Isabel Fuentes survived a brutal hammer attack inside her own home in Pazos, Galicia, in April 2015. She spent weeks in intensive care and was finally moved to a hospital room to recover. Thirty-seven days after the first attack, her husband walked into that room and stabbed her to death. Netflix’s new documentary Unprotected: Murder in Galicia arrives on November 6, 2026, and it asks one hard question: how did a woman known to be in danger end up dead inside a hospital?
Content warning: This article discusses violent crime and domestic abuse.
The Night That Started Everything
Isabel Fuentes, a 65-year-old woman from the small village of Pazos in Verín, was sleeping on her sofa on the night of April 1 to 2, 2015. Her husband, Aniceto Rodríguez, a former butcher, later told neighbours and the Guardia Civil that burglars had broken into the house and beaten her with a hammer.
The injuries were severe. Doctors found at least three blows to the right side of her head. One wound ran from her eye to her ear, and part of her brain was exposed. She lost brain mass and spent about a month in a coma in the ICU at the Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Ourense (CHUO).
Forensic experts later said the attack did not look like a robbery. “In robberies you do not see so many injuries. This was directed at her,” one expert said in court. The blows were meant to “cancel out the victim”.
A Sergeant Who Did Not Believe the Robbery Story
The Guardia Civil sergeant leading the case suspected Aniceto Rodríguez from the start. Investigators found no forced door. The broken glass had fallen inward. A hammer sat in the house as if someone had placed it there. Nothing was missing.
The sergeant asked the judge in Verín to restrict Aniceto’s access to Isabel while she was in the hospital. The judge refused. The family later said the judge did not consider the criminal evidence the Guardia Civil presented. The case was initially filed as a violent robbery, and the proceedings were sealed, which kept the family from learning about the suspicions.
The family took the matter to the Supreme Court, arguing that the judge had been negligent. The General Council of the Judicial Power reviewed the complaint and did not find neglect.
Thirty-Seven Days Later
Isabel Fuentes was moved out of intensive care on April 29, 2015. She could not speak. She could only move her head slightly and squeeze hands.
At around 6 am on May 8, 2015, Aniceto Rodríguez entered room 417 at the CHUO. He carried a boning knife with a 17-centimetre blade. He lifted her nightgown, which had no cuts, and stabbed her. A forensic report said the knife went into her heart “three times”.
Aniceto cut himself after the killing and was taken into custody. He suffered a stroke and spent months in hospital before entering prison in November 2015.
The Trial and the Sentence
The Ourense Provincial Court tried Aniceto Rodríguez in June 2017. He claimed he remembered nothing and said he had never argued with his wife. Prosecutors asked for 39 years. The court sentenced him to 31 years — 19 years for the completed murder and 12 years for the attempted murder in the home.
Aniceto Rodríguez died in A Lama prison in Pontevedra on September 21, 2018, at the age of 82.
What the Documentary Shows
Director and writer Jorge Laplace built Unprotected: Murder in Galicia around a question he could not shake. “How was it possible for her to be murdered in a hospital when it was known that she was in danger?” he said.
The film features testimony from the investigators who worked the case, the doctors who treated Isabel, her family members, neighbours, and journalists who covered the trial. It also looks at the gaps in the protection system that left her alone in a hospital room with the man who had already tried to kill her.
Carles Porta and Pablo Fernández Masó served as executive producers for True Crime Factory, the company behind the Spanish true-crime series Crímenes.
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Release Details for Global Viewers
Unprotected: Murder in Galicia premieres on Netflix on Friday, November 6, 2026, in all regions where Netflix operates, including the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and India. The documentary runs as a standalone film.
The companion fiction series, Murder in Galicia, arrives one week later on November 13, 2026. The three-part drama stars Tristán Ulloa as the Guardia Civil sergeant and Miguel Borines as the husband. Carlos Blanco, Fer Fraga, and Verónica Sánchez also appear. Carlos Sedes directed the series, and Bambú Producciones produced it.
For more true-crime coverage and Netflix release updates, stay with VvipTimes as we track the stories behind the screen.
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