The TikTok Killer is a 2-part docuseries, directed by Héctor Muniente, about the 2023 disappearance of Esther Estepa, a 42-year-old woman from Seville, Spain. The last person she was seen with was José Jurado Montilla, whose walking travels across Spain were documented on a popular TikTok feed. But as Montilla retraced his steps with Esther on his feed, determined to find her, a look into his past found that he had been accused of being a serial killer.
Opening Shot: Overhead shots of roads, with a man walking on them.
The Gist: The TikTok Killer starts in August of 2023, when Esther’s mother Pepa got some cryptic messages from Esther saying that she was leaving to Buenos Aires. But when she showed the messages to Esther’s sister Raquel, Raquel was sure that wasn’t her sending them.
Through interviews with Pepa and Raquel, as well as friends, we hear about Esther’s restless life, how she didn’t live in one place for more than a year, and how her nomadic ways sometimes led her to be in relationships with abusive men. One incident led her to a shelter, where she bonded with two other residents.
But then she met Montilla, and she walked with him around Spain for almost a month. Montilla wasn’t the usual TikToker, though; in his 60s, he had a craggy face, missing teeth and a world weariness that somehow mixed with a positive outlook about his fellow humans. He dove into the history of the places he visited, and his feed became popular because of it. He seemed to be the last person to see Esther alive, which is why he retraced his journey with her, talking about their “relationship” as he went. That relationship shocked Esther’s friends and family, as Montilla was decidedly not her type.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The TikTok Killer reminds us of Cooking Up Murder: The True Story of César Román, another Spanish true crime docuseries on Netflix,
Our Take: The TikTok Killer doesn’t set out to determine who exactly killed Esther Estepa, whose remains were found almost six months after her disappearance. Montilla is thought to have sexually assaulted and killed her, but he’s still awaiting trial. What the docuseries is looking to show is not only a look into the life and travels of Estepa, but about Montilla’s past and why he was a free man walking the country on his TikTok feed.
Even though he was sentenced to 123 years for the four murders he committed between 1985 and 1987, he only ended up serving 28 years, and we hope the second part of the series explains how that ended up happening. Still, through the videos from his TikTok feed, there seemed to be something a bit off about Montilla, despite his seemingly mild-mannered, almost literary talks he gave. It seemed especially weird when he started talking about an intimate relationship he claimed he had with Esther.
It will be interesting to see what finally got people to dig into Montilla’s past, and how they reacted when they found out who he was.
Performance Worth Watching: Shockingly, watching Montilla’s TikTok entries was the most fascinating aspect of the series.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Raquel says about Montilla, “Go ahead, laugh and post videos. But you’re the one giving us and the police evidence of what you did to my sister.”
Sleeper Star: Raquel certainly has a realistic view of what Esther’s life was like and why some of the things Montilla said bout her made no sense.
Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.
Our Call: STREAM IT. The TikTok Killer tells the story about Esther Estepa in an efficient and effective manner, detailing just how a serial killer could end up being a TikTok star in the process.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.