New Netflix miniseries, ‘O Caso Assunta’ chronicles the events behind the case of Asunta Basterra Porto, possibly killed by her adoptive parents
In recent weeks, ‘Baby Reindeer’ has been Netflix’s most talked about and watched recent production, telling, at least in large part, a disturbing true story. However, another miniseries that has stood out based on a real crime, being in second place among the most watched among Brazilians, is ‘The Asunta Case‘.
A series straight from Spain, ‘O Caso Assunta’ is a six-part dramatization about the terrible murder of the young woman Asunta “Fang Yong” Basterra Portowho was found dead shortly before her 13th birthday in 2013 — and whose main suspects in the crime are her adoptive parents, Rosario Porto It is Alfonso Basterra.
“After a couple reports their daughter missing, Asunta, aged 12, the investigation soon turns against the two. Inspired by real events”, says the description of the miniseries, made available by Netflix itself.
+ The Asunta Case: See the true story behind the Netflix series
The Asunta Case
Although Netflix indicates that parts of the series are fictionalized — as is standard, for better narrative progression — ‘The Asunta Case’ is extremely based on the investigation of this criminal episode which shocked the Spanish media in 2013.
In the miniseries, we see right at the beginning Rosario Porto It is Alfonso Basterra from September 21, 2013, when they reported the disappearance of their adopted daughter, Asunta, born in China. A few hours later, the girl’s body was discovered on the side of a road in the city of Teo.
Throughout the six episodes, the viewer is delved into the investigation of the case and the theories of what may have happened, which culminated in two most likely possibilities: one that Harbor, the mother, would have acted alone; and another that she and Basterra they planned the murder and acted together.
Despite the evidence, in the end, the plot leaves open what really happened, as the couple never admitted any irregularity or involvement in the girl’s death. Still, at the end of the controversial trial, the jury found that the justification for the murder was that they were tired of taking care of Asuntaespecially after the marriage broke down, and they decided to kill her, according to The Guardian.
Anyway, at the end of the plot, we see the trial of Rosario Porto it’s from Alfonso Basterrawhich culminated in both being sentenced to 18 years in prison for orchestrating the murder of Asuntain 2015. But after all, what happened to them afterwards?
Rosario Porto
Named as the main person involved in the murder of Asunta, Rosario Porto passed by three prisons, since her sentence in 2015: first she was sent to the Teixeiro Penitentiary Center, in northwest Spain; later, she was transferred to another prison in Pontevedra; and finally, the Brieva penitentiary, in Ávila.
In all three places where it was held, Rosary was placed in anti-suicide protocol programs, according to El País. This was not for nothing: in February 2017, she was hospitalized after inducing an overdose of prescribed medication; in November 2018, she was rescued by prison staff while with a rope around her neck and in the shower.
However, she was not stopped forever: in November 2020she was found hanging by the neck inside his cell.
Alfonso Basterra
Already Alfonso Basterrawho was also arrested in 2015, spent the last nine years in Teixeiro, the same prison as Harbor, at the beginning. Over the years, he simply sought greater freedom in his sentence, which he was always denied — which is also due to his questionable behavior, having been caught “passing” a prohibited object to a problematic prisoner there.
In 2017, Spanish newspaper El Correo Gallego reported that Basterra had sent a letter to the producers of a documentary about the case Asunta. In part of the message, he wrote:
When I regain my freedom, I firmly intend to disappear, no one will hear from me again, nor Rosario Porto“.
According to Today, in 2025, Basterra will have completed two thirds of his sentence, which will make him eligible for a possible open scheme. However, he continues to state that, regardless of whether he obtains this right or not, he will serve every last day of his sentence in order to prove his innocence.
