THE CASE 🌎EN

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Sweden · 2005 · Unsolved

The Man
Without a Heart

The Case of Miguel Ángel Martínez Santamaría — Stockholm, Sweden

2005Year of the crime
3Organs removed
20Years without justice
0Investigations opened

A Spanish man found dead in Sweden. No photographs. No identification.
His heart, pancreas and liver removed without explanation.
Twenty years. No investigation.

What you are about to read is documented fact, not speculation. Neither Sweden, nor Spain, nor any European institution has opened an investigation in 20 years.
The person, before the case

Who was Miguel Ángel?

Miguel Ángel Martínez Santamaría was born on 18 August 1960 in Erandio, Bizkaia (Basque Country, Spain). The eldest of four siblings — the first in everything: first child, first nephew, first grandchild. He grew up between Getxo and Sondika, in a home full of music, laughter and a mother who defended her children and just causes with a determination that Blanca would later inherit entirely.

He was outgoing, a traveller, a devoted Athletic de Bilbao fan. He played the drums, had a yellow Ducati motorbike at 16, and an extraordinary memory — he would study the day before an exam and pass physics and maths. His favourite line: «The thing is, I’m just really intelligent.» He said it without irony. Sometimes he was right.

But above all, he was this: one night, walking home from a local festival with Blanca, they found a neighbourhood boy having a seizure in the street. Miguel Ángel knelt down, put the boy’s head on his lap, gave him his jacket. They stayed until he was alright. They arrived home late and their father was furious. Miguel Ángel stepped in front of Blanca and said: «Hit me. It’s my fault.»

«He was 16 with a yellow Ducati motorbike. He’d pull off his work overalls, straighten his immaculate white shirt and show up ready for the party. Always the last to leave. Always the first to step forward.»

— Blanca Martínez Santamaría, sister

En el verano de 2005 se encontraba en Estocolmo, Suecia. Tenía 44 años y 12.000 € en su cuenta bancaria de la BBK (Kutxabank), pero por razones desconocidas su tarjeta dejó de funcionar. Las últimas personas que le vieron con vida fueron agentes de la Policía sueca de Karlstad, el 1 de agosto de 2005.

After that detention, he disappeared.

What we know

The last people known to have seen Miguel Ángel alive were Swedish police officers. From that point on, no institution has provided a credible explanation of what happened.

Summary30 seconds
TimelineThe facts in order
IrregularitiesFor journalists
01
He disappears after a police detention
On 1 August 2005 the Karlstad police detain Miguel Ángel. It is the last time anyone sees him alive. He had €12,000 in his account but could not access his money.
02
A body appears. No photos. No judge. No protocol.
On 22 September a body appears in Lidingö, Stockholm. No photographs, no judicial authority present. The only «identification»: a photocopy of his ID found by a nurse.
03
The body is returned without heart, pancreas or liver
The London autopsy finds the body has arrived without heart, pancreas or 60% of the liver. No medical, legal or judicial justification has ever existed.
04
A second autopsy dismantles the official version
In 2021, a second independent autopsy confirms: Miguel Ángel did not drown and did not commit suicide. He had been dead before entering the water. The Swedish account was false.
The question that has gone unanswered for 20 years

Who removed Miguel Ángel’s organs, when, and for what purpose?
Organ trafficking? Human trafficking? Why have neither Sweden nor Spain investigated?

Every entry is documented. Click on any item to expand the detail. Red: case facts. Gold: Blanca’s fight. Blue: institutions. Purple: institutional obstacles.

Case facts
Blanca’s fight
Institution
Obstacle
Media

For journalists, lawyers and institutions. Documented irregularities, contradictory reports and questions that have never received an official answer.

Key document
Swedish autopsy — 3 pages, 5 months late
«Unidentified man, possibly Miguel Ángel. Appears to have drowned.» No evidence. No photographs. All conditional language.
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Key document
British autopsy — open verdict
The Coroner cannot determine cause of death due to missing organs. The lungs are normal: no drowning.
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Key document
Second autopsy — Dr. Aitor Curiel (2021)
Miguel Ángel did not drown. Technical incongruence between state of decomposition and time in water. DNA confirms identity.
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Official petition
European Parliament — Petition 0675/2026
Registered 16 April 2026. Denounces the inaction of Spain and Sweden and requests intervention of the European Commission.
View petition →
Documented irregularities
The ID photocopy: Found intact in the pocket of a body that had been in water for weeks in an advanced state of decomposition. The same photocopy Spain sent to Sweden on 1 August.
Contradiction in the body description: At the scene, described as barefoot with socks. In the autopsy report, described as wearing a sports shoe.
The secrecy order that vanished: On 30 September, secrecy order and undetermined cause. On 3 October, when the family announces they will travel to Sweden, everything changes: no secrecy, cause is drowning, suicide.
No identification certificate for 16 years: Stockholm police reopened the case in 2014 upon discovering no identification documents existed from 2005. Miguel Ángel’s mother died in 2020 without knowing with certainty whether it was her son.
Body arrived undocumented at Heathrow: It took 44 days to repatriate the body, which spent 5 days in refrigerated storage for lack of documentation.
Spain’s National Court archived the case in 2019 citing «statute of limitations» — without having carried out the exhumation, despite the UK having already granted permission.
The European Commission stated in 2018 that the case could relate to human trafficking (Avramopoulos response, E-004473/2018). No institution acted.
Continue
Next — 20 years of fight
Blanca didn’t give up.
You don’t have to either.
Two decades of complaints, exhumations, documentaries and parliaments. The story of a sister who refused to accept the silence.
Read her fight
Or go back to the beginning
Who was Miguel Ángel?
Su vida

Official petition to the European Parliament · No. 0675/2026 · Open and active

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