Since last weekend, a new thriller series has had Netflix in its grip: The Asunta Case. A true crime story that is at least as gruesome in real life as in the series.
The Asunta Case is a true crime miniseries based on a true story that ranks high in the top ten most-watched series worldwide. Also in the Netherlands, where only the sudden mega hit Baby Reindeer stands in the way of a number 1 ranking.
Netflix hit The Asunta Case
The series is created by Spanish film producer Ramón Campos, who previously made a documentary about the case, called El caso Asunta: Operación Nenúfar. Now he is bringing the unfortunately true story to a larger, worldwide audience in the form of a series adaptation.
The Netflix Original tells the story in six episodes of a wealthy couple from Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and their adopted daughter Asunta Fong Yang. Twelve years after they adopted the Chinese baby, they reported her missing. The authorities initially agreed and assumed it was a kidnapping. However, it soon turns out that the parents have more to do with the disappearance than initially appears to be the case…
True story
This results in a compelling thriller series that, as a Netflix subscriber, you would prefer to watch in one go. Old-fashioned binging. Unfortunately, the crime story is not pure fiction. Asunta Fong Yang really existed. In 2001, Rosario Porter, a lawyer, and her husband Alfonso Basterra, a journalist, traveled to China to adopt a baby. This was not a problem, especially given their prosperous background: two weeks later Asunta was already in Spain. The girl soon turned out to be gifted and even skipped a school year.
“With the right upbringing, that’s a good thing,” Porto told friends after reading about gifted children, “But they can also be a problem.” The child prodigy also took private lessons in English, French and Chinese and studied German at school. She also spoke Spanish and Galician from an early age. She also took private lessons in ballet, violin and piano. Something she also asked for herself, according to the British The Guardian.
From that moment on, the family’s story becomes a little less… cheerful. In 2009, Asunta’s mother spent two nights in a private psychiatric hospital where she said she felt suicidal, apathetic and guilty. Porto discharged himself after two days and returned for just one of the scheduled regular checks, writes The Guardian. Two years later, the Portos left their daughter alone with their nanny for five of the six weeks of summer vacation.
The day of the murder
Moreover, the two parents divorced suddenly in early 2013. Porto was revealed to be having an affair with a successful businessman named Manuel García, and when Basterra found out, their marriage fell apart. In June of that year, Porto suffered a nervous breakdown and was readmitted to hospital. Then things seem to be going better for the wealthy family: Basterra came to the aid of his ex-wife. They had dinner together at his house and he even thought they might live together again. The night before Asunta’s death, on September 21, 2013, Asunta and her mother ate lunch at her father’s apartment, played a card game, and watched an episode of The Simpsons. ‘Normal’ family life.
Asunta Fong Yang’s body was found on the side of the road a day later. The police immediately knew who it was, because her parents had already reported her missing that same morning. The police report states that Asunta was at her mother’s apartment until 7 p.m. doing her homework, while Porto went to the family’s country home – about 20 minutes from where the body was found. When Porto returned at 9:30 PM, Asunta was gone.
Arrest
Then things went fast. Porto claimed that earlier that summer she saw a man dressed in black and wearing latex gloves standing by her daughter’s bed. The mother claimed that she then decided not to file a formal report. Strangely enough, she did not inform any of her neighbors about the incident, which made it even more suspicious to the authorities.
Ultimately, Porto was arrested, tragically/cinematically during Asunta’s funeral. The smoking gun? Footage from a security camera showed the mother in the family’s car on the route to their country home, with “a long-haired girl” next to her. The timecode? The exact moment Porto claimed Asunta was at home.
In addition, toxic amounts of lorazepam were found in Asunta’s blood and urine. The main active ingredient in the pills Porto took for her anxiety attacks. Because officials considered it unlikely that Porto could carry out the murder alone, Judge Taín ordered Basterra’s arrest a day after his ex-wife. Both adults were unable to come up with an explanation for the fact that they had purchased 170 Orfidal pills in the weeks before the murder. Partly illegally.
‘The most selfish people ever’
And then it gets even scarier: two music teachers remember that in the months before her death, Asunta could barely walk upright and reading sheet music became increasingly difficult. “I took some white powder,” Asunta told one of her teachers. “I don’t know what they’re giving me. Nobody tells me the truth.”
Porto and Basterra were each sentenced to eighteen years in prison. Both appealed, but after several attempts, she ended her life in prison in 2020. Basterra is currently serving his sentence in Teixeiro prison in Spain.
The question that remains is the big ‘why?’ There is no definitive answer, but the truth is probably even more cynical than you would expect. Investigators suspect that Asunta’s adoptive parents were fed up with the girl they had “bought” ten years earlier. The murder is said to have been a carefully planned attempt to get rid of an increasingly troublesome teenage child. A problem to solve. One of the officers involved draws a clear conclusion: “They are two of the most selfish people I have ever met. She is a spoiled child. He thinks he is superior to the rest of the world.”
Asunta eventually turned twelve years old. Want to know more about the case? Then check out this eight-year-old article from The Guardian, a revealing piece of journalism. For more rock-solid true crime, check out this recent Netflix hit.
