The Brazilian Police confirmed this Friday that the murder of the Spanish chef David Peregrina Capó and his wife Érica da Silva Santos, shot to death on November 23, was committed by a former employee.

The chief commissioner of the Territorial District of Porto Seguro, in the state of Bahia, Euler da Silva, told EFE that the motivation for the crime committed in the restaurant that the couple ran was due to “a debt” contracted with a former butler..

The suspect, identified as Eliandro Lourenço de Menezes, 46, is missing and the Police issued an arrest warrant against him.

A son of the suspect, also investigated and whose name was not disclosed, surrendered to the authorities at the Porto Seguro police station.

According to investigations, De Menezes allegedly murdered the Spanish chef and his wife after the couple refused to hand over ownership of part of the islet where the restaurant is located, something they had supposedly promised him as payment for his services.

The police chief explained that Peregrina decided not to trespass on the land after discovering that De Menezes, who already had an arrest warrant for drug trafficking, was using the place to hide drugs that were sold in the region.

For this reason, according to the commissioner, it is suspected that other people are also involved in the double murder.

Da Silva indicated that the chef's immigration situation in Brazil was “completely regularized” and said he was unaware of the legal problems he previously had in Spain.

The Ilha dos Ribeirinhos restaurant operated on an islet located in the Buranhém River, in a jungle area that can only be accessed by river.

The place is located near Porto Seguro, a tourist town in the south of the state of Bahia, on the northeast coast of the country.