Photo: SOSMISSED / Courtesy
For: BBC News World
Sunday, November 24
The tragic outcome in the case of two missing girls with their father who keeps Spain in suspense
The discovery at the bottom of the sea of the body of one of the two girls who disappeared at the end of April with her father has caused a commotion in Spain.
A search team found this Thursday, at a depth of 1. 000 meters off the coast of Tenerife, the body of Olivia Gimeno Zimmermann , 6 years old.
The little girl and her sister Anna , from one year, disappeared the past 27 April , the day on which his father, Tomás Gimeno , of 37 years, I had to deliver them at home of his ex-wife, Beatriz Zimmermann , after spending the afternoon with the little ones.
He never returned the girls, though e Beatriz Zimmermann and the authorities maintained the hope that they were alive, so the discovery of Olivia’s body has been a severe blow.
“I cannot imagine the pain of the mother of little Anna and Olivia, who disappeared in Tenerife, in the face of the terrible news that we have just learned,” said the President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez.
I cannot imagine the pain of the mother of the little Anna and Olivia, disappeared in Tenerife, before the terrible news that we have just learned.
My hug, my love and that of all my family, who today stands in solidarity with Beatriz and her loved ones.
– Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) June 10, 2021
The authorities are still looking for Olivia and her father by sea and land.
His disappearance
The afternoon of 041 April, Gimeno picked up her two daughters to take them to dinner, according to the investigations.
She first showed up at the house from his ex-wife to pick up Anna. Then he went for Olivia to a school practice in Santa Cruz de Tenerife , in the Canary Islands.
She moved with both girls to the municipality of Igueste de Candelaria, as explained by the Civil Guard and local authorities.
Later that night on 27 April, Gimeno was seen at the pier of the Puerto Deportivo Marina de la Cruz in
Tenerife . The security cameras recorded his presence, but he was not seen accompanied by the girls.
However, the man made two trips to his car to take six bags to the boat that he had docked in that sports marina north of the city.
It is known that he made two trips in his boat.
In the first, the Civil Guard met Gimeno and admonished him for skipping the curfew then in force in Tenerife due to the covid pandemic – 19.
On his return to land, two hours later, he returned without the bags that he got into his boat and spent a while charging his cell phone.
It is known that had several Phone conversations with Beatriz Zimmermann , to whom told that he would never see the girls or him again.
After midnight, she set sail again and did not return to shore.
Olivia’s find
Gimeno’s ship was found with no one on board and without the anchor the next day, near Puertito de Güímar, south of Tenerife.
Since then, the search for the Civil Guard and the local authorities began, to which the Spanish Oceanographic Institute joined with the ship “Ángeles Alvariño” specialized in reconnaissance of the seabed.
Tracking with a robot has relied on geolocation data from Gimeno’s cell phone.
On June 7, a bottle of compressed air and a Gimeno duvet cover were found, which gave indications of a possible trace point of the girls s and the father.
After more tracing operations, the authorities reported this Thursday the discovery of a body to 1, 000 meters deep that later confirmed as the body of Olivia Gimeno Zimmerman.
It was in a bag tied to the missing anchor of his father’s ship.
Zimmermann had been posting on social media about his case in recent weeks. She said that the recent discoveries of objects such as the air bottle were an attempt to deceive her ex-husband.
“I am more positive than ever because I believe that all this is a stage, “he said this week in an audio broadcast by Spanish media. He said that if Gimeno had committed “an extremely serious madness” such as attacking his daughters, he would have done it “much faster and easier.”
But he has not offered any further comment on the discovery of the body this Thursday.
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