Joaquín Ferrándiz Ventura was convicted of five murders committed in Castellón province, on Spain's eastern coast, between July 1995 and September 1996. He had left prison only months earlier, after serving about six years of a 14-year sentence for rape. A committee that reviewed his conduct had judged him fully reintegrated. The first of the five women died in July 1995, and the fifth in September 1996. Between the last killing and his arrest lay almost two years in which the inquiry stalled, and a man later cleared had been held for months.
He was arrested in July 1998, confessed within weeks, and was tried in the Audiencia Provincial de Castellón in late 1999. The sentence handed down in January 2000 totaled 69 years, but the Penal Code capped time served at 25 years. He walked out of the Herrera de la Mancha prison in Ciudad Real on July 22, 2023, a free man whose sentence barred him from four towns until 2028. The case has been the subject of television documentaries and, from 2025, a Netflix drama whose synopsis matches his story.
Ferrándiz was born in 1963 in the province of Valencia, according to a Mediaset profile. Telecinco's account has him living in Castellón with his mother after his release from prison, working for an insurance company, and seen by colleagues as polite and friendly. El Español adds that his mother had campaigned for his innocence during his first sentence.
On August 6, 1989, he was arrested for an offense for which he was later convicted of rape. The Objective reports that in May 1990 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for it. El Español dates the conviction to 1989 and says he served about six years.
The assessments made at the time of that first trial found nothing abnormal. The Objective reports that in 1990 the prison psychologist, the forensic doctors and the psychiatrist who gave expert evidence detected no psychological abnormality.
Ferrándiz was granted conditional release in 1995. The Objective gives April 4, 1995 as the date; Público says May 1995. By these accounts the members of the monitoring commission that approved his release said he was "totalmente reinsertado," fully reintegrated, and The Objective adds that in prison he had behaved well, studied and entered literary and cultural contests. Público places the first killing two or three months after his release.
He lived in Castellón with his mother. Vozpópuli reported that he worked for an insurance company and was not suspected by those around him.
The court convicted Ferrándiz of the murders of Sonia Rubio, Natalia Archelós, Mercedes Vélez, Francisca Salas and Amelia Sandra García.
Sonia Rubio was 25. According to Vozpópuli she was the first victim, killed in Benicàssim on July 2, 1995. El Español reported that her case shocked Spain. Mercedes Vélez, Natalia Archelós and Francisca Salas were killed in the months between; Official Press and Vozpópuli place all five killings between July 1995 and September 1996. Amelia Sandra García Costa was 22 when she was killed in September 1996, the last of the five.
Her brother, Jaime García, attended the trial twice, El Español reported. In 2023, as the release neared, he told that outlet that experts were unsure whether Ferrándiz would kill again, and he said he wanted his face to be seen on the day he left prison so that he could not be at ease anywhere.
Mediaset's chronology says investigators saw clear similarities between the 1995 case of Sonia Rubio and that of Amelia Sandra García in 1996, and that the inquiry then stalled for almost three years.
A man was held in the meantime. El Español reports that C. A., a truck driver then in his fifties, was initially accused and spent several months in prison before being cleared. The Official Press service, reprinting an EFE agency report, says he spent five months in pretrial detention in connection with three of the killings, and that he was released once Ferrándiz was identified.
The inquiry moved on February 15, 1998, when a young woman survived an attack in Castellón. According to the Mediaset chronology, her account and those of witnesses led police to identify a vehicle that pointed to Ferrándiz, and her lawyer had linked the attack to the Rubio case, a theory the prosecutor, Juan Salvador Salom, took up. The Guardia Civil then put him under covert surveillance around the clock, assisted by its Central Operative Unit (UCO), and followed him through the area's nightlife.
After about four months of surveillance, the Guardia Civil detained him on July 12, 1998, according to the EFE report reprinted by Official Press. Mediaset says officers intervened on July 12, that investigators then sought a search warrant, that the search produced evidence linking him to the Rubio case, and that he was arrested on July 29, 1998. The accounts differ on the day of arrest, and both agree on July 1998.
Público adds that after the search he confessed to the killing of Sonia Rubio but at first denied the other four, and that he then confessed to those killings as well as to the 1989 offense, which he had denied. Mediaset says that by October 21, 1998 he had admitted to killing Sonia Rubio, Amelia Sandra García and the three other women. El Español places his confession in the year after his arrest and quotes him telling the judge, in Spanish, that they were women and he had wanted to hurt them. In a later conversation with a criminologist he reportedly said he needed to show that he hated them and that they had to pay for a guilt.
