to cover the peepholes of the two flats next to the meter room.
No hypothesis has been ruled out for the moment. The autopsy will be carried out this week.
