In Manuel Isla Gallardo’s defense, the Google Street View car hadn’t stopped by to film the streets of the tiny Spanish town of Tajueco in 15 years. But the suspected murderer is now locked up—and probably wishing he’d looked over his shoulder anyway.

Welcome to Tajueco, a picturesque hamlet in northern Spain. Population: 56. From medieval stucco houses with terra cotta roof tiles to a scenic location in the middle of the plains and balmy Mediterranean weather, Tajueco may have seemed like paradise. Then a 33-year-old Cuban national disappeared on its streets. Police investigated, but none of the residents seemed to know anything.

The man who’d disappeared was traveling to Tajueco to visit a woman he claimed to know there. His cousin, who lives in nearby Soria, received a couple of very odd texts from him—then complete silence. A year later, it seemed as if the trail had gone cold.

The police check Google Maps’ Street View

Residents of more urban areas are used to Google Street View cars prowling the streets, their rooftop cameras recording everything. In some places, Google’s cars have even become a nuisance. A village like Tajueco might get one visit a decade, if that.

But as luck would have it, the Google Street View car caught two separate images of 48-year-old Gallardo. In the first, he’s pushing a wheelbarrow through the cold, early morning streets. His cargo is wrapped in a white sheet and looks suspiciously like a human body. In a second photo, taken on a different street, Gallardo is loading the cargo into the trunk of his distinctive red sedan.

Police doubled down on their investigation. They found freshly dug earth in the village’s Andaluz Cemetery. Deep underground, they uncovered the missing man’s dismembered torso.

Authorities arrested Gallardo. Locals still claim, “We did not know anything.” Yet they’ve started to remember details. Gallardo was the town bartender, but in the year since the disappearance, he grew so distracted he was actually fired from that job.

“Now it’s all coming together. He seemed more absent-minded lately.”

The woman the Cuban citizen was visiting? Gallardo’s ex-wife.

One villager concluded, “My God, the things that happen in the villages.”