[ad_1]
It’s every solo traveler’s biggest fear: disappearing while abroad with no one there to immediately realize you’re gone. For 42-year-old single woman and avid adventurer Esther Estepa, a seemingly chance encounter with a social media influencer during a trip to Spain cost her her life—and only her family could solve the case.
It all started when Seville-based Esther befriended content creator José “Dynamite” Jurado Montilla in the lobby of her hostel in Alicante. On the morning of Aug. 22, 2023, Esther and her new travel buddy Montilla walked 37 kilometers from Denia to Gandía, a hike that culminated in Montilla calling emergency services for Esther to transport her to a hospital to treat a swollen leg and a severe headache. Esther allegedly left the hike in an ambulance, alone. She was discharged from the hospital at 4:30 a.m. the following day.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
And then the odd WhatsApp messages began arriving: Just thirteen hours after exiting the hospital, Esther wrote to her mother, Josefa “Pepa” Pérez, expressing that she was “broke” and about to leave Spain to start a “new life in Buenos Aires.” Sure, Esther had been living a nomadic lifestyle for years and did not have a fixed address, but she would never abandon her two beloved dogs in such a way. It seemed, at least to Josefa, that Esther was saying goodbye. But was it really Esther who wrote those now-final words?
The new two-part Netflix docuseries, The TikTok Killer, retraces the Estepa and Pérez family’s search for Esther after she went silent in August 2023. Directed by Héctor Muniente (The Ecuadorian Candidate, American Greyhounds, Gustavo Bueno, La Vuelta A La Caverna), and produced by Netflix Spain’s iZen Documentaries, the series recreates Esther’s digital footprint—including a trail of videos, social media posts, messages, geotags, and appearances in Montilla’s many posts—that led to her alleged killer.
“When Esther vanishes without a trace, her family…
[ad_2]
