Police search for male sex victims of US student’s alleged killer

 Police in Barcelona are trying to track down at least 20 young men who may have been drugged and sexually assaulted by a 41-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant held in connection with the death of US exchange student Crispin Scott of Seattle, Washington.

Scott, 20, was found dead in the suspect’s apartment on January 7 in Esplugues from an overdose of barbiturates. The suspect, who has been identified by the local Catalan press as Óscar Vicente Castro Cedeño, is HIV-positive, and some of his alleged victims may be infected and do not know about it, say sources involved in the investigation.

During a search of the suspect’s home in Espluges, police found more than 100 photographs of at least 20 young men who appeared to be drugged and semi-conscious; some of them were nude. They say that Castro, who is an amateur photographer, took the photos himself.

Police began investigating Castro after they determined that Scott, a Dartmouth University junior, was murdered because of the amount of drugs forensic officials found in his body.

“No one — not even the biggest addict — takes all those drugs when they are going to party,” a source told El Periódico de Catalunya. “You take that amount to sleep, not to go out.”

According to Dartmouth officials, Scott, who was taking part in a six-month liberal arts program sponsored by Portsmouth University, was out with about 40 other students from the program at a seaside hotel and later went off in a group. He didn’t make it back to the place they were all sharing; his body was found in the apartment belonging to Castro, who calmly told police at the time that it looked like an accident.

Castro used the same modus operandi to entice his victims — he would meet them in a bar, and later invite them to his home to smoke pot and drink beer. He met Scott at a bar in the Eixample district of Barcelona. Earlier reports said that Castro was Scott’s landlord.

Castro moved to Barcelona in 2007 and joined several literary associations, according to local press reports.

The murder of Scott has shocked the entire Dartmouth student body in New Hampshire.

“Crispin was ready to take on the world,” friend Elizabeth Reynolds told The Dartmouth school newspaper. “It’s not fair that this had to happen to him.”