The Devastating True Story Behind The TikTok Killer

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A major worry for anyone traveling alone is going missing overseas without anyone noticing right away. This happened to Esther Estepa, a 42-year-old adventurous woman, during a trip to Spain. A casual meeting with a social media personality ultimately led to her death, and it was only her family who were able to uncover what happened.

The story began when Esther, who was staying in a hostel in Alicante, met content creator José “Dynamite” Jurado Montilla in the lobby. On August 22, 2023, they decided to hike 37 kilometers from Denia to Gandía. During the hike, Montilla had to call for an ambulance because Esther developed a swollen leg and a bad headache. Esther reportedly left the hike alone in the ambulance and was released from the hospital around 4:30 a.m. the next day.

Okay, so things start getting really strange just thirteen hours after Esther leaves the hospital. Her mom, Josefa, receives a WhatsApp message saying Esther’s completely broke and planning to start a new life in Buenos Aires. Now, Esther’s always been a bit of a wanderer, never really settling down, but she’d never just abandon her dogs – she adored them. To Josefa, it felt like a goodbye message, but the big question hanging over everything is: was it really Esther who sent it? It definitely doesn’t feel right.

As a critic, I recently finished watching Netflix’s new docuseries, The TikTok Killer, and it’s a truly haunting watch. The two-part series follows the desperate search by the Estepa and Pérez families after their daughter, Esther, disappeared in August 2023. Director Héctor Muniente—who has a knack for compelling documentaries—and the team at iZen Documentaries really build the story by painstakingly reconstructing Esther’s online life. We see her videos, posts, messages, and even the locations she tagged, all of which ultimately led investigators to the man accused of killing her. It’s a chilling look at how social media can both connect us and, tragically, leave a digital trail in the wake of a crime.

The story begins when Esther disappears, and her family uses information from TikTok traveler José Jurado Montilla – known online as ‘Dynamite’ Montilla – to learn about her final hours. However, Montilla, who was the last person seen with Esther, is keeping secrets from his past.

According to Muniente, the show explores how social media often presents a false and polished version of reality, and in this instance, that idea becomes genuinely frightening.

The search for Esther

Nearly a year after Esther disappeared, her parents, the Estepa and Pérez family, still hadn’t received any answers about her whereabouts. Josefa explained to Artículo 14 that she and Esther spoke every day, particularly when Esther was traveling. “Even though she’d lived independently for years, we always connected via WhatsApp, phone, or video call,” Josefa said. Esther’s sudden silence was very unusual, and her family dismissed the idea that she left on her own. They fully expected her to be home for Christmas 2023.

As a viewer, one of the most unsettling details for me was the strange note supposedly written by Esther. It mentioned her moving with friends, but her mother, Josefa, immediately pointed out that Esther was a solitary traveler and didn’t have any close friends in Alicante. That discrepancy, as Josefa explained in a La Sexta interview, really made her question whether Esther even penned the message herself – and honestly, it made me question it too. It just didn’t ring true.

Esther’s family reported her missing to the police in Alicante on August 26, 2023, after receiving worrying messages from her three days prior. This report sparked a surprising new clue in the case.

Possible suspects

Esther easily could have simply cut off contact with her family and friends without saying why. Investigators in Alicante believed this was the most probable explanation for her disappearance.

The Estepa and Pérez families also considered Esther’s ex-partner as a possible suspect, as she had accused him of abuse in 2022 and filed a complaint in Seville. However, investigators later eliminated him from suspicion when he demonstrated they had reconciled a few months before Esther went missing.

Then, Josefa received a phone call on Sept. 8, 2023 that changed the trajectory of the case.

A few weeks after we reported my daughter missing, a man contacted me. He said he’d seen her at a hostel in Alicante. He explained that he’d already told the police, but wanted to let me know that the last time he saw Esther, he’d taken her to a health center in Gandía because she was experiencing severe leg pain, Josefa explained.

Although officials stopped searching for Esther in June 2024, her mother, Josefa, and sister, Raquel, had already started their own investigation. They focused on the man who initially contacted them, claiming he’d met Esther and even shared videos of their time together with his 6,000 TikTok followers.

The biggest surprise came when I searched online for the name he’d given me, José Jurado Montilla,” Josefa explained. We discovered he was a convicted murderer.

Murky motives

The discovery of Montilla’s criminal history dramatically changed the investigation. While he presented himself online as a welcoming tour guide, Montilla had actually spent 28 years in prison for murdering four people, including two tourists. He only confessed to killing one man, a neighbor in 1985, but the other victims were tourists from Germany and England, as well as a former driver for flamenco singer Juanito Valderrama. All the murders happened in the 1980s and all the victims were men. Given this, Josefa and Raquel began to wonder if it was just chance that Esther had spent her last hours with a known serial killer.

Honestly, this guy Montilla is just awful. Raquel told Artículo 14 that he actually sent us the TikTok videos where he was commenting on my sister going missing. It’s creepy and disturbing, especially since he was constantly sharing his location with everyone online – meticulously documenting where he was at all times. It just adds another layer to how unsettling the whole thing is.

Montilla’s decision to share too much information proved to be a mistake. After he contacted Esther’s family, the police started to investigate him, comparing his movements to those in other recent local murders. This led to him being investigated for the murder of a 21-year-old student, David, which occurred in Málaga in August 2022, and ultimately his arrest in 2024.

As a real film buff, I was fascinated to learn that the materials Montilla gathered weren’t just useful for the initial investigations – they actually formed a really comprehensive resource for the documentary we’re seeing now. It’s like a treasure trove of information!

You know, when I first started really digging into his videos, I was totally focused on fact-checking, looking for anything that didn’t add up. But after spending hours with the raw footage – we’re talking dozens of videos, watching them over and over, and really getting into the editing room – something weird started to happen. I became obsessed with the little things. I’m talking about tiny details, repeated habits, even just his hand gestures. It’s like I accidentally turned into a forensic psychologist! What really stuck with me was how easily he could switch emotions – genuinely, instantly. One second he’d seem sad, the next joyful, then angry, then charming – all within the same clip, with absolutely no transition. It honestly felt like watching a real-time performance of… well, what a lot of people would describe as psychopathy.

What happened to Esther? 

Esther’s disappearance wasn’t officially solved until much later. Although police found a skull in February 2024, it wasn’t confirmed to be hers until June 21st of that year. Later that month, hikers discovered the rest of her remains in a reed bed near Gandía, Alicante, hidden among plants. By then, the elements had reduced her body to bones. Investigators returned to the area where the skull was originally found and uncovered more of her remains.

Muniente states that Josefa discovered who Montilla truly was before the skull was located, probably around January 2024. He explains this reveal is the major suspenseful moment at the end of the first episode.

Montilla, at that point in custody for the alleged student murder, has denied killing Esther.

According to Esther’s sister, Raquel, police haven’t yet determined exactly how the victim died. They know he struck her in the head – her skull was fractured – but they haven’t recovered all of her remains, leaving questions unanswered.

Montilla is currently being held in jail while awaiting trial for two murders, including that of Esther Estepa. While trial dates haven’t been set, they are anticipated later this year. Even the director of the documentary The TikTok Killer, Muniente, admits the timeline of the case is complicated. This is partly because the police haven’t cooperated with the film, as the legal proceedings are still ongoing.

Esther’s family continues to recognize August 23 as the anniversary of her death.

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2026-03-06 23:07