Macabre “King Of Cachopo” Trial Continues

The Madrid trial of César Román, known as the King of Cachopo, for his signature recipe, and who was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend in November 2018 after a nationwide manhunt, has been hearing that the restauranteur had a breast fetish and cut off her implants because he did not want to lose them when she rejected his marriage proposal.

The Public Prosecutor is seeking a sentence of fifteen years and five months for the murder and desecration of Heidi Paz Bulmes, aged 25.

Firefighters tackling a blaze at a warehouse in the Madrid district of Usera, found a suitcase containing the torso of her on 13th August 2018.

National Police who were present at the autopsy of Heidi Paz’s torso, told the court that it had been cut out, with two cuts of 15 and 2.5 centimeters at the navel.

Due to the intensity of the fire, the cause of death of the 25 year-old Honduran could not be confirmed by forensic examiners though it is claimed that she could have died by stab wounds.

Roman was arrested three months later in the Aragonese capital where he had been working in a restaurant under an assumed name.

Raquel, the owner of the Zaragoza restaurant where the defendant worked told the court that she he told her his name was José Rafael Rujano Contreras and that he was Venezuelan, although his father was Galician.

She said that he did not accept criticism well and “continually lied.”

His acquaintances say he was violent, with his housemate in Zaragoza testifying against him at his trial for having threatened her.

In the trial’s latest development, the victim’s mother, Gloria Francis B.S., told the court the defendant was in love with her daughter’s surgically-enhanced breasts, which had been sectioned from her torso.

She made the claim after the defendant had denied being in love with the victim, claiming she had gone missing after getting caught up in the world of drugs.

The autopsy confirmed the torso belonged to Heidi, though given the body’s dismemberment and advanced state of decomposition, the cause of death remains unknown.

Coroners have suggested, however, that the Honduran may have been stabbed to death.

Heidi’s mother also told the court he “mistreated” her daughter and was “very jealous”.

The prime suspicion is that Roman killed the young woman after she rejected his marriage proposal a week before she was found dead.

Investigators found a note at the couple’s apartment reportedly handwritten by Heidi in which she asked Roman to stay away from her and revealed she had left him for another man.

Roman has been dubbed ‘El Rey del Cachopo’ (‘Cachopo King’), after his restaurant’s standout dish became a brief sensation with leading public figures including the then Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, a fan.

Cachopo is a popular dish of breaded ham and cheese in northern Spain where Rajoy is from.

He made substantial earnings from opening several restaurants and selling franchises, but the business fell apart amid allegations of fraud and he was almost bankrupt at around the time the crime took place.

The restauranteur also had a stint as a politician for the now-defunct right wing Plataforma per Catalunya (Platform for Catalonia) party.