Enriqueta Martí preyed on children from Barcelona’s most impoverished neighbourhoods in the years before the First World War.
Her case emerged at a time when rapid urban growth left many families without reliable protection for their young. Official records show that several children vanished from the streets of the Raval and Poble Sec districts between 1909 and 1912. Martí, a woman in her forties who moved between domestic work and informal healing practices, came under suspicion only after one of the missing children was discovered alive inside her flat.
Contemporary police files and later historical accounts describe a pattern of abduction followed by prolonged concealment. The investigation revealed that Martí had used at least two addresses to keep children hidden from their families. When officers searched the properties they found clothing, toys and human remains consistent with the disappearances reported in the preceding months.
Background
Barcelona at the turn of the twentieth century experienced intense industrial expansion. Migrants arrived from rural Catalonia and beyond in search of factory work, yet housing remained scarce and wages low. Children as young as five often contributed to household income through street vending or domestic tasks. This environment created opportunities for individuals prepared to exploit parental absences.
Martí was born in 1868 in Sant Feliu de Llobregat and moved to Barcelona in her twenties. She worked intermittently as a seamstress and later offered remedies for common childhood illnesses. Neighbours recalled her offering to watch children for short periods, sometimes in exchange for small payments or goods. These arrangements appear to have provided the initial contact with the families whose children later disappeared.
The Disappearances
Police registers list at least five children reported missing in central Barcelona during 1911 and early 1912. Among them were boys and girls aged between three and nine. In each instance the parents had left the child briefly unattended or in the care of an acquaintance. Martí was not immediately linked to these cases because she maintained a low profile and changed addresses frequently.
When officers eventually entered her flat on Calle Poniente they found a three-year-old girl who had been missing for several weeks. The child was malnourished and bore signs of prolonged confinement. Further searches uncovered bones and fragments of clothing that forensic examination later associated with other missing children. These discoveries shifted the investigation from simple missing-person enquiries to a homicide inquiry.
Investigation and Arrest
Detectives followed leads from neighbours who had seen Martí with young children at unusual hours. One witness described her carrying a heavy sack down a staircase late at night. Another recalled the sound of children crying behind the walls of her building. These statements, combined with the physical evidence recovered from the flat, led to her arrest in March 1912.
During interrogation Martí offered inconsistent accounts of how the children had come into her care. She claimed at different times that the children were orphans she intended to place with families or that they had been brought to her for medical treatment. No records supported either explanation. The remains found on the premises could not be fully identified, yet their presence strengthened the case that multiple children had died while under her control.
Trial Proceedings and Death in Custody
Martí was charged with kidnapping and homicide. The case attracted considerable attention from the Barcelona press, which published daily updates on the search for additional victims. Court documents indicate that prosecutors intended to present testimony from surviving relatives and medical experts who had examined the remains.
Before the trial could conclude, Martí died in prison in May 1913. Official records list the cause as natural illness, though contemporary reports speculated about suicide. Her death left several questions unanswered and prevented a full judicial examination of the evidence. Families of the missing children received no formal resolution.
Social and Legal Context
The Martí case highlighted weaknesses in early twentieth-century child protection in Spain. Municipal authorities had limited resources for tracking missing children, and welfare services for the poor were minimal. The episode prompted calls for improved record-keeping of street children and stricter oversight of individuals offering informal childcare.
Historians note that the affair also reflected broader anxieties about urban poverty and the perceived threat posed by women operating outside conventional family structures. Newspapers of the period often framed Martí as an aberration, yet the structural conditions that allowed her activities to continue for years received less sustained attention.
Conclusion
Enriqueta Martí’s crimes exposed the vulnerability of children in Barcelona’s overcrowded districts during a period of rapid social change. The investigation established that she had abducted and concealed several young victims, though the precise number remains uncertain because of incomplete records and her death before trial. The case continues to illustrate the consequences of inadequate safeguards for the city’s poorest families at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Bibliography
Ballesteros, J. (2015) Enriqueta Martí: la mujer que robaba niños. Barcelona: Editorial Base.
Comas, J. (2009) ‘El caso de la vampira de Barcelona’, Historia y Vida, 42(498), pp. 34–41.
García, M. (2018) Infancia abandonada en la Barcelona del siglo XX. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
Palomas, J. (2012) Cròniques del Raval: desaparicions infantils 1900–1920. Barcelona: Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat.
Police Archive of Barcelona (1912) Expediente 234/1912: Enriqueta Martí. Barcelona: Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat.
Salvat, R. (2004) La Barcelona negra: crims i misteris. Barcelona: Editorial Barcanova.
Villar, P. (2010) Los niños perdidos de la ciudad. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra.
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