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Her hometown in Galicia honored her this week for her dignity, her endurance and her quiet struggle to clear her name.
A case which shocked Spain and took a life
Rocío Wanninkhof was just 19 when she vanished in 1999 from the Costa del Sol town of Mijas, a place where village routines were beginning to collide with growing international tourism.
Her mother, Alicia Hornos, raised her in a close-knit, protective household. Her father, Willem “Guillermo” Wanninkhof, a Dutch national, had returned to the Netherlands after leaving the family when Rocío was very young.
On the day she disappeared (9 October 1999) Rocío had been watching the Netherlands–Brazil football match with her boyfriend in Las Lagunas. She left her house at 19:30 to go change clothes in her mother’s home, which was only 500 metres away. It was a familiar, short walk. She never made it.
Her disappearance sparked a massive search. Police, volunteers and neighbours combed the roadside, scrub along the coast and abandoned plots. After 24 days, despite intense efforts nothing was found.
On 2 November, the body of her was found in La Colina, a rural area near Marbella. This was more than 30 km from where she had been last seen. The body was partially concealed on a difficult terrain. It showed clear signs that it had been violently killed. Autopsy revealed that she died soon after her disappearance. Her death stunned the local community, and devastated a family.
A convenient suspect and a disastrous error
With no solid leads or witnesses, the investigation focused on Rocío’s immediate circle. The Court of Instruction of Fuengirola was assigned the case. Detectives worked under the assumption that Rocio’s killer had to be someone who knew her well.
Attention soon turned to Dolores Vázquez, the former partner of Rocío’s mother. There was no violence or threat history, as the relationship had ended years ago. The police described her as an ex who was jealously resentful.
Dolores Vazquez
There was no physical evidence that linked her to this crime. No DNA, no belongings of Rocío in her possession, no presence at the scene. The investigation was built around subjective interpretations and circumstantial evidence.
In 2001, Vázquez was convicted by a popular jury at the Provincial Court in Málaga and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The prosecution’s case was based solely on the theory of revenge. The testimony of the witnesses was conflicting and vague. Her appeal failed.
She was locked in a prison cell for 519 consecutive days. No real evidence had been presented to prove her guilt. Her public image, her personal life and her mental health were severely damaged.
A second girl vanished
On 16 August 2003, nearly four years after Rocío’s murder and while Vázquez remained imprisoned, 17-year-old Sonia Carabantes disappeared after a night out in Coín, an interior town near Mijas. Days later, her body was discovered. She had been raped then murdered.
Sonia Carabantes
The case bore eerie similarities to Rocío’s. Investigators were able to recover DNA from the crime site this time. They were able to identify Tony Alexander King as a British with a history of sexual offenses in Europe. He was living in Spain without being noticed.
The Spanish police received an Interpol report about King in the past, but it had been forgotten. No one followed up.
King’s dna matched with the evidence found in Wanninkhof. Fingerprints on the plastic sheeting used to wrap Rocío’s body also belonged to him.
The truth was now undeniable: Dolores Vázquez was innocent.
After prison life and an apology that is long overdue
Vázquez was released in February 2004. Her conviction was thrown out, but without any apology to the public or institutional accountability.
After her prison sentence, she spent almost a ten-year period in the UK to escape the media frenzy. In the early 2010s, she finally returned to Galicia and settled in Betanzos.
In 2025, she was awarded a civic honor for “her dignity in the face unimaginable suffering”, and her role as a whistleblower of one of Spain’s worst judicial failures.
A system exposed
The Wanninkhof Case was a turning-point in Spanish criminal law. The Wanninkhof case exposed the glaring gaps in the main Spanish police forces. Some of them, at that time, were operating with little coordination and communication.
Tony King could have avoided his crimes if the warnings given earlier had been taken seriously. Two young women were killed, and the life of an innocent woman was destroyed.
King is currently serving a long sentence in prison. Dolores Vázquez, at last, is free. Not only in the law but also in public memory.
