Deceased Doctor Berasategui

Deceased Doctor Berasategui is a doctor whose suspected involvement in the deaths of young girls and whose treatment of victims’ bodies connect the infant-death investigation to a wider secret network. Imprisoned by the time Amaia Salazar examines those connections, he dies after prison official Mariano Sánchez supplies him with medication; the evidence surrounding that death also raises questions about who else may have reached him in prison.

Place in the Investigation

The investigation begins against a background of sudden infant death syndrome, a diagnosis applied when an autopsy finds no other cause. Records show that four children in Baztán had died under that classification in the preceding five years. Two cases had also prompted later social-services inquiries, but the available records gave no account of their outcome. A forensic doctor recalled two apparently healthy girls whose autopsies disclosed nothing to suggest unnatural deaths, while noting that the parents’ conduct had raised questions. These facts establish the uncertain and potentially misleading diagnostic setting in which investigators reconsider the deaths; they do not, by themselves, prove that Deceased Doctor Berasategui caused them.

Amaia identifies a connection between Deceased Doctor Berasategui and the girls’ parents. She also points to evidence that he had induced victims to kill as Tarttalo and that remains found at his home indicated familiarity with cannibalistic practices. These findings lead her to argue that investigators should not rule out further forms of abuse in the handling of a child’s body. Her account presents the claims as grounds for continued inquiry, rather than as a complete explanation of every infant death.

Associates and the Secret Meetings

Investigators trace a circle of parents and associates through meetings initially described as grief-support sessions at Argi Beltz. The attendees included Deceased Doctor Berasategui, Nurse Hidalgo, Yolanda Berrueta’s former husband, and Valentín Esparza. Amaia argues that the gathering’s real nature was different from the stated purpose. A witness’s account of earlier groups at Argi Beltz and in Lesaka describes animal sacrifice and a leader who moved between the two groups, but the evidence presented here does not identify that leader as Deceased Doctor Berasategui.

Nurse Hidalgo becomes a significant investigative lead because her work as a midwife gave her privileged knowledge of pregnancies in the valley, and she was a regular at the meetings. Amaia also recalls that Hidalgo had suggested she helped some parents resolve the problem of bringing certain children into the world. With Valentín Esparza and Deceased Doctor Berasategui dead, Amaia calls for further investigation of Hidalgo and a renewed review of infant deaths across Navarra, especially cases involving girls from communities along the Baztán River. She proposes checking families’ finances before and after a child’s death to see whether a pattern of financial gain can be established.

Death in Prison

Iriarte confronts Mariano Sánchez with an enlarged photograph showing him at the door of Deceased Doctor Berasategui’s cell, apparently passing something through the hatch. Sánchez admits approaching the cell but says he only shook the prisoner’s hand. Iriarte then produces the pharmacy packaging for a tranquilizer that Sánchez had purchased, along with the pharmacist’s recognition of him. On this evidence, Iriarte accuses him of supplying the drug that killed Deceased Doctor Berasategui. The accusation turns the prison official’s access into a concrete line of evidence, rather than a mere breach of prison rules.

Amaia’s later review of Jonan Etxaide’s photographs complicates the account of access. Among images documenting the prison aftermath, she finds several enlargements of Amaia's Partner Markina alone; one is timestamped at noon, when he is wearing a suit. The prison director had said that Amaia's Partner Markina called to request an urgent transfer of the prisoner, but the director was away and had delegated the task to his deputy, who had not mentioned a visit by the judge. The discrepancy draws Amaia’s attention, but the photographs and account do not, on their own, establish what role Amaia's Partner Markina played in Deceased Doctor Berasategui’s death.

Narrative Role and Unresolved Questions

Deceased Doctor Berasategui’s significance lies in the way his case joins medical uncertainty, the treatment of victims’ bodies, and the relationships among parents and participants in the secret meetings. The sudden-death classification leaves room for legitimate diagnostic uncertainty, while incomplete records and the absence of autopsies in other cases show why investigators must distinguish procedural gaps from proof of wrongdoing. His death removes a central figure before the network can be fully examined, but the evidence against Mariano Sánchez, the prison-photo discrepancy, and the focus on Nurse Hidalgo keep the investigation open beyond the doctor himself.