The evidence seems to be growing.

M.B. was transferred to Bilbao prison on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Colombian volunteered to report to the police on Thursday to protest his innocence: his photo appeared on a manhunt that linked him to a series of murders among gay men in the northern Spanish city.

There are at least four murders and two attempted murders.

However, the investigating authorities do not rule out that there could have been more.

Similar cases are being investigated in Madrid and Valencia.

If the suspicion is confirmed, it would be one of the worst series of murders in recent years.

Hans Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb based in Madrid.

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The perpetrator apparently contacted the gay men via a dating app.

He met her at her home, where he drugged her and killed her, then got her bank account information.

According to the Basque regional government, a second man who escaped the perpetrator alive turned to the police on Friday.

The report of a first victim, who had fled from the alleged murderer in December, had put the police on the trail of MB.

The survivor had invited the younger man to his apartment, who first kissed and then choked him.

After the fight, the attacker left his backpack with liquid ecstasy and documents allegedly linked to MB at the apartment.

Classified first as natural deaths

The death of a 43-year-old piano teacher in Bilbao in October 2021 aroused initial suspicion.

At first everything looked like a surprising heart failure in the healthy man.

But after his funeral, his brother found that the victim's account had been emptied.

Blood samples from the first autopsy were then checked a second time.

Now forensic scientists have found residues of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB);

this substance is also known as “Liquid Ecstasy”.

Further research revealed that the victim had arranged to meet a person named "Carlos", who was in her mid-20s, via a dating portal.

Police began investigating similar deaths of three men in Bilbao, which until then had been classified as natural causes.

On Friday, officers in the border town of Irun searched an apartment in the presence of the main suspect, who arrived in Spain from Colombia a little over three years ago and is said to have applied for asylum there.

Allegedly, he had already been investigated on suspicion of fraud.

He denies all allegations.

His girlfriend also lives in Irun.

According to media reports, he had temporarily helped out in her mother's shop.

Her daughter's boyfriend is a "good, quiet, hard-working and humble" young man, said the woman, who runs a chicken roastery.

In the Basque Country, the latest news is particularly shocking for homosexual and transgender residents.

Some representatives of LGTBI associations criticized the authorities for having remained silent so far.

The regional government said they didn't want to unnecessarily upset people.

LGTBI groups had previously criticized the increase in violent attacks that are not being tackled decisively enough.

"The gay community does not feel sufficiently protected," says Óscar Arroyuelo from the Gehitu Association.

According to a report by the University of the Basque Country, there were 73 hate crimes against victims' sexual orientation last year in this region alone.

Most were homosexual men.