Sex, Revenge, and Murder at the Pezuela Brothel

In a tragic turn of events, a job promotion cost Katy her life, although she was always aware of the dangers in her profession. In late January 2023, the manager of her brothel appointed Katy as the 'madame' of El Pinar, a rundown brothel located in the small town of Pezuela de las Torres, Madrid, with a population of 900, right on the border with the province of Guadalajara. With this 'appointment', the 44-year-old Dominican, married with five children, took charge of collections, shifts, and schedules of the prostitutes. It was a few extra euros a month that proved to be very costly for Katy.

During her years working at the establishment, Katy had made a deadly enemy, a Colombian woman named Lucía. Their arguments were constant. They disagreed on work organisation and the charging of certain clients. On the day of the murder, according to witnesses at the trial, they had their fiercest row. Katy threatened Lucía with a kitchen knife, forcing her to take refuge in a room. Katy then grabbed a fire extinguisher and began hitting the door until she calmed down.

Lucía swore revenge against her colleague and recruited two people: a 25-year-old relative and a 57-year-old man who often drove her to Parla, the town where she lived, and with whom she had a romantic relationship. Hours after the knife incident, the three accomplices arrived at the brothel in the older man's car, who stayed in the vehicle to facilitate their escape, while Lucía and her collaborator entered through the back patio. Once inside, their objective was clear: to find Katy.

Lucía led her crime partner through the corridors until they found their victim in one of the rooms. They attacked her with a large knife, delivering several fatal stabs to her abdomen before fleeing. Another worker at the brothel saw Lucía severely injured and began shouting, "She's dying, she's dying!" He was right. Katy was mortally wounded and died a few hours later, almost at the same time the Civil Guard received the first alert about the incident in Pezuela.

After the crime, the alleged perpetrators continued with their plan. They got into the accomplice's car and travelled 70 kilometres south to the Community of Madrid. They hid for over a month in local towns, concealed the car used for the escape, and changed phones several times, fearing the Civil Guard was tracking them. When they thought they were about to be discovered, they made the final decision to flee, but they failed. The woman was arrested on her way to Barajas airport to flee to her country, Colombia. Her relative was also captured while trying to escape, this time at Chamartín train station. Meanwhile, the accomplice was arrested at the Parla residence where he was hiding. In one of the detainees' homes, the Civil Guard found the murder weapon, which was analysed by the Criminalistics laboratory.

The judge of the Court of Instruction No. 1 of Alcalá de Henares, who took charge of the investigation, ordered the provisional imprisonment of the detainees. Two years later, the Prosecutor's Office described the events as murder, not manslaughter, due to the numerical superiority of the attackers, the surprise nature of the attack, and the victim's inability to defend herself. The prosecutor is seeking 24 years in prison for Lucía's relative, 22 for her, and 10 for her romantic partner, in addition to 100,000 euros in compensation for each of Katy's five children, who was married.