Spanish police zero in on car driver in missing teen case

The investigation into the disappearance of Diana Quer, a teenager from Madrid who went missing in August, has zeroed in on “at least one suspect,” said the Spanish Civil Guard.

The suspect is the driver of the vehicle that the 18-year-old allegedly got into in the early hours of August 22, never to be seen again.

Some witnesses say they saw two cars at the pier

The young woman had been out partying with friends at the local fiestas in A Pobra do Caramiñal, a coastal town in the northwestern region of Galicia where her family has a summer home.

Her cellphone records indicate that she got as far as Taragoña, around 20 kilometers away from A Pobra. But the trail ends there. In late October, a fisherman found Quer’s iPhone 6 in muddy ground near the pier of Neixón, across from Taragoña.

The Spanish daily ABC reported that the Civil Guard has identified the man who was driving the vehicle after a witness provided key testimony two weeks ago.

According to this information, there were three men in the car, and the driver has a record for drug trafficking.

The Civil Guard is also following up on testimony from witnesses who say they saw two cars at the pier, and that a young woman got out of one and into the other before disappearing.

A high-profile case

The case received national headlines with much of the attention focused on the young woman’s family situation.

Soon after the teen went missing, it emerged that a court was taking custody of the younger sister away from the mother. In September, police grilled Quer’s mother for several hours, asking why she had not told them about her troubled relationship with her two daughters.

In late October, a shellfish harvester found Quer’s iPhone 6

Local residents of A Pobra, where all three spent their summer holidays, reported hearing a loud family dispute shortly before Diana Quer’s disappearance.

The teenager’s relatives claimed from the beginning that she was being held against her will. Her father told the media that Diana had “unsavory friends.”

English version by Susana Urra.