A Móstoles judge has remanded 23-year-old Julio B., the suspect in the fatal stabbing of 11-year-old David at La Despernada cultural center, to preventive prison. The Romanian boy from Brunete died Friday from stab wounds sustained Thursday evening. Julio B., who has mental health issues, was arrested after seeking hospital treatment and did not testify in court.
In an update to the April 8 stabbing that shocked Villanueva de la Cañada, Julio B. appeared before a Móstoles court on Sunday and was sent to Navalcarnero prison without bail or testimony. The Guardia Civil arrested him hours after the attack when he arrived at Móstoles hospital with a relative, citing a psychotic episode, and held him in the psychiatry ward.
The suspect allegedly followed David to the bathrooms during an English class at the cultural center around 19:45, inflicting fatal wounds to the neck, thorax, and back. David was airlifted to Hospital 12 de Octubre but succumbed Friday afternoon.
David's father, Gabriel—a local construction firm owner and Orthodox choir singer—joined a minute of silence led by mayor Luis Manuel Partida, who noted, "The human mind is what it is, and those who suffer problems sometimes can't control them." The town hall has deployed psychologists to David's Santiago Apóstol school.
Investigators are using detector dogs to find the murder weapon; the suspect's phone remains missing, and he had no prior record, per the mayor.
