01x02 - Manu White

[bunniefuu]

[somber music playing]

[Siobhan in Spanish] In …

I traveled to Seville

and I met Manuel Blanco Vela.

One day…

I got an email

that said, "Terrible news

about a CIEE program participant."

[in English] "Dear students,
I am very sorry to be writing this email

with the terrible news
of an unfortunate accident

occurring to Pennsylvania State University
student Lauren Bajorek,

as a result of which…

she died."

[in Spanish] A friend of mine wrote back.
She replied to the email and said,

"Are we in danger?"

Then we found out that…
she had fallen from Manuel's apartment.

[tense music playing]

[neighing]

[metallic squeaking]

[Gabrielle] I remember the Megyn Kelly
episode coming out that morning.

People and locals in Sevilla
started reaching out to me.

Like expats, people who had competitor
companies. I don't give a sh*t who it was.

All these whispers started coming out.

They would tell me
about the bars he would go to…

that he would go to
intercambios
with the kids,

that he would always
hang out with younger girls,

always American girls, to which
restaurants he would take them to.

They started giving me information.

Random people would give me information.

[electronic party music]

[excited whooping]

[men laughing]

[in Spanish]
They called me "Iberian meat."

[in Spanish] During this time,
it was just on Facebook still.

I was just posting every single…

I mean, I would literally go to bed…

on my email, wake up, email, Facebook,
talk to people, all day. All day.

I wasn't sleeping.

I was just on my phone,
nonstop, talking to people.

Trying to figure out
what the f*ck was going on.

[Siobhan in Spanish] I sent
a friend request to Gabrielle Vega.

Gabrielle was talking
about Discover Excursions

and was telling a story

that was very similar
to the story I remembered.

[Siobhan] When we got to Seville,

each group had
an assigned "culture guide."

My culture guide

took us straight
to a travel agency office.

This agency was called
"Discover Excursions."

[in English] Welcome.

Here we are
at the Discover Sevilla office.

We're open Monday through Friday,
: a.m. to : p.m. No
siestas
for us.

Come by any time you'd like.
Let's check it out right now. [echoes]

-Bro.
-[Manuel laughs]

[Siobhan in Spanish] Their office
had lots of flags from our universities.

The flag from my university,
Penn State, was there.

And behind a desk

was Manuel White.

At the time,
I thought he was about years old.

He had dark hair and a super white smile.

He asked me where I went to school.

And I said, "I'm studying at Penn State."

And he said, "Oh, how exciting,

because I love Penn State girls."

"They're fun and know how to party."

I remember
that at that moment, I felt like,

"What a weird thing to say."
Because in my mind, he was like a teacher.

I thought, "Oh, okay,
Discover Excursions and Manuel White

are associated with the university,

and this is where we go
if we want to make another trip."

Well, I never would have imagined
what was really going on.

[Sarah C.] Manuel says,
"We do trips to Lagos and Morocco."

"We do everything for you."

"And we also have an activity
every night."

He used to throw parties at the office.

Very informal.

[in English] Manu would host
free sangria nights

for the study abroad students…

[pop music playing]

…where the office was open

and we would just go and drink
as much sangria as we wanted.

It seemed like he was creating
friendships with everyone.

I spent many nights there.

[in Spanish] Manuel Blanco
is very knowledgeable

about Seville's nightlife,

or at least the student area.

Alfalfa, Cuesta del Rosario,

Betis Street, Alameda de Hércules.

He went to those places
with the American students.

[dark electronic music]

On the travel agency's own blog,
he even had…

a schedule of nights out in Seville

that not even the most hard-partying body
could handle, because it was every day.

[in Spanish] Monday on Betis Street.

Tuesday in Alfalfa.

[man]
I want one too.

-
[Sarah] Wednesday, soccer.
-[woman]
Seville!

And Thursday at the Buddha nightclub.

I felt like I had an "in." I thought,
"I can go to Buddha. I don't need to pay."

A lot of girls would always repeat
this same schedule every week,

because if you didn't have
anything else to do, you had this plan.

[in English] Whenever there was
an event at a bar or a
discoteca

that was geared towards
study abroad students, he was there.

[electronic dance music]

Manu was like a man-about-town.

He was handsome. He knew everyone.

And every bar we walked into,
every restaurant we walked into,

he would clap the bartender on the back.

It was very clear that he knew everyone
that we were interacting with.