The trial opened on November 24, 1999 before the Audiencia de Castellón, according to El Español; The Objective identifies the court as the Sección Segunda of the Audiencia Provincial de Castellón. According to the EFE report, Ferrándiz did not testify at the trial.
The court gave weight to his confession and cooperation, applying a mitigating circumstance, The Objective reports. A psychological assessment found a polymorphic personality disorder, which in the court's words did not prevent him from governing himself. The court did not treat him as a psychopath.
Mediaset dates the verdict to January 14, 2000: guilty of five counts of murder, sentenced to 69 years. The Objective gives the breakdown by count:
16 years for the murder of Sonia Rubio;
11 years each for the murders of Natalia Archelós, Francisca Salas, Mercedes Vélez and Amelia Sandra García;
9 years for the attempted murder of the young woman who survived the February 1998 attack;
seven weekend arrests and compensation to the injured party for a count of reckless injury.
The court ordered 130 million pesetas in compensation to the families, a sum El Español reports he has not paid. It rejected the prosecution's request that the State be held subsidiarily liable for inadequate supervision after the 1995 release. The sentence also barred him from visiting or residing in Castellón de la Plana, Benicàssim and Onda until July 2028; El Español and Official Press list Vila-real as a fourth town in the bar.
The 69 years never meant 69 years in prison. Vozpópuli notes that the Penal Code caps time served at 25 years. El Español adds that the permanent revisable prison sentence cannot apply to him because the law is not retroactive.
Ferrándiz was held at the maximum-security prison of Herrera de la Mancha, in Ciudad Real, from 1998. Vozpópuli reported in April 2023 that he had taken part in no social reintegration program, that he had no incidents with other inmates, kept a low profile and worked as a prison orderly. He first requested prison leave in 2022 and received three leaves that year, spent at a flat run by a religious order under a curfew and a ban on alcohol and drugs. El Español says prison staff described his conduct as good and his risk of reoffending as low, and adds that he had no family support left.
The criminologist Carmen Balfagón, then dean of the Colegio de Criminólogos de Madrid, visited him for the RTVE program Hablando Claro. Vozpópuli quotes her saying that no adequate intervention was being made with him to stop him reoffending after release. El Español quotes him telling her that he did not remember the faces of any of the women. The Objective reports that he would receive no supervision or preventive treatment after his sentence expired.
He left Herrera de la Mancha on July 22, 2023, after serving 25 years, the legal maximum, The Objective and Official Press both report. Official Press adds that he said he would not return to the places where the crimes were committed and would move abroad. Official Press, July 21, 2023, cites the Mediterráneo newspaper for his reported wish to live somewhere no one knew him.
His release was gradual, a judicial source told EFE: prison leave first, and a stay with a religious organization. He was almost 60 when he left.
The case has been covered by many documentaries and television reports. elDiario.es reported in October 2025 that Netflix had begun filming a seven-episode Spanish series, En el círculo del asesino, directed by Sergio G. Sánchez and Pedro Martín-Calero, with Belén Rueda in the cast; the press release does not name Ferrándiz, but elDiario.es judged that its synopsis, a young journalist reconstructing a case for a podcast as the killer nears release, matches his story.
Several dates and figures are given differently in different accounts:
The release in 1995: April 4 (The Objective) or May (Público).
The span of the killings: July 1995 to September 1996 (Official Press, Vozpópuli, Mediaset); The Objective gives July 1995 to July 1998 for the five killings and two attempts.
The day of arrest: July 12 (Official Press) or July 29, 1998 (Mediaset).
The date of the first conviction: sentence in May 1990 (The Objective) or 1989 (El Español).
The first killing: Vozpópuli gives July 2, 1995 and the town of Benicàssim; other reports give only July 1995.
The number of survivors: Vozpópuli says two women survived attacks; the court's convictions name one attempted murder.
1963: Ferrándiz is born in the province of Valencia.
August 6, 1989: arrested; later convicted of rape.
May 1990: sentenced to 14 years.
April or May 1995: conditional release; moves to Castellón.
July 1995: first killing (Sonia Rubio).
September 1996: last of the five killings (Amelia Sandra García Costa).
Late 1996 to early 1998: the investigation stalls.
February 15, 1998: a young woman survives an attack; her account leads investigators to a vehicle.
July 1998: arrested by the Guardia Civil after months of surveillance.
October 1998: has admitted to the five killings.
November 24, 1999: trial opens at the Audiencia de Castellón.
January 14, 2000: sentenced to 69 years.
2022: first prison leave.
July 22, 2023: released from Herrera de la Mancha after 25 years.
July 2028: end of the bar on entering four towns.
October 2025: Netflix begins filming a series based on events matching his case.