Who is Tomás Gimeno, the father and main suspect in the disappearance of the two girls in Spain

The worst, what was most feared, occurred this Thursday when they found in the sea the body of Olivia, the older of the two sisters disappeared in Tenerife on April 27. So far, the only certainty that the authorities have is that Tomás Gimeno, the father of the two girls, was the last person who was with them.

The day of the disappearance, Gimeno was seen loading six bags on his own boat with which he left Santa Cruz de Tenerife. So far, the police investigation suggests that the man could have committed suicide along with his daughters, whom he would have drowned in the sea.

The body of the minor was found by the search ship’s robot Ángeles Alvariño during noon on Thursday, about 1,000 meters deep and less than 5 kilometers from the Tenerife coast. Next to the gym bag that Olivia was found in, there was another empty bag.

Gimeno, 37, had long been separated from Beatriz Zimmerman, the girls’ mother. The day he disappeared he was with his daughters in the afternoon, and he was supposed to deliver them to their mother at night, but he never did.

Conversely, he called her that night to tell her that he would never see him or the girls again. Those threatening calls continued to other family members, to whom he said goodbye. Then he ran out of battery and they didn’t hear from him anymore.

It wasn’t the first time he did it. This time, Beatriz informed the authorities of what happened and said that last December her ex-partner had made similar threats, saying that she would never see the girls again. At that time, she did not believe his words or notify the authorities. Since then, everything had been tense.

Gimeno was born on the island of Tenerife (Spain) in a well-known, wealthy family, owner of many agricultural lands. The man managed several companies linked to the flower and plant sector. However, the relationship with his closest ones was not good.

Tomás had a reputation for being a troublemaker on the island, he liked the nightlife, he constantly fought with other people in bars and discos and was even accused of robbery, despite being a wealthy person. In addition, fraud attempts to collect boat and vehicle insurance, and numerous traffic fines, appear in his criminal record.

Little is known about his parents, they are very secretive people who have rejected all contact with the Spanish media that have tried to approach them. What we do know is that the process of separating Tomás from his former partner was difficult, with accusations of violence on his part that never transcended to the judicial field. However, no one imagined this macabre outcome.

Despite the conflictive relationship with his ex, his close friends describe him as a “great man”, because of the relationship he had with his daughters. In addition to being a “energetic, impulsive, hard-working and a bit hippie” person, as they said on the Spanish TV program It’s already noon.

Before the disappearance of the two girls, Tomás had expressed his desire to leave Tenerife. The man had told the mother of his daughters that “one thing is to leave the comfort zone, and another is to change the continent.”

Supposedly, this was told to her when he found out that Beatriz had rebuilt her life with a Belgian businessman.

He found out about that relationship because in July 2020, he hired a detective agency to spy on her. When he found out she was with other people, he confronted her.

Apparently, Gimeno could not accept his ex-wife’s relationship with another man, the very idea tormented him. “How easy to accept that you lose a family with which you have lived a lifetime, to lose control of your daughters”, he would have told his ex, according to a spokesman for the girls’ family.

Tomás’ intention was to take his daughters to Latin America, according to sources close to him. And he let his ex know, told him that he was going to disappear with them. But everyone believed it was just that: threats from a desperate man, from someone who could not bear that their relationship, now and once and for all, had no return, if it ever did.

Now the worst is over and Tomás kept his word. In the meantime, Beatriz is devastated after the discovery of the body of her daughter Olivia.

“We are unable to say a word, we have to be prudent and wait for confirmation of the DNA test, but none of us expected an event like this,” said Joaquín Amills, spokesman for the family and president of the Association SOS Disappeared account in ‘Together’ .

Amills said they hoped that Tomás would not do anything to his daughters, judging by the last few he said to Beatriz: “You will not see them again. I’m going to take care of them”. “Those words came out of his mouth“. Concluded the family spokesman.