Hey!

[Amanda] I don't remember
if he used Manuel White or Manuel Blanco.

I think he put it in English,
but I don't really know why.

I just remember
at some point in the welcome party,

meeting him with some of my friends.

He just was, like,

fairly charismatic, talkative.

Kind of a playful sort of personality.

[Fernando in Spanish] Manuel Blanco
came to introduce himself

as the Prince of Seville.

That hints
at what his personality was like,

or what he is like.

He had a lot of power and connections.

But I also felt something else.
Like this man doesn't have a soul.

His vibe was a little off.

[Fernando] He also organized
various activities, like travel raffles.

[Siobhan] Manuel was giving away
trips at the raffle party.

They handed out pieces of paper.

And I got mine, without thinking,

because I hadn't bought a raffle ticket
or anything like that.

And like a few minutes later,
about an hour later or so,

someone came, looked at my ticket number
and said, "You won!"

And I was like, "Well, what did I win?"

And they told me,
"You won a free trip to Lagos, Portugal."

[Fernando] It was always
the really pretty girls who won.

A guy never won.

And my parents told me
they didn't think it was a good idea.

[Gabrielle in English] Finding these women
changed my f*cking brain chemistry.

I felt a lot of responsibility for them.

And I felt a lot of,

"Don't worry about it.
Thank you for telling me."

Like, "I'm going to figure this out.
And just stay with me."

I just started building an investigation.

I was an art student.
I didn't know anything.

And so my dad
created this Excel sheet for me.

Added the dates.

How many were inappropriately touched?
How many did he try to kiss?

How many did he try
to corner in a bathroom?

How many did he r*pe?

All the different things
I started to try to get organized.

I was the administrator.

The public kind of outreach.

Organizing everything.

I refused to let anyone help me.

Because I felt like that would be
a breach of their trust.

So then I just had
to work on all of it by myself.

It was very taxing for Gabrielle.

She would say,
at least three or four times a week

for months and months,
"I have to get on a call with somebody."

And she would go in the room,
close the door,

and come back out and she would say,

"He r*ped that girl."
Or, "He, you know, tried to r*pe her."

Or, "He did this to her, that to her."
It was like, you know…

But always the same scenario.

[menacing music playing]

[Jordan] I don't think I was the first.

I don't know that for sure.
But the system was already in place.

I think that he had been doing this
for a long time before I got there.

I think it was about the last week
that I was in Spain

that he started texting me.

And they were very flirtatious.

Um, I mean, pretty direct

"let's get together" texts.

As far as I was concerned,
this was a friend.

Manuel texted me,
either on Facebook or WhatsApp,

and had basically said, like,

we could meet him and have
some free drinks or have a night out.

And then me and my female roommate
and our other friend,

we met Manuel.

[wind chimes jingling]

[Sarah C.] It was really dead outside.

We were walking along the river,

kind of on the main Sevilla side
towards the Torre de Oro.

[scooter engine revving and idling]

It was pretty dark.

And this man on a motorcycle
cuts in front of us.

-[engine revving]
-[girl yelps]

And he's in all black. Black helmet.

He kept walking to us with his helmet on.

And he takes his helmet off,
and he's like…

"Girls, it's Manu. I'm joking."

And we were,
"Oh my God, Manu, you scared us."

And he was, "Why don't you come
and have a drink with me at the Phoenix?"

[techno dance music]

And so we were there,
and we had a few shots of tequila,

but they were baby shots, so it was fine.

He was flirting with my friend,

and I was kind of
trying to be a good wingwoman.

He was like,
"Let's go back to my apartment."

"We can play guitar
and hang out for a bit."

And I was like,
"All right, when in Spain."

I was nervous to meet him alone.

So I brought my best friend with me,

and he picked us up on his Vespa.

And he drove us to his apartment.

[Amanda] At some point, he invited me
and my friends back to his apartment.

And then, yeah,
that's where things get really blurry

and where I have
a lot of trouble remembering.

[Sarah C.] From what I can remember,
when you get into Manu's apartment,

you walk in, and there might have been
a little living room to the left.

[Jordan] There was a balcony.
So, like, sliding glass doors.

He opened two Coronas.

And he had us sit on his bed with him.

[Sarah C.] He and my friend
were sitting together,

and so we, um…

He was playing guitar with this friend,
and I was just sitting there.

He clearly wasn't interested in me,
which was fine.

