Aguilar de Campoo case facts for kids

The Aguilar de Campoo case is about the disappearance of two teenage girls, Virginia Guerrero Espejo and Manuela Torres Bouggefa. They went missing on April 23, 1992. Virginia was 14 years old and Manuela was 13. They were last seen trying to get a ride (hitchhiking) from Reinosa, Cantabria, back to their hometown of Aguilar de Campoo, Palencia. Their disappearance is still a mystery today.

This case is often compared to the Alcàsser Girls case. That was another famous case of missing girls that happened later in 1992. Because of this, the Aguilar de Campoo case is sometimes called the Alcàsser case of Palencia.

What Happened?

Manuela Torres was born in Aix-en-Provence, France. Her mother, Karima Bougeffa, was from Paris, and her father, José Torres, was from Málaga and had Romani heritage. Manuela and her mother had recently moved to Spain after her parents separated. In Spain, Manuela became very close friends with Virginia Guerrero, who was from Aguilar de Campoo. They were "inseparable."

On the afternoon of April 23, 1992, Virginia asked her mother, Trinidad Espejo Muñoz, for money. She said she needed it to buy a cake for a birthday party. But it seems the two girls instead took a train to Reinosa. Reinosa is a small town about 32 kilometers (20 miles) north of Aguilar de Campoo. They went there to visit a nightclub, without telling their families.

After the party ended, it is thought they decided to hitchhike home. This was because no trains were running at night. The last person known to have seen the girls was a woman from Aguilar de Campoo. She was leaving Reinosa in her car to go home. She saw the girls get into a white car on the main street in Reinosa.

The Search and Findings

Police started looking for the girls in both Spain and France. Manuela's father lived in Marseille, but no link was found there. Even with all their efforts, the police could not solve the case.

On October 9, 1994, two bags were found in the countryside. They were near the Requejada dam, a few kilometers north-west of Aguilar de Campoo. The bags contained human bones. However, scientific tests showed that these bones did not belong to Virginia or Manuela. Instead, they belonged to people who died during the Spanish Civil War. This was a war fought in Spain between 1936 and 1939.

Later, in 2001, two skulls were found. The news media connected them to the girls' case. But tests again showed they were from the Civil War period. In 2018, a human jaw was found in a reservoir in Cantabria. This finding was also checked, but it was not related to the girls' disappearance either.

See Also

In Spanish: Caso de las niñas desaparecidas de Aguilar de Campoo para niños

• Alcasser Girls
• List of people who disappeared