Analyzes carried out by the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Medicine in Seville have ruled out the presence of biological remains of third parties in the body of Lucas, the four-year-old boy whose lifeless body was found at the beginning of the month in an abandoned bunker on Garrucha beach (Almería, 10,603 inhabitants). The examination was carried out after the autopsy detected signs of “physical and sexual violence” on the body of the minor, born in Venezuela in 2021 and who, according to his family, lived in a world of terror and pain. Also after a court order reported that the minor was beaten and sexually assaulted on the day of his death, leading to the temporary imprisonment of his mother and partner.
The events occurred on December 3. The family reported the disappearance of the minor, who reportedly spent the afternoon with his mother on the beach. Agents of the local police, Civil Guard and Civil Protection set up a search device until they found the little boy, now lifeless, inside an abandoned bunker on a beach in Garrucha, already on the border with the municipality of Mojácar. The next morning, the child’s mother, Barbara, 21, was arrested. And shortly after, officers also arrested her romantic partner, 25-year-old Juan David. They were brought to court three days later and sent to prison by judge Víctor Valdivia, in charge of the case.
The decision was taken on the basis of the police investigation, which resulted in a court order stating that the acts were committed “for the offense of murder and an offense of habitual violence.” The document indicated that the man habitually mistreated the minor. And it indicated that on the day of Lucas’ death, in addition to having attacked him with punches, the arrested man had also “sexually assaulted” the minor, as indicated by the conclusions of the initial autopsy carried out. As a result of the physical attack, the little boy died at noon, the order states. He also added that after her death, the two adults carried the body to the beach. There they abandoned him in a bunker. Since his death, the family has told a long story of injuries suffered by the minor in recent months.
Since then, both have been in Almeria Acebuche prison, but the procedure has progressed thanks to the carrying out of new tests. Among them, those developed by the National Institute of Toxicology, which were sent this Monday to the Civil and Investigation Section of the Court of Instance 4 of Vera (Almería), which is handling the case. Their findings exclude the presence of “genetic characteristics suggestive of the presence of foreign DNA,” as noted in the December 22 document. That is, there are no traces of semen or saliva from third parties in the child’s body. Specialists from the National Institute of Toxicology also carried out an examination for the possible presence of alcohol or drugs in the child’s body. The results were negative, although the report points out that psychoactive substance use may go undetected due to factors such as elapsed time, low concentration, or use of another compound not controlled by the laboratory.
What forensic experts found were traces of ibuprofen, a presence that could be linked to the defense of the two people detained in this case, the child’s mother and the partner he had at the time. His lawyers, Manuel Martínez Amate and Diego Ricardo Molinari, explained that the child’s death was due to a “pattern of absolute health neglect” based on “self-medication” with ibuprofen and an “Internet diagnosis” admitted by the mother, which “aggravated the internal bleeding” from which the child was already suffering, according to Europa Press.
Juan David had a restraining order in force against his partner and the child since October 19, when a fight between them required the intervention of the police, as confirmed by the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA). Due to this situation, the prosecution opened an investigation. “Community Social Services began interviews with the minor’s mother at the request of the Children’s Prosecutor’s Office on October 24, 2025, without to date Community Social Services having sent us any psychosocial report, on the basis of which we could request the minor’s removal,” a spokesperson for the TSJA Prosecutor’s Office said a few days ago. “To date, no report has been received by the Minors regarding the mother’s drug addiction,” add the same sources. Neither the advisor for family and social inclusion of the Junta de Andalucía, Loles López (PP), nor the subdelegate of the government in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández (PSOE), have detected any dysfunction in the response of the institutions.
About The Author