[Amanda] I know for the majority,
it was only the three of us girls

and Manuel at his apartment.

[girl laughing] My tooth!

[Amanda] I remember…

my roommate at the time,
she was getting sick.

I think at a certain point,

Manuel got a taxi
for my sick roommate to go home,

but I don't remember too much.

And he was like, "Let's play a game."

He was getting very touchy.
I remember his hand on my thigh.

And he was encouraging, I can't remember
whether it was directly or not,

to have a threesome.

I didn't feel comfortable.
Like, I wasn't… I didn't really feel safe.

[Sarah C.] I just remember
feeling really heavy.

Like, I couldn't really move
with much confidence.

And kind of just fell into his bed
and fell asleep.

[Amanda] I just remember little pieces.

I remember, like, a door slamming.
And I remember…

my other friend and Manuel kissing.

And I think I remember Manuel kissing me,
but I don't remember, like…

the sequence of events, really.

It's just, like,
little flashes and little moments.

[Sarah C.] And I wake up to Manu saying,

"Your friend's left.
Can you give me a hand job?"

We finished our beers,

and I was like, "I think we have to go."

And he was like, "No, no, no.
Just stay for one more drink."

I gave him a hand job
with my arm behind my back.

Not even looking at him.

I just kind of felt, like,
let's get through this.

Like, I just need to have this happen,
and then this will be over.

[Jordan] And I remember
him trying to block the door.

And then he said, "Are you going
to leave me with blue ba*ls?"

[Sarah C.] Thank God,

I don't know how my phone ended up
in bed with us, or how I heard it.

But I heard my phone, and I picked it up.

He moved enough for us
to get out of the apartment.

And I just remember
I felt like I flew down the stairs.

[Sarah C.] My friend was like,
"Where are you?"

And I couldn't form words.

I gave the phone to Manu,
and he was like, "Oh, she's fine."

And thankfully, my friend was like,
"No, I'm coming to get her."

"Text me your address."

I remember afterwards, walking home,

trying to find something familiar,
and just being like, "That was weird."

"But I guess it's a Spanish man thing."

I just literally left the house.

And my friend
brings me back to my apartment.

I knew I was safe,
and I was like, "I can go to bed."

And slept the rest of the day.

[Amanda] When I woke up,

no one else was there.

I was completely alone with Manuel.

And I was completely naked
in the bed next to Manuel.

And Manuel was also
naked in bed next to me.

I just remember spiraling,

because I didn't have any memory
of taking off my clothes

or of him taking them off.

And I just remember being frozen.

And, like,
"What the hell happened?" Basically.

My whole body felt heavy,
and I couldn't move.

And then…

Manuel rolling over and assaulting me.

And I remember that…

really clearly.

Just laying there

and not being able
to really move or get him off.

And then…

It was just him doing whatever he wanted.

I remember just not knowing what to do.

And so I got dressed really quickly.

And then I just went downstairs and…

went back to the
residencia.

I never talked about it with anyone,

except the two girls that were implicated.

And also…

I just felt, I think, so…

nervous and ashamed
and helpless at that point in time.

[Gabrielle] Um…

Yeah, there was definitely
a pattern that was established.

Young women who are very vulnerable,

in a place
where they don't speak the language,

in a place
where they need someone to trust,

they need someone to kind of guide them.

I started to realize
that it wasn't just r*pe. It was…

Anything this f*ck
could get from these girls, he did.

It was expanding and expanding.
The story just kept getting bigger.

And I remember
I got a direct message on Facebook.

And the second Carey came into the picture

and told me about Lauren,

it was one of those moments
where I had no idea

what I was involved in.

I mean, at the time,
I didn't know what happened.

All I heard was…

"He k*lled my daughter."

It's terrifying.

[sirens wailing]

[Sarah T.] I was
in my mom's apartment when…

I would get a message from Carey Bajorek.

"Sarah, it's Lauren Bajorek's mother.
There's been a tragedy with Lauren."

"If you have a chance, please call me."

I can't remember exactly what she told me,
but it was, whatever, the basics.

She had fallen
from a man's apartment balcony.

That she had fallen and that she had died.

I was the person that she knew

because Lauren and I coordinated
our trip to Spain for the summer.

And we went on the trip
to Lagos, Portugal,

with Discover Excursions.

[in Spanish] I remember that I arrived
on the trip that I had won…

to Portugal, to Lagos,

and Lauren Bajorek was there.

