on the day they were going to kill him

Radley Balko says it's "Life Imitates The Simpsons," in this everyone-is-a-suspect murder case....

Miguel Grima was not a well-liked man. As mayor of a tiny hamlet in the foothills of the Pyrenees in northern Spain he had ruffled a few feathers.

The farmers turned against him when he put a stop to the centuries-old custom of herding livestock through village.

The hunters got annoyed when he refused to issue them with shooting licences and the local drinkers revolted after he prevented the settlement's only bar from setting out tables on the terrace in summer.

He had repeatedly received anonymous threatening letters and reportedly told friends recently that he feared for his life and he was considering standing down as mayor of Fago at the next election.

So last Friday evening when he failed to return home from a late council meeting in a nearby town, his wife took his absence seriously and contacted police.

...but for my English teacher purposes, it's more like life imitating Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Which, incidentally, is our next book of study in the junior classes. How perfect.