Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

A TV cop show star has been seized by police over claims that he helped poison his wife’s elderly aunt so the couple could get their hands on her fortune.

Spanish actor Luis Lorenzo, 61, was arrested by Civil Guard officers with his wife Arantxa Palomino after her family ordered a second autopsy on the wealthy victim’s body.

The 85-year-old aunt – named only as Isabel in local media – was originally thought to have died of natural causes brought on by dementia last year (June 2021).

But her suspicious brother requested a second autopsy, which discovered she had been poisoned.

Isabel had moved into her niece’s home in Rivas-Vaciamadrid – close to the Spanish capital Madrid – before her death.

The autopsy’s findings – reported on 31st May – reveal that Isabel had 200 times the normal level of cadmium and 20 times the normal level of manganese in her body.

The forensic report supports the victim’s family’s hypothesis that Isabel’s death was caused by acute heavy metal intoxication.

The report points out that these toxic metals could have been administered to the elderly woman orally.

The metals are present in dyes, batteries and fungicides and also in the environment in industrialised areas.

Lorenzo’s lawyer Francisco Perez claims that the elderly woman was poisoned after regularly consuming fish with high levels of mercury.

But homicide investigators from the Civil Guard found that during her stay in the couple’s house, the elderly woman had spent suspiciously large amounts of money.

They also found that she had apparently updated her will to leave her entire estate to her niece just months before her death.

Lorenzo and Palomino have denied the accusations against them.

They are claiming that they were, in fact, looking after the elderly woman and took it upon themselves to take her to see specialists following her diagnosis with dementia.

The Civil Guard, however, is saying there is no record of said diagnosis and neighbours are claiming that the couple neglected her.

The Prosecutor’s Office has not yet requested the couple’s preventive detention.

This is partly because it has not yet been definitively proven that the heavy metals present in the victim’s body were administered by a third party.

And another reason is that the investigation into the couple’s assets is not yet complete.

However, the investigation is reported to have already found that the couple had around EUR 50,000 (GBP 42,600) in their bank account.

This is on top of the almost EUR 100,000 (GBP 85,200) cops found in cash in their home.

Lorenzo has starred in several successful TV series, such as gritty police drama ‘El comisario’ and situation comedy ‘La que se avecina’.

Standing outside court in nearby Arganda del Rey, the actor said: “I am convinced that this will be cleared up.”

He added: “Obviously, I think it is a very complicated situation, especially for the children.”