And that was
one of the last days of her life.

[Sarah T.] Lauren was my best friend, so…

Sorry.

That, like, she…

Lauren's mom, Carey,
was so important to her.

So I had to, sorry, help out. And…

I wasn't there,
but I was still in a position

to connect her with a lawyer.

I talked to my host family
immediately after as well,

asking them if they knew someone
or recommended someone

that can bring some light onto this.

[in Spanish] Carey Bajorek
is Lauren Bajorek's mother.

She contacted me as her lawyer

in a terrible state of mind.

One of absolute disorientation
and absolute desperation.

All this, moreover,
from thousands of kilometers away.

Her daughter was an only child.

She was years old.

And she sent her to Spain
with all the enthusiasm parents have

when they send a child abroad
to learn, in this case, a language.

A few weeks later,

they call her to say her daughter has died
after jumping from the th floor.

And without further explanation,

they give her the option
to repatriate her body,

and that's the end of the story.

That's when she asked us
to try to determine

the circumstances
surrounding her daughter's death.

Beyond the obvious conclusions
of the autopsy,

which was death due to multiple trauma.

[Fernando] Gabrielle Vega reports her r*pe
by a Sevillian tour guide and businessman.

And it turns out that in ,
two years earlier,

another young American woman had died

at the home of the same guide
who had been reported.

Well, it's not a coincidence.

[Eduardo] The police conducted an analysis

to determine whether
there were any prints on the terrace wall.

It was very small,
only centimeters high,

which is
extremely dangerous on a th floor.

At that height, when you get close,
it only comes up to your knees.

If you lean forward even slightly,
you fall.

And the wall obviously had
a metal-and-wood barrier

running along the entire penthouse,
except at one end

where the barrier had been removed.

That part was at the end of the penthouse,
where there was a Jacuzzi without water.

And the police ruled out…

Rather, no prints were found there,
which led police to rule out

that Lauren Bajorek
had been sitting on the wall,

since there were no footprints
or handprints.

In other words, she fell directly
from inside the terrace outward.

That could be consistent with a push,

but also with an accidental fall,

given that the wall was only cm high.

It's consistent with both theories.

In the transcription of the police report,

it states that Manuel says she jumped.

When you have someone
who has fallen from the th floor,

it could be an accident,

it could be a homicide,
but it could also be a suicide.

The police did a psychological autopsy

based on the WhatsApp messages the girl
had sent minutes and hours earlier

to her mother
and her partner in the United States.

[Anthony in English] Me and Lauren
dated back in college.

She was just different, you know?
She just always had a bubbly energy.

She was very warming
to everyone around her.

-[man] Beautiful.
-I'm gonna… I'm gonna make a video.

July th was her birthday. I remember…

You know, I mean, it was tough in ways,

at least for me, you know, not being able
to be there for her to celebrate.

But she was definitely excited,
and I was excited for her.

[Sarah T.] It was gonna be
a night of celebration.

She's turning ,
which is a big deal in the United States.

Yeah, it was just something
that she was very much looking forward

to celebrating
with friends and with dancing.

So Lauren went with her friends,
Sarah, Ellie, and Lauren.

We didn't really have, like, a plan.
We were just…

We went out to dinner
in the
centro
, you know.

[ominous percussion]

They were at the restaurant, and…

Manuel showed up.

[Ellie] I remember him
further in the restaurant, up by the bar.

And then we sat at a table, and…

We saw him, or he saw us,
and he came over to our table.

And then he asked
if we all wanted to go to Bilindo.

[Lauren] He said, "Come with me.
I'm going to show you guys."

"I'm going to take you to this
discoteca."

And so we just went with him
because we were like, "Why not?"

[Ellie] We went with him to Bilindo,

and we went into the VIP section.

He had a bunch of drinks,
and there was hookah.

That was kind
of the majority of the night.

[Anthony] We texted
the whole time that night.

She just kept me updated
with all the details while she was there.

She said,
"I don't feel comfortable around him."

She definitely did not like him.

She wrote me a text saying
that she was very drunk.

And I was like, "Ha-ha, great," like…

"Sounds good."

I think they had a couple of drinks.

And then I think it was Ellie,
and then her friends

left to go home.

Ellie was sick. And it was : a.m.

Ellie was like, "I don't feel good."

