Buried Alive: The Butcher of the Wolf's Den

Buried Alive: The Butcher of the Mesón del Lobo: The homicide of Mariluz Varela Alonso January 1989, Madrid. Workers tear down a wall in an abandoned bar and find two mummified women buried behind tiles and beer boxes. The owner lived above while the bodies remained sealed. How did he manage to kill twice, wall up the corpses, and attempt a third murder without being caught until his victims were discovered four years later? In this episode, we explore how Santiago San José Pardo, a former legionnaire rejected by his own mother, built a false wall with burlap and plaster bought on Calle del Humilladero while the judicial investigation released him after stabbing another woman. We analyze the contradictions between the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and the confession where he admitted his uncontrollable urge, and how he was released in 2004 after serving only 15 years of a 72-year sentence. Victim: Mariluz Varela Alonso Date: August 22, 1987 Location: Mesón del Lobo Feroz, Madrid Status: Sentenced to 72 years (released in 2004) - Mariluz Varela Alonso disappeared the same month Santiago took over the management of the establishment in 1986, mother of two children. - Araceli Fernández received nine facial wounds in December 1987, and Santiago was released days later by the judge, four months before the discovery. - The ~25 cm ham knife left wounds consistent with military training according to forensics, contradictory to his abandonment of the legion. - Santiago confessed that he built the false wall and that "he wouldn't have stopped if he had remained free," but he was released in 2004 for good behavior. Mariluz Varela Alonso, Mesón del Lobo Feroz Madrid, 1987, serial killer, walling up, investigation, mystery, forensics, legionnaire, true crime, Spanish true crime If you want to listen to this podcast without ads and have access to premium episodes, we invite you to try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and associated materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, is prohibited without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA. For permissions, licenses, and business inquiries, write to: [email protected]. To listen ad-free and access premium episodes, start your 30-day free trial at obomedia.com OBOMEDIA presents true crime storiesa true crime podcast built on real cases. Every true crime story in our crime files follows the crime investigation from the missing person report to the trial: investigators and police building a murder case, a police investigation gone cold, justice for the victim and those who survived. We open the unsolved murder, the cold case reopened decades later, the mysterious death, the disappearance, the serial killer, the family murder, the murder mystery; the missing persons  a missing woman, a missing girl, a missing man found dead and the missing and murdered. From the infamous case to the unsolved case, from classic true crime to dark true crime and disturbing true crime: true crime reports, real crime stories, real murder cases, true murder stories and unsolved mysteries one true crime case at a time, from the OBOMEDIA true crime vault. © 2026 Created with OBOMEDIA technology. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text and related materials) are the property of their respective creator and are distributed under the OBOMEDIA name on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing and business inquirie