Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘Cooking Up Murder: Uncovering the Story of César Román’ delving deep into the tale of this titular politician turned restaurateur turned killer, we get a docuseries unlike any other. After all, it incorporates not just archival footage but also exclusive interviews to really shine a light upon the fall of this Spaniard following his then-partner Heydi “Heidi” Paz Bulnes’ 2018 murder. Amongst those to thus play a significant role in this original is actually none other than the 25-year-old victim’s mother, Gloria Francis Bulnes, especially as she never liked this boyfriend of hers.
Who is Gloria Francis Bulnes?
It was reportedly back in 2013 that Honduran native Gloria got an opportunity to relocate to Madrid, Spain, only for her to decide she’d bring along her youngest so as to better her future too. “Madrid is very beautiful,” she candidly expressed in the aforementioned production. “It opened many doors for me. Doors that in other countries would be harder to open. You know, like having a job or eventually getting legal resident documents.” Therefore, since Heydi was already a single, struggling 20-year-old mother of two, her own mother chose to have her come over for further studies and then go down the right path toward documentation.
Gloria actually elucidated, “She arrived like I did, full of dreams… I told her he could stay here with me to give her a chance to study because that was truly my priority for her. Her dream was to get residency papers in Spain, and then have she planned to bring her toddler kids here. That was always her dream. That’s what she fought for.” But alas, little did either of them know that by the time 2018 rolled around, they’d have drifted apart owing to money, and Heydi’s one toxic, manipulative relationship after another would be pushing her away from her dreams.
According to Gloria in the documentary series, when she first realized her daughter was missing after police showed up at her doorstep on August 13, 2018, she immediately told him about her on-again off-again ex. Yet, when this line didn’t pan out, she opened up more about Heydi’s recent complex relationship with restaurateur César Román, who was nearly two decades older than her. She described how he came across as arrogant and cocky, especially as she’d noticed how he puffed his chest while putting his girlfriend down whenever they spoke. And that’s despite him having gone down on one knee to express his love for her.
Gloria then went on to assert Heydi wasn’t the same girl as she used to be before César came into their lives, detailing the way her daughter had asked her to take out a bank loan for $4,000 so that she could get breast implants and then not pay her back at all. This resulted in there being a wedge between the duo, which the matriarch believed went a lot deeper owing to this new boyfriend since he might’ve known she didn’t think him good enough for her daughter. He appeared to have enough money to give Heydi a comfortable life, but she wanted the youngster’s inner soul and self to feel comfortable too, and she didn’t see it here.
Where is Gloria Francis Bulnes Now?
Although Gloria is genuinely glad justice has been served, with César now serving 15 years behind bars for Heydi’s brutal murder and dismemberment, her loss is something she can never get over. It thus comes as no surprise she’s now keeping her daughter’s memories alive by raising awareness and speaking out against domestic violence whenever possible, all the while staying well away from the limelight personally. “I wanna tell young women who are living in the same kind of situation or a similar one, don’t stay quiet,” the Madrid resident said in the series. “Please speak up. If not to their mother, to their neighbor. To one of their friends. To a sister or brother, but speak to someone. Because silence only leads to what happened to my daughter – death.”
Read More: César Román: Where is Heydi Paz Bulnes’ Killer Now?