It was not a normal feeling.
I feel like, that night… I don't…

Looking back, I remember afterwards,
I'm like, "Did…?"

"I wonder if there was something
in the drinks."

Because he was giving us all the drinks,

and they were all up there
in the VIP section.

And we talked to Lauren and Sarah,
and they didn't want to leave yet.

I was like, "I'll go with Ellie.
I'll walk her home."

"I'll make sure she gets home."
And then I walked home.

But I do remember
saying goodbye to Lauren.

She was, like, very intoxicated.

And Sarah was also intoxicated.

Obviously, looking back,
I shouldn't have left her.

But I just, you know, made a mistake.

[Sarah T.] For some reason,
they ended up going to his house.

I'm not sure what he said
to get them there,

but it's a bit surprising
that she would have done that

and that Sarah C.
would have done that too,

given that neither of them
was interested in Manu.

It didn't fit.

[Anthony] Her messages didn't make sense.

In terms of, like, gibberish.

I thought that was weird.

I was wondering
if she herself got drugged or something.

At one point, she said that…

she missed me, and I answered back.

And I didn't get any response…

from there.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY

[Eduardo in Spanish]
The police ruled out suicide.

That left only two options.

Either it was an accident,
or it was a homicide.

What happened in that penthouse is known
only to two people who are still alive.

Those are Manuel Blanco Vela and Sarah.

Sarah gave her testimony
to the police while drunk at the scene,

not even at the police station.

Right there, the officer
took her statement in one paragraph.

Which who knows how closely
it matches reality, if at all.

[Ellie] She said they got to his house,

and she said they were standing around
for a little while.

MANUEL BLANCO TOOK BOTH OF THEM

TO DRINK THE "PENULTIMATE"

They went out on the balcony.

They had all been on the balcony,
but Lauren stayed inside

a Jacuzzi that was empty on the balcony.

PARTIALLY UNCLOTHED

Sarah and Manu
had gone inside to get water.

THEY WENT INSIDE
TO GET A GLASS OF WATER

LEAVING HER ON HER OWN

[Ellie] And then they heard a noise.

And so then they went out there,
and she was on the ground.

Off the balcony.

[distant sirens wailing]

I never have pushed more on Sarah
to give me more details of that night

because it was
so traumatic for her and awful.

And she probably doesn't even remember
half of it because she was so wasted.

It was such a blur,
and then the trauma on top of all of that.

Looking back,
it just feels like a really weird story.

It feels like Sarah…

I want to say this
without saying that Sarah…

Sarah did not have
anything to do with this.

Like, Sarah is…

very much a victim.

But I think that she was also trying
to protect herself

in telling a story that was kind of vague.

I believe the story.

I just think there were a lot more details
that maybe weren't told.

[Anthony] Some of it is…

kind of a blur.

I think it was like three days
I didn't sleep for a while.

It was like everything was keeping me up.

It was tough.

You know, so much of my life
was taken away from me at once.

[Fernando in Spanish] At the time,
although it seemed an accidental fall,

they do not miss the opportunity
to administer a breathalyzer test

to both Manuel Blanco and Sarah.

BREATHALYZER TESTS

This was two hours or so
after the accident.

RESULT

Sarah's level was .,
if I remember correctly.

A fairly high blood-alcohol level.

[Eduardo] Lauren Bajorek's test showed

. grams of alcohol per liter of blood.

That blood-alcohol level
was close to an alcohol-induced coma.

In the words of the forensic examiner,
with . grams of alcohol in the blood,

one is either dead

or unconscious.

And Manuel tested at ..

..

That is,
he took both of them out partying.

Both of them drank,

one of them to the point
of reaching an alcohol-induced coma,

and he tested at ..

He was in control
of the situation at all times.

[Sarah T. in English] They didn't find
any alcohol in Manu's,

which was weird
because he was at the clubs with them.

[in Spanish] I think Manuel is a predator.

He's a predator, a hunter.

I think that night he went hunting

and had the attitude predators have.

That is, a plan, a strategy,
and the patience predators have.

It took him hours to end up
where he wanted to end up,

and in the situation he wanted to be in,
which was at : a.m.

in his penthouse, with two girls
who were completely vulnerable

as a result of consuming,
at the very least, alcohol.

And he tested ..

Those are the facts.

[Siobhan] One day later,
I received an email

that said, "Terrible news

about a CIEE program participant."

I realized
that it could have easily been me.

