Enriqueta Martí Ripollés (1868[1] – 12 May 1913)[2] was a Spanish child serial killer, kidnapper, prostitute and procuress of children.

[3] Some researchers have, however, asserted that she was not a killer of children, but rather a person with mental disorders who can only be proven reliably to have abducted one young girl, Teresita Guitart.

[1] According to Pujaló, Martí's affairs with other men, her unpredictable character, and her continuous visits to houses of ill repute caused the separation.

[10] By night she attended the El Liceu, the Casino de la Arrabassada [es], and other places where the wealthy of Barcelona gathered likely offering her services as a procurer of children.

[11] She claimed drinking the blood of children could cure tuberculosis, and offered creams and elixirs that could stop ageing and prolong life.

Martí offered salves, ointments, filters, poultices, and potions, especially to treat tuberculosis, which was highly feared at the time, and various other incurable diseases.

[12] During the Tragic Week of 1909, she was arrested at her flat on Barcelona's carrer Minerva, along with a young man from a wealthy family, and accused of running a brothel that offered sexual services from children.

The mattress-maker informed a municipal agent, Jose Asens, of Elías' suspicions and he, in turn, communicated this to the chief of the Ribot brigade.

Martí cut Congost's hair and changed her name to Felicidad,[7] telling the child she no longer had parents and was to call her "mama" from then on.

[13] Angelita's identity was more difficult to pinpoint as she did not know her real surname but confirmed Martí's claim that her father was called Juan.

In it, there were fifty pitchers, jars, and washbowls, with preserved human remains: greasy lard, coagulated blood, children's hair, skeletons of hands, powdered bones,[13] and pots with the potions, ointments, and salves already prepared for sale.

[20] In the garden of the house on carrer Jocs Florals, they found the skull of a three-year-old child, and a series of bones that corresponded to 3, 6 and 8-year-old children.

[citation needed] In Martí's flat they found curious things: an ancient book with parchment covers, a book of notes where she had written recipes and potions in elegant calligraphy, a package of letters and notes written in coded language, and a list with names of families and important figures in Barcelona.

[22] With events of the Tragic Week in their minds, and fearing riots, authorities calmed the public with newspaper articles explaining that the list contained the names of people that Martí had begged from, and that they had been swindled by the lies and requests of the murderer.

[2] Martí was interrogated about the presence of Teresita Guitart in her house and explained that she had found the girl, lost and hungry, the day before in the Ronda de Sant Pau.

Martí claimed that she studied human anatomy, but under pressure from the interrogators she confessed that she was a healer and used children as raw material for the production of her remedies.

[7] She claimed to be an expert, and knew how to make the best remedies and preparations that were highly sought after by wealthy people of good social position.

Martí displayed an extraordinary kindness to the exhausted and hungry woman after a very long journey from their land and was allowed to hold the child.

Reviewing the journalistic chronicles that were published at the time, he warned that many articles were based on the rough information that was available in the first days, but there were no subsequent investigative follow-ups.

[5] In the opinion of Corominas, Martí was in fact a woman devastated by the death of a child, barely ten months old, from malnutrition.

"[5] The facet of Enriqueta Martí as a serial killer would be, for Corominas, part of an unfounded black legend to cover cases of sexual scandals involving minors by the upper classes of society and the kidnapping of children for the cure of conditions afflicting the upper classes of the time.

"[5] In his book, Corominas explains that the remains of blood found in her house belonged to Enriqueta, who suffered from cancer of the uterus that caused her vaginal haemorrhages.

[5] On the other hand, the skeletal remains found were not shown to be of recently murdered children, according to Corominas they were probably extracted from some cemetery and used as magical amulets, and others were animals used for cooking, chicken and pork bones.

[5] Historian Elsa Plaza spent seven years studying the case of Enriqueta Martí and has written a book, El Cielo Bajo Los Pies (The Sky Underfoot), which brings to light information about the woman herself.

Plaza explains that since 1912 Barcelona has referred to Martí as a serial killer though: "Enriqueta was never formally charged with murder nor was any corpse of a child found in her home."

Nobody thought that blood found in her flat could belong to Martí herself; she was shown to be dying of uterine cancer and often bled heavily.

When the bones found in one of Martí's houses (in carrer Picalquers) were determined to be from multiple animals instead of from children, the assembled journalists almost attacked the doctor who made the announcement.

Martí's case was fodder for nascent tabloid journalism; she became the ideal scapegoat to blame for the missing children.

The stolen (or sold by their parents to ease economic hardship) children were useful for: begging, illegal adoptions, child abuse, or exploitation in factories where the hard work was crippling.