Murders of Anna and Olivia Zimmerman

On April 27, 2021, sisters Anna and Olivia Zimmermann, aged one and six years old respectively, were kidnapped by their father, Tomás Antonio Gimeno Casañas, on the island of Tenerife, Spain. On June 10, the lifeless body of Olivia was found on the seabed of the Canary Islands, 1 km (0.62 mi) deep with the help of sonar. The case had a large impact on Spanish society and media.[1] Anna and Tomás Antonio Gimeno have never been found, but are presumed dead.[2]


Murders of Anna and Olivia Zimmerman
Victims Olivia (left) and Anna Zimmerman (right)
LocationSanta Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
DateApril 27, 2021 (2021-04-27) (murders)
April 28, 2021 (Gimeno's presumed suicide)
June 10, 2021 (discovery of Olivia's body)
Attack type
Child murder by suffocation, double-murder, familicide, filicide, infanticide, murder-suicide, parental child abduction, disappearances
Deaths3 (including the perpetrator)
VictimsOlivia Zimmermann de Zárate, aged 6
Anna Zimmermann de Zárate, aged 1
PerpetratorTomás Antonio Gimeno Casañas
MotiveUnknown; possibly revenge against Anna and Olivia's mother
MonumentsBronze tribute statute in La Gesta of July 25 children's park
MissingAnna Zimmerman, Tomás Gimeno (both presumed dead)

Murders

The girls, born as Anna and Olivia Gimeno Zimmermann, were two sisters aged one and six respectively and daughters of Tomás Antonio Gimeno Casañas and Beatriz Zimmermann de Zárate who were kidnapped by their father on the night of April 27, 2021, when he was supposed to have delivered them to the mother. Tomás Gimeno initially took the two girls to the house of their paternal grandparents in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Gimeno told Zimmerman that he was going out with the girls to dinner, which was false and only used it as an excuse to get more time to carry out the crime. Anna and Olivia were allegedly murdered minutes after this call at Gimeno's house in the town of Igueste de Candelaria. He took the corpses of his daughters in his car and stopped at his parents' house without their noticing. That night, Tomás went to the Puerto Marina de Tenerife, where around 9:30 p.m. he unloaded several sports bags on his boat. He left the port around 12:30 a.m. Earlier, he had called the girls' mother Beatriz, threatening that she would never see the girls or him again.[3]

Tomás Gimeno's boat appeared the next morning, April 28, floating and without anchor, near Puertito de Güímar. Later, on April 29, a child restraint seat for vehicles belonging to one of the girls was found floating, and it was reported that bloody remains were found in Gimeno's boat the day before. An investigation was opened, considered one of the most complex that the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard has had to face, which also intervened in the resolution of the cases of Diana Quer, Asunta Basterra, or Gabriel Cruz.[4] Tomás Gimeno's house in the town of Igueste de Candelaria was searched on April 30, a search that continued in subsequent days.

The ship Ángeles Alvariño, from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, joined the search on May 29.[5] The ship found an oxygen tank and a duvet cover owned by the girls' father underwater on June 8, this finding ultimately expanding her presence in Canary waters at least until June 15.[6]

Finally, at the end of June, it was reported that the oceanographic vessel Ángeles Alvariño had ended the search for the bodies of Anna and her father after a month of searching.[7] The technical report of the Civil Guard concluded that the large number of gullies and underwater crevices made exploration difficult.[8]

Olivia's body found

After 45 days, on June 10, 2021, a bag weighed down with an anchor containing the remains of Olivia, the eldest of the two, appeared 1,000 m (3,300 ft) deep on the seabed, and three miles from the coast.[1][9][10] The body of the missing girl was found off the coast of the island's capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, near the Auditorio de Tenerife.[11]

After the discovery, the body was transferred to the Forensic Anatomical Institute of Tenerife for an autopsy. The following day, it was revealed that fingerprint tests confirmed that it was Olivia's body.[12]

