Kriti Mehrotra
If there’s one thing nobody can deny, it’s that the case of Asunta Yong Fang Basterra Porto’s 2013 murder is arguably among the most intricate to have come to light in recent years. That’s because, as chronicled in Netflix’s Carlos Sedes plus Jacobo Martínez-directed ‘The Asunta Case,’ it was her adoptive parents who killed her before trying to cover up the same. In fact, per records, Rosario Porto and Alfonso Basterra had been drugging her for three months prior to finally finishing this matter with asphyxiation after giving her 27 Lorazepam pills.
Rosario Porto Struggled With Her Mental Health
Although born in 1969 to a prominent Galician family with art lecturer María del Ortega and lawyer Francisco Mella as her parents, Maria del Rosario Porto Ortega did not have an idyllic life. She did obtain her education from the best of schools and managed to ultimately follow in her father’s footsteps to become an honorary counsel of France, but she struggled with her health. Not only did her Lupus erythematosus result in doctors advising her never to conceive, but she also suffered from anxiety, depression, textbook narcissism, plus suicidal ideations as an adult.
Nevertheless, Rosario still settled down and built a happy family alongside her husband, Bilbao native journalist Alfonso Basterra (married 1996), by adopting a 9-month-old from China in 2001. The happy couple dubbed her Asunta while keeping her birth names in the middle to pay respect to her background, just for everything to turn upside down in early 2013 when she was 12. It was on January 5 when the latter uncovered his wife’s infidelity while checking her emails, leading to a full-blown argument turned separation on the 8th, followed by divorce on February 14.
Little did either of them know that these decisions would spark such anger in Alfonso, he would constantly send Rosario accusatory texts as well as emails, that is, until their split was finalized. That’s when they reportedly mutually agreed that he’d see a psychologist prior to them working in equilibrium — he’d care for her and their little tween girl, whereas she’d help him financially. Though on June 26, 2013, their situation changed again as she was admitted to the Neurology Department of a local hospital with extreme dizziness, instability while walking, and drooping eyelids.
Rosario actually remained under observation until July 1, during which she and her ex reached a new understanding; she’d stop seeing her lover in exchange for his unwavering care for her and Asunta. Therefore, as time passed, the young girl continued splitting her time between each of her parents’ apartments mere blocks away, only for a strange incident on July 5 to traumatize her. According to records, in the early hours of that fateful day, a masked man in latex gloves had tried to strangle her as she slept, just for her mother to fight him off upon hearing the struggle.
However, despite being a lawyer, Rosario never reported this ordeal to the police — she claimed she didn’t want to affect her daughter any further, plus it was probably a robbery gone wrong. The reason she indicated (was internally set) on the latter was because she’d apparently, carelessly left her keys in the front door, and there was a safe inside Asunta’s independent bedroom. She later described this male as someone with a short stature yet strong build, yet a neighbor believes this was completely an inside job since her loud dogs never once barked that night.
In the end, this case wasn’t given much traction — what was given attention was the fact Asunta had been ingesting Lorazepam since July itself, a medication Rosario had been prescribed. However, it was Alfonso who usually administered it owing to her alleged chaoticness, only for it to later also come to light that whenever the tween was dizzy, she spent the night at his place. This obviously gave rise to a lot of dark speculations after she suddenly disappeared on September 21, 2013, shortly before her 13th birthday, but it was still her mother who was first arrested.
After all, Rosario had lied to officials while initially reporting Asunta missing – she’d told them she’d traveled from Santiago to their family’s country home to Teo alone at 7 before returning at 9:30. Yet surveillance footage made it clear she’d left shortly after 6 with her daughter, only to return alone around 9 – then she called Alfonso for 5 mins before calling her friends and then finally reporting her missing. The fact she’d spent the evening prior, September 20, 2013, with her lover again didn’t help her either, resulting in her to be charged with murder – the motive remains unclear, but it is speculated she and Alfonso simply didn’t want to parent anymore.
Rosario Porto Died By Suicide
Despite maintaining her innocence at every step of the way, Rosario was convicted alongside her ex-husband Alfonso on October 30, 2015, following which they were sentenced to 18 years in prison. It was after this that she attempted suicide on two occasions; once on February 24, 2017, after being told she was being transferred to another prison and then again on November 12, 2018, owing to her depression. She was placed on suicide watch at least six different times, yet it didn’t make a difference in the long run, and neither did her decision to make the best of her sentence by helping her fellow inmates prepare legal appeals. In the end, on November 18, 2020, she died by suicide after hanging herself from a window with a noose made out of her sheets.
Read More: The Asunta Case: Is Vicente Dozon Based on Rosario Porto’s Real Boyfriend?
