Missing Body At Centre Of Inheritance Squabble

When he died, wealthy Spanish timber trader Crisanto López left behind him an estate valued at €12m and three legitimate daughters and allegedly one or two illegitimate children aswell.

Inheritance laws in Spain state that children can not be disinherited and as such his death brought with it a number of arguments over his fortune, however it also brought with it a strange twist - with Crisanto's corpse disappearing from the cemetery where it was laid to rest over two years ago.

Spanish police were required to open the opened the niche (an above ground burial space common in Spain) where he was buried in order to take DNA tests that would help identify his natural offspring to find that the body had been removed.

A new seal had been used to fasten back the stone seal covering the niche which lead the Police officers to believe that it had been disturbed sometime over the previous 2 weeks.

The question that remains is who stole the body and why?

A local Taxi-Driver, Enrique Caamaño, claims he is Crisanto's illegitimate son and is persuing a claim for his share of the inheritance. He points the finger at Crisanto's legitimate offspring. "How dare they so brazenly decide to hide the body?" he told El País newspaper yesterday, claiming that they have hidden the body to prevent any DNA evidence that would support his case being gathered.

Crisanto's three legitimate daughters, who are appealing against Caamano's claim, insist they are not the grave-robbers and they in turn claim that he may have organised the graveyard theft himself as any evidence recovered would have proved he was not Crisanto’s son.

What is known for certain is that Caamaño, whose mother lived next door to the Lopez family, was brought up believing that Crisanto was his father. Crisanto always treated him affectionately, congratulating him on his birthdays, giving him a motorbike and then employing him in his timber firm.

His sons-in-law even admitted that everyone knew about Crisanto's reputation. "In those days a rich man in a village had a lot of women," he said. "I don't think we will ever know where the body is. And it would be better if it did not appear. The taxi driver doesn't deserve any of it."

Before he died the Crisanto even tried to give Enrique a house that he owned in the Village. His family put a stop to that - alleging that the old man was confused and did not know what he was doing.However, when Crisanto died, Enrique lodged his claim for a share of his estate.

Both the local Parish Priest and the Investigating Police believe that the body has not been moved far – and newly disturbed seals suggest that it may have been placed in neighboring niche's closeby. The Police are waiting for permission from the Church and Families to open these niche's in order to continue their investigation.