Viewers have been emotional watching The Asunta Case, a new series on Netflix that looks at the investigation into the tragic murder of Asunta Fong Yang at the hands of her adoptive parents, Alfonso Basterra and Rosario Porto.
The pair were both sentenced to 18 years in prison for their role in murdering their daughter, but Alfonso has spoken about her death since his prison sentence in Teixeiro. In a letter to his former partner, he writes that he planned to die by suicide, saying: “ I want you to imagine me next to the little bird, my little peponcita, whom I miss so much.”
El Correo also reported that Alfonso sent another letter to the producers of the documentary Lo que la verdad esconde: el caso Asunta, which translates to Where the Truth Goes: the Case of Asunta.
In 2017, three years before the death of his ex-wife, Rosario Porto, he wrote: “When I regain my freedom, I have the firm intention of disappearing, no one will hear from me again, not even Rosario Porto. I only have one reason to stay alive, which is none other than to be a free man again and reunite with my girl, never before.
“In fact, I’ve already thought about how and where, I just don’t know when, but everything comes [eventually].”
When will Alfonso be released from prison?
Alfonso is currently 11 years into his sentence and will be eligible for an ‘open regime’ within the Spanish prison system in 2025, where he will be eligible for additional freedoms. However, he has claimed that he plans to remain imprisoned for every day of his sentence to prove his innocence. Rosario died by suicide in November 2020 while in prison after several attempts, one in 2017 and another in 2018.
The couple have maintained their innocence, and no clear motive has been established in the years since, with theories including that the pair wanted to be childfree, Alfonso wanted the murder to keep him connected to Rosario, whom he had recently separated from, or that they wanted access to Asunta’s inheritance.
Viewers' reaction to The Asunta Case
Discussing the new show on X, formerly known as Twitter, one person wrote: “When we fail to protect our children, we fail to safeguard our future, it’s that simple. Stop victimizing children by commodifying them for crimes of adoption. #theasuntacase," while another person wrote: “#TheAsuntaCase was a riveting docu-series that kept me on the edge of what really happened.. It's a hard watch but don't read up about the case if you plan to watch it.”
A third person wrote: “So #TheAsuntaCase has given me a headache. I don't trust neither of those parents. The dad is the only one still alive and he still hasn't said anything? The mother was obviously mentally ill but I don't think she would have pulled off that murder by herself.”