A 33-year-old woman has been arrested alongside her brother after being accused of stalking dozens of women in a case similar to Netflix hit series Baby Reindeer.
Rebeca and Francisco Garcia, from Venezuela, were detained in a supermarket in Spain on Monday.
The pair were recognised by other Venezuelan citizens just one week after their case went viral in South America.
Garcia, who was dubbed “Venezuelan Baby Reindeer” by the Spanish press, received notoreity shortly after Netflix released Richard Gadd’s hit series.
Garcia, who was dubbed “Venezuelan Baby Reindeer” by the Spanish press, received notoreity shortly after Netflix released Richard Gadd’s hit series
TWITTER/Cocoaguirre
It prompted a number of women in the Venezuelan capital Caracas to post about their traumatic experiences.
They have accused the 33-year-old of becoming obsessed with them, following them home, contacting them repeatedly and behaving in threatening ways.
However, police initially refused to take their claims seriously due to her gender.
Claudia Aguirrezabal accused Garcia of writing her a sexually-explicit book of more than 500 pages.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:Rebeca ha estado internada, pero al salir del psiquiátrico, vuelve. Es un problema que no tiene fin y se ha sentido sin solución. Son 7 años de miedo a salir sola, de tener que esconderme, de tener que explicar por qué mi nombre está escrito por toda mi calle, de tener miedo
— Couquirou (@cocoaguirre) May 7, 2024
She also claimed she broke into her apartment block, sending a message saying: “The killer is inside the house.”
In an email, Garcia was accused of threatening her friends.
She wrote: “If somebody is touching you, I am going to kill them as that is disrespectful to us and our relationship.”
Despite attending the same school, Aguirrezabal stressed the pair were five years apart and did not know one another.
Rebeca tiene un libro online que actualiza constantemente, donde narra eventos ficticios y distorsiona la realidad de manera obscena y aterrorizante. Le gusta ilustrar detalladamente su fantasía (o intentos) de secuestrar a mi grupo de amigas y abusar sexualmente de nosotras. https://t.co/KdJTnBAsMO pic.twitter.com/RlNzDhsuXS
— 😋 (@isabellagior) May 7, 2024
Complaints against Garcia reportedly first reached Caracas police officers in 2019.
Officiers were initially slow to act due to their decision to stick with the sexist fallacy that women do not stalk other women.
However, Venezuela’s attorney general Tarek William Saab appeared to change tact last week by requesting her extradition from Spain.
Local police in Caracas also raided the house she shared with her brother.