Upon the discovery of Olivia's body, Beatriz Zimmermann expressed her desire to remove the paternal surname from her daughters' names, thus erasing any link that may refer to it, leaving names such as Olivia and Anna Zimmermann de Zárate.[13] On June 13, Beatriz published a letter of thanks for the support received.[14]

Reactions

The case was the subject of great media coverage that transcended the borders of Spain.[15] Newscasts and newspapers from various countries in Latin America, the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and Australia echoed the case.[16]

Politics

Several politicians and ministers expressed their condolences to the girls' mother, including: the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez; the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero; the president of the People's Party, Pablo Casado; the President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres; and the president of Citizens, Inés Arrimadas, among others.[17]

Queen Letizia of Spain expressed her condemnation the day after the discovery of Olivia's body, during the closing of the Santander Womennow 2021 forum.[18]

Culture, music, and sport

Through social media, various personalities from the world of culture, music and sports expressed their condemnation of the event, such as Paz Vega, Alejandro Sanz, Pastora Soler, Rudy Fernández, María Castro, Santiago Segura, Antonio Banderas, Marta Sánchez, Blas Cantó, Carlos Baute, Edurne, Malú, Rozalén, Álex García, Sergio Rodríguez, Raquel del Rosario, and Paula Echevarría, among others.[19][20]

Public opinion

As a result of the discovery of Olivia's body, demonstrations, rallies, a minute of silence, and public acts condemning the act were called in most Spanish municipalities, standing out in large cities and provincial capitals, such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Toledo, Murcia, Cartagena, Lorca, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Málaga, San Sebastián, Valladolid, Santiago de Compostela, Bilbao, Salamanca, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife itself, on whose coasts appeared the corpse of the oldest of the sisters, among other cities.[21][22]

Tribute
Sculpture in memory of Anna and Olivia located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

On October 18, 2022, a bronze statue was inaugurated in homage to Anna and Olivia, located in the La Gesta of July 25 children's park, next to the Plaza de España in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The work of the Basque-born sculptor based in Tenerife, Julio Nieto, the work, in the words of the author: ―«is a soft design that reminds us of Anna and Olivia, their happy life, that tender look between them, of complicity and trust»―.[23] The sculpture was donated by the Fundación Diario de Avisos. During the inauguration, the mother of the girls Beatriz Zimmermann and different political authorities were present.[24]

