The Nightmare That Lasted 900 Days: Anabel Segura's Tragic Story
On the spring morning of April 12, 1993, 22-year-old Anabel Segura went for a routine jog in La Moraleja, an upscale neighborhood just outside Madrid, Spain. Without warning, a car pulled up beside her, and two men forced her inside before speeding away. What started as an ordinary morning turned into a random and chilling act of violence that would leave Segura's family trapped in a 900-day nightmare — and would mark Day 1 of Spain's longest missing person case.
A Plan Born of Desperation
Emilio Muñoz had been struggling financially. After buying a house in Pantoja, his debts began piling up, leaving him desperate for a solution. Overwhelmed, he proposed an unthinkable plan to his childhood friend, Cándido Ortiz: kidnap someone from a wealthy neighborhood and demand a ransom. They didn't care who their victim was. Segura, chosen purely by chance, became the tragic target of their scheme.
The men drove her to an abandoned factory, where their plans took an even darker turn. Segura was murdered six hours after the abduction. Yet, even after taking her life, the men called her family, pretending she was alive.
Ransom Demands That Led To Nowhere
Two days after Anabel Segura's abduction and murder, her kidnappers called the family's lawyer, demanding a ransom of 150 million pesetas (around $945,000). For the next 900 days, they placed 14 calls, demanding ransom money while her family held out hope that Segura might still come home. Desperate for answers, Segura's father mortgaged his home and offered a 15 million pesetas (about $94,498) reward for information, but every attempt to deliver the ransom ended with the kidnappers failing to show.
A Cruel Deception and a Break in the Case
Three months after Anabel Segura's abduction, her kidnappers sent her family an audio tape featuring a woman's voice claiming to be Segura, saying she was fine and pleading to be taken home. The voice, however, was not Segura's — it was Muñoz's wife, Felisa, impersonating the victim in a chilling ploy to extort money. Desperate to gather leads, police released the recording to the public, hoping someone might recognize the voices. This strategy paid off when a viewer identified Ortiz, one of the kidnappers, based on the recording.
Finally, in September 1995, authorities arrested Ortiz, Muñoz, and Felisa. Ortiz, apprehended on his way to a plumbing job, reportedly told officers he had been expecting his arrest and was relieved to end his double life. During interrogation, Ortiz confessed to killing Segura and burying her body. Two days later, police discovered her remains at an abandoned warehouse in Toledo, 900 days after she was abducted. The revelation shattered the fragile hope that her parents had clung to for so long.
Justice and a Controversial Aftermath
Both Muñoz and Ortiz were sentenced to 39 years in prison for treachery, illegal detention, and attempted fraud, with the Supreme Court later increasing their sentences to 43 years. Felisa received a six-month sentence for her role in covering up the crime, later extended to 28 months. However, justice felt incomplete for many. Ortiz died of a heart attack in prison in 2009, and Muñoz was released in 2013 after serving just 18 years due to changes in legal rulings.
Anabel's Legacy
Anabel Segura's story has been revisited in a Netflix® documentary, "900 Days Without Anabel," bringing her name back into the public eye. The documentary serves as a cautionary tale, a grim reminder of how a single, desperate act of violence can ripple outward, devastating families and communities.
References: 900 Days Without Anabel: The Shocking True Story of Anabel Segura's Abduction — and Where Her Kidnappers Are Now | 900 Days Without Anabel: The horrifying true story of Spain's longest-ever missing persons case
