One of the most prolific sculptors and retablists of the 18th century in the north of Spain was Diego Camporredondo, a resident of Calahorra and author of outstanding works in the Navarrese towns of Lerín, Corella, Puente la Reina and Lodosa. His disappearance has been, until recent times, a real mystery, at a time when the master was old and tired, although full of vanity, when he became position of the extension of the main altarpiece of Peralta, completing with two side streets the altarpiece that shortly before had made the best of the Aragonese sculptors of the time: José Ramírez.

His death occurred in that Navarrese town and not in natural circumstances, since he was murdered by the local surgeon, in the context of a bitter discussion about the work that was to be undertaken. All the details of that event can be found in a judicial process litigated in the Navarrese courts. The facts and details of the judicial evidence recreate a reality that seems more like a novel.

A summary of what happened can be summarized as follows: his project for the enlargement of the altarpiece was preferred to the one presented by the Madrid-based master José Ochoa, brother of the local surgeon, Fermín Ochoa. The latter, after some altercations and disagreements, wounded Camporredondo next to the bridge of Peralta, with result of death. Many of the witnesses speak of the reasons for the discord between Ochoa and Camporredondo, citing the valuation of the design of José Ochoa for the widening of the altarpiece of Peralta, which the master of Calahorra wanted to send to the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid.

Fight on the bridge
The events happened around three o'clock and average or four in the afternoon of November 5, 1772, when Camporredondo was walking in the middle of the bridge over the Arga River and crossed Fermín Ochoa. After a violent and defiant look, both got into a fistfight, Camporredondo tried to take a knife out of his pocket, Ochoa pounced on him and, according to several witnesses, "tackled him and gave him a fuck", while holding the sculptor with his knee on his chest.
After hitting him a few times, Ochoa continued on his way, but not before threatening him again. The sculptor sat up, put on his cap, but blood was coming out of his mouth and nose, asking for water from a woman, who asked him what had happened. The wounded man answered that "it had been the chimera because he had told Ochoa that he was looking at him". When they were trying to reach a nearby house, he had to lie down on the bridge, and a couple of men had to help him. Before reaching the house's portal , his face changed color as he moaned. His bearers sat him on a chair and later on a mattress, where he died immediately.

The death certificate was registered in the corresponding sacramental book of the parish of San Juan Evangelista of Peralta as follows: "on the fifth of November of one thousand seven hundred and seventy-two died violently Don Diego Camporredondo, native and neighbor of the city of Calahorra, master sculptor and resident in this town, for which reason there was no place to administer any sacrament and his corpse was buried in the parish of this town of Peralta and I signed it, Don Antonio Moreno, vicar".his corpse was buried in the parish church of this town of Peralta and in witness thereof I signed it, Don Antonio Moreno, Vicar". The same day, November 5, Juan José Fernández, surgeon of Funes, recognized the corpse and the judge ordered its removal. The following day the same surgeon, accompanied by his colleague from Falces, Luis Atondo, made a statement on the possible causes of the sculptor's death. They both confirmed the inexistence of external injuries, only appreciating ¿a considerable contusion in the upper part of the stomach without effusion of blood or rupture of his tunics", which perhaps could have been made with a stick, the tip of the foot or something similar. The opinion of the two surgeons ended with these words: "as far as we feel, according to the opinion of the ancient and modern surgeons, it is necessarily mortal and even more so since Camporredondo is very old and at the same time with some replexion in the stomach".

Justice takes action
As a result of these events, the machinery of justice was set in motion, issuing a search and arrest warrant for the surgeon, as well as the seizure of all his assets. Meanwhile, Fermín Ochoa had taken refuge in the convent of Capuchinos de Peralta, to flee, later on horseback, taking advantage of the darkness of the night. The The mortal remains of the victim were buried on November 6 in the old parish church of San Juan Evangelista de Peralta, in the grave of Don Javier Argaiz.

