Montilla, who also went by "El Titi” or “Dinamita," was first convicted of killing four people in the Málaga region of Spain in the mid-1980s and was sentenced to 123 years in prison. However, he was released after just 28 years because of a new ruling that changed his sentence, per A&E.
By 2023, Montilla had grown a presence on TikTok for his travel adventure videos in which he also maintained his innocence. In the summer of that year, he also befriended 42-year-old Esther Estepa, who was struggling to get back onto her feet after an allegedly abusive relationship.
In August 2023, Estepa's family reported her missing after she hadn't gotten in contact with her mother — whom she previously spoke to every day. The case went cold for months before Estepa's bones were found off the side of a highway in 2024. By that time, Montilla had already been arrested for the killing of another 21-year-old man at his farm in Málaga.
As of February 2026, Montilla is awaiting trial for the 2022 and 2023 murders. His past crimes and the disappearance of Estepa were retold in the Netflix documentary The TikTok Killer, which hit the streamer on March 6.
Montilla was born in 1961 and spent much of his life in the Málaga region of Spain. While there has not been much information released about his early life, Montilla became known for his murder spree in the 1980s.
Montilla's first known murder occurred in November 1985 when he shot and killed 57-year-old Francisco González inside his farmhouse. At the time, Montilla confessed to killing González but maintained that he did so in self defense. He alleged that he was seeking shelter in González's farmhouse when González came out with a shotgun, so he took it from him and shot him. González's family have denied that account.
Before he was arrested, Montilla committed three more murders. In March 1987, Montilla killed Antonio Paniagua, who was the chauffeur to a famous Spanish flamenco singer. Two months later in May 1987, he fatally stabbed a pair of tourists, one from Germany and the other from the United Kingdom.
Montilla was arrested for the four murders and was found guilty in all four cases. He was sentenced to 123 years in prison. However, in 2013, Montilla was released after serving 28 years. He was set free after the Spanish Parot Doctrine was successfully appealed by the European Court of Human Rights. The doctrine had allowed prisoners to be held longer than the then-maximum sentence of 30 years of the European Convention of Human Rights.
In August 2022, prosecutors allege that Montilla committed his fifth known murder. David, a 21-year-old college student was fatally shot on his family farm in Málaga, according to SUR. Prior to David's death, he told his father that he had met up with "an older man who looked very shady" and who wanted to hunt foxes, local newspaper 20minutos reported, per A&E.
One year later, Estepa went missing while she was traveling across the Spanish coast. She met Montilla while hiking, and they allegedly embarked upon a few days of walking together before reaching the town of Gandía in late August 2023.
During their trip, Estepa allegedly injured her leg, so she sought help at a hospital and reportedly asked to stay out of fear of Montilla, as her family claimed in the Netflix doc.
On Aug. 23, 2023, Estepa's mom received her last messages from her daughter, but she insisted that it wasn't actually her daughter messaging her. Estepa's family learned about her travels with Montilla and quickly became suspicious — especially after he continued reaching out to them to ask about the investigation. Police began looking into Montilla's relationship with Estepa shortly afterwards.
Upon getting released from prison in 2013, Montilla reemerged into the public eye by creating a TikTok account, where he went by the username "Dinamita Montilla." He used his social media videos to vehemently proclaim his innocence, while walking across Spain.
After Montilla learned of Estepa's disappearance, he informed his TikTok followers and recorded himself re-walking the same hikes and roads they did together before she went missing. He frequently begged his followers to look for Estepa and even claimed that a woman came forward and said she saw Estepa.
Investigators later used the videos to track his whereabouts in connection with both David's death and Estepa's disappearance. Montilla was arrested in May 2024 after being connected to David's death. He is currently in prison where he is awaiting trial in connection with the killings of both David and Estepa. He has denied being involved in either of the cases.
He did not participate in the Netflix documentary The TikTok Killer, which aired on March 6. Several of Estepa's family members and friends spoke about the traumatizing experience and wanting Montilla to pay for his alleged crimes...
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