Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

The woman arrested for allegedly giving her pal a human head inside a box and saying it was full of sex toys has told cops she kept it as it was her only memory of her lover after it was left on her doorstep.

The human head was found in the box in the town of Castro Urdiales, in the northern Spanish region of Cantabria by the suspect’s friend.

Local media report the suspect, identified as Carmen Merino, 61, had given the box to her friend in April saying it was full of sex toys her boyfriend had left when he moved out. The woman only recently opened it after she noticed a bad smell coming from inside, according to reports.

The head reportedly belongs to victim, Jesus Maria Baranda, 66, who worked in a bank office and had been retired since 2018. He was divorced with children but was reportedly in a relationship with the suspect.

Merino was arrested and reportedly told cops that “someone had left it (the box) at the front door of my house, I kept it because it was the only memory I had of him”.

The victim went missing in February but the family did not report his disappearance until March, according to local media.

Both the victim’s brother and the suspect alerted the Spanish Civil Guard and she is said to have told officers that her boyfriend had left her with all her cash and she had heard nothing from him since February.

Officers believed he had fled voluntarily at first but then found that there had been no movements in his bank accounts and he had not taken his car with him.

When the investigators told Merino they were coming to her house on 10th April to continue their investigations she allegedly wrapped her husband’s severed head in plastic and put it in a box wrapped in wrapping paper.

She then allegedly went to her friend’s house and gave her the box telling her it was full of sex toys her boyfriend had left behind.

The friend put the box inside a wardrobe in her guest bedroom before removing it because of the smell.

Carmen claimed to Spanish Civil Guard that she had communicated with the victim through WhatsApp but when officers asked her for her mobile phone, she said that it had fallen into the toilet and claimed that “he is gone because he did not love me anymore”.

Carmen Merino is still under arrest and the investigation is ongoing.

The couple who were given the box reportedly do not want to go home because that is where it was found.

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