Joaquín Villalón Díez

Joaquín Villalón Díez (born 11 December 1955), known as The Gentleman Murderer (Spanish: El asesino señorito), is a Spanish serial killer who was sentenced to 58 years imprisonment for killing two transgender women in Madrid in 1992, after having served a previous sentence for killing his wife in Andorra in 1981. After spending 21 years in prison, he was released in 2013 as per the Parot doctrine.

Early life and first murder Joaquín Villalón Díez was born on 11 December 1955, to a poor family in Mérida. Little is known about his early life, but as a young adult, he abandoned the compulsory military service and acquired a fake ID, with which he married a woman in his native Mérida and had two children. He did not remain faithful to his wife, as he secretly started dating 25-year-old Francisca 'Paquita' Gracía Coca. Unbeknownst to her, Joaquín started frequenting the red-light districts in the city, often soliciting sex from transgender sex workers. On 27 September 1992, he went to the Paseo de la Habana apartment of 37-year-old nursing home attendant and Argentine native Carmen, who was transgender.

Two weeks later, Villalón entered the Lavapiés apartment of another transgender woman, a 29-year-old named Joanna. After the pair got into an argument, Villalón hit her, knocking Joanna unconsciousness, then dragged her to the bathroom, where he held her head underwater until she drowned. He then burgled through her apartment, stealing the TV, a video recorder and a savings book. Joanna's friends notified authorities about her disappearance, after she had failed to attend a prostitution party at La Castellana.

Arrest, trial and sentence While investigating the two deaths, police combed through the victims' bank accounts and security recordings in various banks, eventually succeeding in tracking Villalón down after he had attempted to withdraw 2 million pesetas from Martínez's bank account.

Villalón was brought to trial for the crimes of murder, robbery and fraud. He and his lawyer blamed his outbursts on Villalón's supposed other personality, the one which actually charmed and then killed the victims. Taking into account his diagnosis as an antisocial, narcissistic psychopath suffering from paranoid-schizoid fits, the Audiencia Provincial of Madrid found him guilty on all counts and sentenced to 58 years and 10 months imprisonment, in addition to having to pay 5 million pesetas to the victims' families and having to undergo psychiatric treatment. He was transported to the Segovia Unit, where he would remain for the next 21 years. On 12 October 2013, he was among the inmates who were ordered released following the landmark decision of the Parot doctrine, and has lived freely since then.