Mario Canedo, the Exploding-Goggles Assailant

His plan was to pass off another girl as Lorena and fake her kidnapping, so that they could both cash the policy. The manager of the insurance company confirmed that on two occasions they presented themselves in his office as a couple, so it didn't seem strange to him that they were the beneficiaries of each others' policies.

Not long after, in December of 2003, Mario manufactured a homemade explosive and hid it in some goggles, like those used in tanning beds. He convinced Lorena to accompany him to the Gijón campus. He told her that he had had problems with some university students and needed to find his vehicle in order to get back at them.

He showed her the goggles and told her they were fitted with a tracking system. When they got to an isolated spot and Lorena put on the rigged goggles, Mario fled the scene and activated the detonator of the bomb.

Fortunately, part of the device set in the frame of the goggles failed and Lorena escaped with her life, but suffered grave injuries over all her body and her mangling her right hand.

At first Lorena was afraid to report Mario and told the police that what had exploded in her hand was a gumball she found on the ground. But she confessed the truth to her ex-boyfriend and Mario Canedo was arrested.

During the police search of Mario C.'s house, numerous blank and nine-millimeter cartridges were found, from which the gunpowder could have been extracted to manufacture the explosive. In addition to electrical tape y a welding apparatus, there were also found various types of goggles. Lorena herself and others who knew Mario declared that he was a habitual user of hashish and cocaine. Some sources even cited the youth's high style of living, something made possible by his alleged drug trafficking business.

By Carlos Cabezas López

http://www.casoabierto.com