When I look at photos from that time,

I realize I was very vulnerable.
All of us were very vulnerable.

And we didn't see that.

But Manuel did.

So when the new group of students arrived,

they all came in like,
"We heard a girl died. What happened?"

And I told them,

"Don't go on a trip with Manuel White."

"Don't trust that guy."

"I don't know what happened there,
but something's off."

When Carey Bajorek hires us for this case,

the criminal side of the case
had already been dismissed.

The investigating judge in Seville,

without carrying out
any further investigative steps,

closed the case

saying that there was not enough evidence
to continue the investigation.

But in my opinion, it was absolutely
premature and unjustified.

There were no grounds
to rule out anything.

Without further eyewitness testimony,
the proceedings were closed.

Hours later, she was flown back to the US.

And that also caught our attention.

SARAH LEFT THE COUNTRY AFTER THE EVENTS,
MAKING AN EXTENSIVE INTERVIEW IMPOSSIBLE

We explained to her
that the criminal route was closed

and that there was no way to reopen it.

But there was a possibility
of civil proceedings.

COURTHOUSE

And that is what she hired us to do.

It's what we did, and that's the case
we took to court in Seville.

A few days before the trial took place,

Lauren's mother, Carey Bajorek,
told me she was dying,

and that she would hold on
until the trial was over

and we had a ruling.

And that's what happened. The judge
upheld our claim and ruled in our favor.

He found that there had been
liability for negligence

on Manuel's part,

and set compensation
at just over , euros.

I informed her of the ruling,
and a few days later she died.

She felt relieved in the sense
of at least knowing part of what happened.

But of course, a ruling couldn't give her
what she truly wanted.

[Lynn in English] The empathy you feel
for that mother is just horrendous.

And that mother was
so alone in it, you know?

And that's what I just kept thinking of,
how alone she was, and she was desperate.

She was desperate to…

to get this story on,
to get justice for Lauren.

And I said, "Gabrielle…"
Just today I said,

"Can you imagine being her mother
and seeing you on
The Megyn Kelly Show?"

"
And the realization
like this is a serious predator?"

This m*therf*cker
was walking down the street,

getting his f*cking tapas and
copas,

and doing whatever the f*ck
he wanted, and you guys did nothing?

He's still outside.
On the street this whole time.

I think I'd be really upset.

I had to face the fact that this person
will never take accountability

for anything he's ever done.

If that was my community,
I'd be like, "What the f*ck?"

[Lynn] It makes me sick
that he's on the streets,

that he's doing
intercambios
with these young girls.

Look at these little kids
that are going out into the world.

Their parents are sending them away.
They think they're safe.

I hate to think it,

but I'm pretty sure that he hasn't stopped
what he's been doing all these years.

That he's laughing and smiling
and going out with friends

and pretending to be a person
who isn't dangerous,

and doing exactly the opposite.

Telling girls,
"You'll be safe with me." And…

It just sickens me that he's still free.

Nothing is happening to Manuel.

And so there was almost like,
"What can I do?"

"What can we do to make this stop?"

And so my role was
to just figure out how to do it.

[Lynn] So it doesn't surprise me one iota

that she's determined
to do this for the other girls.

When she was in elementary school,
anybody that was being bothered,

Gabrielle was in the middle.

I remember saying to her, "Gabrielle,
you're a rebel without a cause."

"You're like James Dean,
and you need to just stop it."

And this is Gabrielle.
I mean, it was who she is.

[Gabrielle] I didn't want to do this.
I don't want to go to trial.

I don't want to deal
with this f*cking bullshit.

But if there are all these other women
and this is a f*cking…

Every semester there are new girls.

[excited shouts]

I felt like I needed to do something.

Suddenly it went from,
"I don't want anything to do."

"I'm not prosecuting.
I don't want to talk about it."

It went from that to,
"We have to do something."

[Gabrielle] This is just the beginning.

It was the beginning for the both of us.

For him and me.

[judge in Spanish]
Do you swear to tell the truth?

[in English] Yes.

[judge in Spanish] As defendant,

you have the right not to plead guilty,
not to testify against yourself,

or not to testify at all.

[reporter] Any words for the victims?

Hey, don't touch me.

I'm just talking to you.

If they don't know each other,
how do all their statements match?

[Manuel] I had nothing to do with it.

I had no relationship
with that person during that trip.

I didn't do anything.

[unsettling music playing]