Abhiroop Das
In Netflix’s ‘Murder in Galicia,’ or ‘El crimen de Pazos,’ the investigation into the attack on Isabel Fuentes and her subsequent death is revisited through a fictional lens, with Isabel being reimagined as Irene Freire. Over the course of this Spanish miniseries, co-created by Ramón Campos, Curro Serrano, David Orea Arribas, and Gema R. Neira, we see a handful of Civil Guard officers challenge and reexamine the narrative presented by Irene’s husband, Aniceto, who claims that her injuries are the result of a robbery gone wrong. As more and more evidence comes to light, it becomes increasingly possible that Aniceto might have something to do with the attack. Turrientes “Turri,” an officer with the judicial police, is one of the few who actively wish to pursue this line of investigation, despite encountering a number of walls no matter which direction he turns.
Turrientes is a Composite Character Invented For a Streamlined Take on the Investigation
Turrientes “Turri” is a fictional Civil Guard officer created by Ramón Campos, Curro Serrano, David Orea Arribas, and Gema R. Neira for the world of ‘Murder in Galicia.’ While his fellow investigator, Elías Lago, is based on Eduardo Novoa, who led the investigation into the Isabel Fuentes case, Turrientes is best understood as a combination of the many officers who comprised Novoa’s team. Co-creator Campos confirmed as much in an interview with SensaCine, where he explained that the stories of numerous Civil Guard officers have been dramatized and compressed into three characters, one of which is Turrientes. To understand the role he plays in the narrative, then, one has to trace certain nuances of the real-life investigation, both for the initial hammer attack on Isabel and her eventual murder at the hands of her husband, Aniceto Rodríguez Caneiro.
The real investigation began following an attack on Isabel at her home in Pazos, Verín, somewhere between the night of April 1 and the early hours of April 2, 2015. When the first officers arrived at the scene, Aniceto told them intruders had entered the house and assaulted her while he was asleep. However, the officers reportedly noticed some discrepancies in Aniceto’s story, and subsequently, Novoa, the head of Verín’s Judicial Police at the time, began to consider the possibility of this being an attempted homicide. In the Netflix miniseries, Turrientes becomes one of two characters who share a similar suspicion, ensuring that Lago isn’t presented as the sole voice of reason and giving him another voice to support him.
Turrientes Serves as a Vessel For the Story’s Commentary on Justice
Many of the beats surrounding Turrientes’ arc in the story can loosely be traced back to real details of the investigation. The scene where he tries to keep track of Irene while she is admitted to a hospital, for instance, echoes the real-life attempt to provide Isabel Fuentes with additional protection while she was in a critical condition. While an agent had informally asked staff to place her near the nurses’ station, an infection-control issue led to Isabel’s transfer to a different room, which is where, on May 8, 2015, Aniceto Rodríguez Caneiro fatally stabbed her and wounded himself in the abdomen, arm, and neck, before being restrained by hospital security.
Aniceto’s subsequent arrest is depicted in the story with a parallel focus on the systemic failures that contribute to a tragic outcome. While the show reimagines and integrates several technical elements associated with the case, its central focus is on using fiction to develop a critique of the justice system as a whole. To that end, the character of Turrientes serves as a vessel for wider social commentary, as his and Elías Lago’s quest for the truth is met by no shortage of obstacles within the system, thus making for a powerful piece of storytelling.
Read More: Murder in Galicia: Who is Sergeant Elías Lago in Real Life? Where is He Now?
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