See also

References
  1. "Hallado en el mar el cadáver de Olivia, la mayor de las dos niñas desaparecidas en Tenerife tras ser raptadas por su padre" [The body of Olivia, the older of the two girls who disappeared in Tenerife after being abducted by her father, was found in the sea], El País (in Spanish), 10 June 2021, retrieved 10 June 2021
  2. "Spanish child Olivia Gimeno was suffocated on the day she went missing, report shows". 13 January 2022.
  3. "Cronología de la desaparición de Anna y Olivia, las niñas secuestradas por su padre en Tenerife" [Chronology of the disappearance of Anna and Olivia, the girls kidnapped by their father in Tenerife]. Onda Cero (in Spanish). 11 May 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  4. "45 días de incertidumbre en busca de Anna y Olivia" [45 days of uncertainty in search of Anna and Olivia]. Canarias7 (in Spanish). 10 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  5. "Así trabaja el buque gallego que busca a Anna y Olivia, las niñas desaparecidas en Tenerife" [This is how the Galician ship that looks for Anna and Olivia, the missing girls in Tenerife, works]. Treintayseis (in Spanish). 10 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  6. "La botella de oxígeno y la sábana halladas en el mar son del padre de las niñas de Tenerife" [The oxygen bottle and the sheet found in the sea belong to the father of the girls from Tenerife]. Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). 8 June 2021.
  7. "El Ángeles Alvariño se marcha de Tenerife sin dar con los cuerpos de Anna y Tomás Gimeno: así ha sido el mes de incansable rastreo" [Ángeles Alvariño leaves Tenerife without finding the bodies of Anna and Tomás Gimeno: this has been the month of tireless tracking]. elDiario.es (in Spanish). 20 June 2021.
  8. "El Ángeles Alvariño pone fin a la búsqueda de Anna y Tomás Gimeno porque "es inabordable"" [Angeles Alvariño puts an end to the search for Anna and Tomás Gimeno because "it is unapproachable"]. El Plural (in Spanish). 1 July 2021.
  9. "Niñas Tenerife: Olivia falleció a causa de un edema de pulmón" [Tenerife girls: Olivia died of lung edema]. La Razón (in Spanish). 12 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  10. "El trágico desenlace en el caso de dos niñas desaparecidas junto a su padre que mantiene en vilo a España" [The tragic outcome in the case of two missing girls with their father who keeps Spain in suspense]. BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  11. "Niñas desaparecidas en Tenerife: "Sin miedo"" [Missing girls in Tenerife: "Without fear"]. El Día (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  12. "La autopsia confirma que el cuerpo encontrado en Tenerife es el de Olivia" [The autopsy confirms that the body found in Tenerife is that of Olivia]. Infolibre (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  13. "Niñas de Tenerife: "Bea está rota y quiere quitar el apellido Gimeno a sus hijas"" [Girls from Tenerife: "Bea is broken and wants to remove the surname Gimeno from her daughters"]. La Razón (in Spanish). 11 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  14. "Carta de la madre de las niñas de Tenerife tras su muerte: "Deseo que no haya sido en vano"" [Letter from the mother of the girls of Tenerife after their death: "I wish it was not in vain"]. Niusdiario (in Spanish). 13 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  15. "Las imágenes de Olivia y Anna dan la vuelta al mundo" [The images of Olivia and Anna go around the world]. Diario de Avisos (in Spanish). 5 May 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  16. "Así ha recogido la prensa internacional el hallazgo del cuerpo de Olivia en Tenerife" [This is how the international press has picked up the discovery of Olivia's body in Tenerife]. Antena 3 (in Spanish). 12 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  17. "Mensajes de apoyo a la familia de las niñas desaparecidas en Tenerife tras hallar el cuerpo de Olivia: "No puedo imaginar el dolor de la madre"" [Messages of support to the family of the girls who disappeared in Tenerife after finding Olivia's body: "I can't imagine the mother's pain"]. El Mundo (in Spanish). 10 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  18. "La reina Letizia, sobre los asesinatos de Olivia y Rocío Caíz: "Es difícil evitar la expresión de dolor y de tristeza"" [Queen Letizia, on the murders of Olivia and Rocío Caíz: "It is difficult to avoid the expression of pain and sadness"]. 20 Minutos (in Spanish). 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  19. "De Antonio Banderas y Marta Sánchez a Alejandro Sanz y Paz Vega: rabia e inginacion en las redes sociales por la muerte de Olivia" [From Antonio Banderas and Marta Sánchez to Alejandro Sanz and Paz Vega: rage and anger in social networks for the death of Olivia]. RTVE (in Spanish). 11 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  20. "Los famosos se vuelcan con la familia de Anna y Olivia" [Celebrities pour [their support] to Anna and Olivia's family]. Diez Minutos (in Spanish). 11 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  21. "España sale a la calle para conjurarse contra la violencia machista" [Spain takes to the streets to protest against sexist violence]. Cadena Ser (in Spanish). 11 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  22. "La indignación por la violencia machista saca a la calle a miles de personas" [The outrage over sexist violence takes thousands of people to the streets]. El País (in Spanish). 11 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  23. "La indignación por la violencia machista saca a la calle a miles de personas" [Las niñas Anna y Olivia, inmortalizadas en Santa Cruz]. Diario de Avisos (in Spanish). 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  24. "La indignación por la violencia machista saca a la calle a miles de personas" [Tenerife rinde homenaje a las niñas asesinadas Anna y Olivia con una escultura]. ABC (in Spanish). 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
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