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An elderly woman, 90, and her son, 63, were found dead in their home in the Guadalhorce valley town of Alhaurín el Grande on Thursday 13 February. From what the investigation has gathered so far, both died of natural causes. The main hypothesis is that the man died first and then his mother, being dependent on him, died of starvation.
Local Police force officers went to the address following a call from the town council's social services. The municipal authorities were alerted after not hearing anything from the family for a few days.
The pair, who were of British origin, had already been under the social services' radar and had been visited by the Local Police on a few occasions, as the mother was in poor health.
Upon their arrival, the police officers knocked on the door a few times, but there was no answer. They entered the house, where they found the two corpses, which showed no signs of violence. The investigation's hypothesis is that the son died first, followed by his mother, who died of starvation.
The municipal services had intervened a few days earlier, when an ambulance was called to the house to assist the terminally ill woman. Given her condition before the incident, it is difficult to determine who died first.
After the Guardia Civil carried out a visual inspection at the scene, the two bodies were transferred to Malaga. The autopsies, which began on Friday, are pending further studies.
In similar cases, where two or more people die at the same time or within a few days of each other, the investigation usually either finds signs of violence by one person against the other, discovers the participation of a third party or concludes that the incident was an agreed or extended suicide. However, according to specialists, cases like this one, where the caregiver dies first, are very rare.
SUR consulted experts who stated that there is another possibility, even though it is also an unusual occurrence: the presence of toxic gases in the home, which can cause the so-called 'sweet death' by inhalation of carbon monoxide due to poor combustion of gas appliances.
Phosphine gas poisoning is another possibility within the same category. It caused the death of a father, mother and daughter in Seville more than a decade ago. The family had been collecting sacks of bottle caps in their bathroom, with the intention of selling them for recycling. Traces of pesticides on the caps would release phosphine when in contact with water or moisture.
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