"The Barcelona Vampire" Enriqueta Marti and her creepy business on children's lives

Female killers are rare. But they do exist, and their crimes are often shocking in their monstrosity. Spanish woman Enriqueta Marti went down in history as a killer of children and teenagers, with at least 30 lives to her credit. This woman was not crazy - she was driven solely by the thirst for profit.

Enriqueta Martí was born in 1868 in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, near Barcelona, in Catalonia. She grew up in a poor family, and from the age of 14 she had to work as a nanny and laundress for wealthy neighbors. Since childhood, Enriqueta observed the lives of wealthy people and dreamed of living richly, denying herself nothing.

By the time she came of age, Marti realized that she wouldn't get rich by looking after other people's children. So she moved to Barcelona and started working as a prostitute. Enriqueta was quite attractive, so she had no problems with clients. At 27, she had the opportunity to return to normal life and start a family - Marti was proposed to by a young artist, Juan Pujalo.

They got married and lived together for 10 years. The couple even had a child, but he died soon after. After the baby's death, family life went wrong, and Enriqueta and Juan broke up. Later, Marti would prove during interrogations that she kidnapped children because of her longing for the lost child. Of course, this was a pure lie.

The years passed, and the demand for the services of the already elderly prostitute fell. Then Enriqueta, who already had some capital, decided to open her own business. Of course, it was a brothel, which received its first customers in 1909. But the new place of vice was lost among the many similar establishments in Barcelona, and business was far from the best. Then Marty realized that she needed to offer something that would attract customers and make her brothel special.

And she began hiring children and teenagers to provide sex services. Rich perverts quickly appreciated the new services, and money flowed to the scoundrel like a river. The thirst for profit clouded Enriqueta's mind, and she began to steal children on the streets of Barcelona. Her victims were girls and boys aged 3 to 13.

But soon the police became interested in Marti's affairs. Her brothel was closed, and Enriqueta herself almost ended up behind bars. She was saved by the rich regulars of her establishment. They not only hired the best lawyers for her, but also helped her continue her dirty business. Having received solid bribes, the police no longer paid attention to the pedophile den, where child slaves provided services.

Over time, Enriqueta found her business unprofitable. She then decided to open a cosmetics production facility. Marti began offering wealthy ladies elixirs and creams that, she claimed, preserved beauty and restored youth. The products were expensive, as Enriqueta emphasized their uniqueness and the difficulty of obtaining ingredients.

Enriqueta was not lying, because in fact the raw materials from which she made her cosmetics were special. Marti used the blood, fat, bones, skin, brains and bile of small children. She kidnapped them, as before, from the streets of Barcelona, mainly from poor neighborhoods.

Enriqueta Martí dressed as a beggar and spent hours wandering the slums of Barcelona, looking for victims. The locals got used to her presence, gave her alms and sometimes treated her to food. No one could even imagine that this middle-aged woman in rags was involved in the regular disappearances of children, which had already managed to frighten the entire city.

As Enriqueta's products became popular, some of her customers learned of their origins. But that only made the soaps, creams, and lotions more appealing to them, since people have always believed in the magical powers contained in dead human tissue.

The police responded formally to reports from poor families about missing children: the reports were accepted, but the case was not pursued. Everything changed on February 10, 1912, when Marti accidentally kidnapped a five-year-old girl from a wealthy and well-known family in the city - Teresita Guitart. The child's disappearance caused quite a stir. Hundreds of leaflets with a photograph of the girl were posted around the city, and the police began actively questioning residents in disadvantaged areas.

Soon an elderly woman was found who recognized the child in the photograph. She told the detectives that she had seen the girl with Enriqueta, the owner of the brothel. The police came up with a pretext to raid Marti. They told her that they were looking for city residents who were illegally keeping poultry - chickens, geese and ducks.

When Enriqueta let the police in, they conducted a thorough search that revealed her terrible secret. In the rooms above the brothel where the killer herself lived, they found the missing Teresita and another child. Fortunately, the woman did not have time to harm them. In addition, the detectives found many children's things and toys that pointed to her connection with the disappearances of other children.

But the police got a real shock when they entered a spacious room that the owner called "the kitchen." It turned out to be a real workshop for killing children and processing their bodies. Hooks hung from the ceiling, like in a butcher's shop, and terrible instruments lay on blood-stained tables.

In the corner of the room were large metal basins filled with the mangled remains of children. Enriqueta had just finished her work and had not yet managed to cover up the traces of the crime. One of the rescued girls told the police that she had seen Marty dismembering a child's body. In all, fragments of thirty children's corpses were found.

Enriqueta also had a large quantity of ready-made cosmetics, packaged in bottles and jars, confiscated. The brothel belonging to the killer was not overlooked either. In its rooms there were mainly children and a few frightened clients.

Among other things, Marty's belongings contained a notebook where she wrote down the names of all her clients and customers of cosmetics. The police and witnesses were struck by the contrast between the luxury of the owner's apartment and the terrible conditions in which her sex workers lived. Over the years of her work, Marty managed to amass a solid fortune from death and violence.

Enriqueta Martí was placed in prison for the duration of the investigation. There she attempted to commit suicide, but was stopped by the guards. But the "Vampire of Barcelona", as she was dubbed in the press, was not destined to live to see the trial. Her body, with signs of beatings and strangulation, was found in her cell.

Presumably, the serial killer was killed by other female prisoners, many of whom were mothers. But it is also impossible to rule out the possibility that Marty was killed on the orders of her clients, among whom were influential people. Few people wanted their names to be heard in court during a case of child murder and child abuse.

At the time of Marti's death, investigators were able to prove her involvement in 12 kidnappings and murders. The woman was suspected of another 18. After the serial killer was gone, the investigation was closed. The exact number of Enriqueta's victims is still unknown.

The story of Enriqueta Martí is shocking in its cruelty and leaves many questions. Who bears greater responsibility for these horrors - the criminal herself or the society that turned a blind eye to her actions? Do you think such crimes could go unnoticed in our time, given modern technology and control? Share your opinion in the comments!