In 2023, Esther Estepa was traveling through Spain, but in August of that year, a series of messages sent from her phone raised serious concern for her family. The texts said that she had not done well, had failed to make her family proud and added that she was going away. However, her loved ones felt that something was not right, as the messages did not sound like her at all. They quickly informed the police, but in the months that followed, there were few answers about what had happened. Netflix’s ‘The TikTok Killer’ revisits Esther’s final days and explores how the investigation eventually unfolded.
Esther Estepa Had Lived at a Shelter Before She Went Missing
Esther Estepa was born in the early 1980s and grew up in Seville, Spain. Her parents, Pepa and Antonio Estepa, said that she was a lively and spirited person who brought joy to those around her. She always tried to keep her family happy and had a natural ability to make people laugh. Her sister, Raquel Estepa, also shared many fond memories with her. Although the two sisters had very different personalities, they remained close. While Raquel was more reserved, Esther was outgoing, playful, and often the one who lifted everyone’s spirits. As she grew older, Esther wanted to carve out her own path. She left her hometown to travel across Spain.
Her mother later alleged that Esther had previously been in an abusive relationship, and after gathering the courage to leave her partner, she moved away. For some time, she stayed with friends and later sought refuge in a shelter, but it ultimately did not feel like the right environment for her. In August 2023, Esther decided to leave the shelter and set out on her own. On August 23, 2023, at around 5:30 pm, her mother received a series of text messages from Esther’s phone. The messages were apologetic in tone, saying that she had not behaved properly and would not be returning home.
The texts immediately worried her family, who felt they did not sound like her, so they contacted the police. However, because Esther was 42 years old at the time, authorities initially believed she may have left voluntarily. That assumption changed in February 2024, when a tour guide walking near the canal intersection by Bairén Castle in Gandia, Spain, discovered a human skull and alerted the police. When the remains were tested, they were confirmed to be Esther’s. In the months that followed, investigators recovered around 60 small bone fragments along with some of her personal belongings. The evidence indicated that she had died from blunt force trauma to the head and had also been sexually assaulted.
Esther Estepa’s Alleged Killer Posted Videos About His Search For Her
In August 2023, when Esther Estepa’s family first raised concerns about her disappearance, the police initially believed it might not be a missing person case. However, as more details began to emerge, her family grew increasingly worried. Around the time Esther had been staying at the shelter, she had started interacting with a man named José Jurado Montilla. He was a 62-year-old TikTok influencer known for posting videos of himself traveling to different places and exploring life in the wilderness. Esther had told some of her friends that she planned to spend a few days with him. In fact, after she disappeared, he also contacted her mother and told her that he had been with Esther shortly before she went missing.
Montilla began posting videos about his supposed efforts to find Esther. In these videos, he also claimed that the two of them had been intimate, which raised suspicions among Esther’s family, who felt that he was not being entirely truthful. Concerned, they asked the police to conduct a background check on him and were initially told that he had only been arrested on theft charges. However, when the family looked deeper into his past, they discovered that he had actually been arrested in 1987 on four counts of murder and had spent 28 years in prison before being released in 2013. Despite this troubling history, there was still no direct evidence linking him to Esther’s disappearance at the time.
Esther Estepa’s Alleged Killer Has Not Been Charged With Any Crime
José Jurado Montilla maintained that Esther Estepa had developed pain in her leg and that he had dropped her off at a hospital. According to him, she told him that a few friends would pick her up and he need not worry about her. In May 2024, Montilla was arrested again on suspicion of murdering a man named David in Málaga’s Montes de Málaga in August 2022. When authorities recovered his phone, investigators allegedly discovered images of Esther’s remains as well as evidence suggesting she had been assaulted. Police also found that his hotspot had allegedly been used to send the messages that Esther’s family received after her death. Her phone appeared to have been kept active through this same hotspot.
Montilla had earlier claimed that he tried calling Esther after she disappeared, but his call records allegedly showed no such attempts. Hospital staff also allegedly recognized him as the man who had brought Esther in. According to them, she had been reluctant to leave but eventually did so after his insistence. Later that evening, Esther used an app to request a ride, and the pickup location was near the area where her remains were eventually discovered. Montilla remains in custody, though he has not yet been formally charged in Esther’s case and continues to maintain his innocence.
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