After those moments, the most tragic of the event, the prosecutor began to collect evidence from sixty-four witnesses, through which we know the summary of the facts. Some of the questions of the interrogations focused on the motive or the causes of the enmity between Camporredondo and Fermín Ochoa. The declarations of the first witnesses began to provide testimonies that spoke of the enmity between the two because of the design and execution of the sides of the high altar of the parish of Peralta. One of them affirmed: "look at what the rogue murderer has ended up doing with the design, how he kept it for himself".

Among the most reliable testimonies is that of Ramón Escudero, the town's resident royal notary. According to his statement, Diego de Camporredondo made a report and report on the project that the surgeon's brother, the Madrid-based sculptor José Ochoa, had proposed for the expansion of the main altarpiece of the parish. The board of trustees opted for the plan presented by the Calaguritan, according to which it was being executed. Logically, the commission would have been given to José Ochoa, a master who until then had been trusted by the town, since the previous year, in January 1771, he had been the master of the altarpiece of the parish church.
the previous year, in January 1771, he had recognized the main body of the altarpiece that José Ramírez had worked on.

Camporredondo's intervention and the awarding of the work were very poorly accepted by the Ochoas and, particularly, by the surgeon. The latter asked for the amount of the traces that his brother had drawn up and the board of trustees asked Camporredondo to fix a price. As the latter was late in making the estimate, Fermín Ochoa passed him notice in September, when his brother José was in Peralta, to try to set the price. The Calaguritan master's answer was negative, arguing that the design had to be presented at the Academy in Madrid and that it would be appraised there". However, the town, as an integral part of the board of trustees of the parish, urged him and Camporredondo affirmed that the design was not suitable for the place where the enlargement of the altarpiece was to be placed and that it was hardly worth anything. Other witnesses went further, stating that the surgeon had threatened Camporredondo with revenge, even if it was on the same day of Corpus Christi.

The surgeon turned himself in submission
In the month of May of 1773, the homicidal surgeon gave himself up in the town of Arnedillo, and made his declaration in the jail of Pamplona on May 12 of that year. From his testimony we know that he was 50 years old, that he was a native of Tafalla and that he was married. The summary of what happened the day of these proceedings was, according to his testimony, the following: when crossing the bridge, when he was leaving the town and Camporredondo was returning to it, in the vicinity of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love of the Virgin of Pero, he took off his hat to say hello, saying: "It seems that you are looking at me with a bad eye", to which he said: "You seem to be looking at me with a bad eye". As the sculptor continued pronouncing some expressions against him, the surgeon grabbed him telling him not to provoke him any more, but Camporredondo approached him and "gave him two bruises", trying to find a knife that in a struggle and, once on the ground, the surgeon snatched it from him. The Calagurritano master in turn took the cane from him and insulted him by calling him a ¿rogue and a scoundrel". When he learned of the sculptor's death, he fled Navarre, after having taken refuge for a few hours in the Capuchin convent of Peralta.

Meanwhile, in March, the son of the deceased teacher, Bernardo Camporredondo, declared in Peralta his conviction that Fermín Ochoa had not wanted to kill his father and that everything had been a product of chance, forgiving him. The same Bernardo affirmed in another procedural diligence that it was true that his father used to carry a small knife, which was the one that the surgeon had taken from him in the quarrel and fight. At the same time, Ochoa asked for testimonial evidence to prove that he had no disaffection with Diego Camporredondo, as well as to prove that he was a good surgeon. The sentence of the Royal committee of Navarra was a six-year prison sentence, to be served in the citadel of San Sebastian.

The records of the process contain 130 pages written by the imprisoned surgeon, which are degree scroll: dissertation chirúrgicoapologética that Fermín Ochoa, master surgeon writes in his defense on the contusion and death of Don Diego Camporredondo of which he is accused and on the nullity of the declarations of the surgeons of Falces, Milagro and Funes. Its content is divided into four parts; in the first he refers to "the truthful relation from the moment of the pendency to the apoplectic insult", the second deals with the cause, the third with the prognosis and the fourth and last with the reckless assessment.