Two people have been arrested on suspicion of murder thanks to a Google Street View image.
It appears to show a man putting a bulky sack into a car boot – and police said it had been a significant clue in their investigation into a man reportedly missing since November last year.
The picture, taken in the tiny hamlet of Tajueco in the northern Spanish province of Soria, shows a man bending over the boot of a Rover, half covering a bulky white sack.
Another image, captured earlier by Google, appears to show someone pushing a white object in a wheelbarrow.
According to local media, the case is being treated as murder.
Spanish newspaper El Pais said text messages and other evidence led to the arrest of two people for allegedly killing and dismembering a Cuban citizen.
Police started investigating when a relative reported his disappearance after receiving messages saying he had found a new partner and would be leaving the area and getting rid of his phone.
The relative suspected the messages had not been sent by the missing man, so reported it to police.
A woman, reported to be the victim’s partner, and a man, who had once been her partner, were arrested in November.
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Police found human remains, including a badly decomposed torso, buried at a cemetery in a town in Soria.
The remains could be from the missing person, officers said.
Police were keen to highlight the role Google Maps had in helping the investigation, saying it was “one of the clues that investigators had to use to solve the crime”.
They went on to say the footage had helped “detect a vehicle that could have been used in the course of the crime”.