Kriti Mehrotra
Directed by Héctor Muniente, Netflix’s ‘The TikTok Killer’ is a documentary series delving deep into what is arguably the most baffling true crime case to come out of Spain in recent history. It actually shines a light upon not only the August 2023 murder of avid adventurer Esther Estepa, but also the possible involvement of content creator José Jurado Montilla in the matter. He was quite big on the titular platform at the time, yet many didn’t know he was also a convicted serial killer – he was found guilty of taking the lives of 4 individuals in the mid to late 1980s.
José Jurado Montilla’s First Victim Was Heniously Gunned Down
A proud native of Malaga, Spain, José Jurado Montilla was reportedly just 24 years old when he killed someone for the very first time, but he has always maintained it was in self-defense. According to the aforementioned original, he once told journalist Juan Cano that he’d left home on the evening of April 3, 1985, to hunt foxes that were bothering or eating his mother’s chickens. He then claimed he soon got caught in a downpour, so he took shelter in what he believed was an abandoned barn, only to be faced with a shotgun in the early hours of the next morning.
As per José’s statements to the newspaper reporter, the moment he saw the weapon pointed at him, he reflexively grabbed his own high-caliber shotgun and opened fire to strike his target. The man he fatally hit was 57-year-old Francisco González, the owner of the farm/property he was on. However, many of the victims’ loved ones have since come forward to claim he was unarmed. According to Juan in the show, the triggerman has denied these claims while upholding self-defense and asserting “he hasn’t done anything. The world is against him. They made it all up.”
José Jurado Montilla’s Next Three Victims Were Spread Across Malaga
It was on March 15, 1987, that José struck again, but this time it was in Campanillas in Malaga, and his victim was the chauffeur of flamenco singer Juanito Valderrama, Antonio Paniagua Peral. According to records, the 46-year-old was found dead inside his beautiful home in the area known as Cortijo Los Randos, with it being evident early on that he had been brutally murdered. He was jumped before being struck with a bullet from a shotgun and then set on fire while still alive. José was reportedly connected to the crime through evidence, but he claims he was framed.
“Everything that happened in that part of the country was blamed on me, even though I had absolutely nothing to do with it,” José once stated in a TikTok post. After all, he maintains he was also framed for the homicides of the two young tourists whose remains were discovered at a picturesque campsite in El Chorro, Malaga, in March 1987. British student Peter Glenn and German student Klaus Schmucker were caught off-guard — one was shot at point-blank range as he slept, while the other was shot as he tried to flee. In the end, he was arrested, charged in connection with 4 murders, and found guilty of all, as a result of which he was handed down a total of 123 years in prison.
José Jurado Montilla is a Suspect in At Least Two Other Homicides
Although José was sentenced to a long term on account of the belief he was a danger to everyone around him as well as society as a whole as a serial killer, he was granted parole in 2013. He subsequently established himself as a content creator on TikTok and lived a rather nomadic life, traveling across the nation while documenting his adventures. He did so with an educational twinge since he even gave history lessons about every new place he visited, all the while also sharing some very intimate details of his personal experiences. However, things changed on August 30, 2022, when a 21-year-old man, reportedly named David, was found barely breathing on his family’s farm in rural Malaga.
David was shot twice in close range, with the local police’s belief being that the weapon used on him was a shotgun since his wounds were very “large” as well as very damaging in nature. According to records, he was first shot in the back and then again while on the ground, following which his assailant opened the backpack he was carrying to steal his wallet and cell phone. Before the 21-year-old passed away, he managed to provide a description of his attacker, and he’d previously also told friends he had recently met an old man who was hunting foxes that were eating his mother’s chickens. It was less than a year later, on August 23, 2023, that 42-year-old Esther Estepa went missing without a trace left behind, only for her remains to be found in Gandia in February 2024.
The last known person to have seen her alive was José, so he was questioned about her disappearance early on, and it initially seemed like he was cooperating with not only officials but also her family. He was ultimately arrested in a bar in May 2024, after which authorities announced that David’s description matched him to a tee, and the DNA left behind on his backpack was allegedly his. Not long after, he was also indicted in connection with Esther’s rape and murder based on the alleged significant evidence seized from his personal or cell phones after his apprehension. However, currently detained in jail and awaiting trial in both cases, he not only vehemently maintains his innocence but also remains innocent until (or if) proven otherwise in the court of law.
Read More: José Jurado Montilla: Where is the TikTok Killer Now?
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