The crime of Gádor is the name given to the kidnapping and subsequent murder of seven-year-old Bernardo González Parra, which took place on June 28, 1910 in

Gádor Gádor is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Almería (province), Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. The crime of Gádor, murder of Bernardo Gonzalez Parra by Francisco Leona happened on 28 June 1910 in Gá ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

, Spain. The purpose of the crime was to use the child's blood and body fat as a folk cure for a wealthy patron's tuberculosis.

Background

At the time, it was believed that drinking the

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

of a human child and using their body fat as cataplasm was a remedy for

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Francisco Ortega ''El Moruno'' (''The Moor'') had recently been diagnosed with

and was desperately seeking a cure. He visited the local

curandera A ''curandero'' (, "healer"; f. , also spelled , , f. ) is a traditional native healer or shaman found primarily in Latin America and also in the United States. A curandero is a specialist in traditional medicine whose practice can either cont ...

Agustina Rodríguez, who in turn sent for the barber and healer Francisco Leona. Leona, who also had a criminal record, agreed to cure Ortega in exchange for 3000 reales. Leona and Julio ''El Tonto'' (''The Fool'') Hernández, Agustina's son, offered to find a child. On the evening of June 27, 1910, Francisco Leona kidnapped Bernardo González Parra, a seven-year-old from Rioja, drugged him with

chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organochloride with the formula and a common solvent. It is a volatile, colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to refrigerants and po ...

and put him in a sack.

Murder

A brother of Julio "Tonto" Hernández, José Hernández, was to advise the client Ortega, leaving his wife Elena to make dinner. While Julio Hernández ''el Tonto'' distracted him, Leona covered Bernardo's mouth with a handkerchief bathed in

. After that, both of them introduced the infant to a gunny sack to move him to a cortijo. Leona lay Bernardo down on a table, and held by the others, he stabbed him in the

armpit The axilla (: axillae or axillas; also known as the armpit, underarm or oxter) is the area on the human body directly under the shoulder joint. It includes the axillary space, an anatomical space within the shoulder girdle between the arm an ...

while Agustina Rodríguez picked up the blood with a cooking pot and gave to Francisco Ortega. Ortega mixed his blood with sugar and drank it. After that they took the boy to a place known as Las Pocicas where Leona killed him, crushing his skull with a rock. Then he extracted

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

and

mesentery In human anatomy, the mesentery is an Organ (anatomy), organ that attaches the intestines to the posterior abdominal wall, consisting of a double fold of the peritoneum. It helps (among other functions) in storing Adipose tissue, fat and allowi ...

to make a compress to apply to Ortega's chest. To finish the ritual, Bernardo's body was concealed in a crevice, unburied but covered with herbs and stones, located in Las Pocicas. When distributing the actual 3000 reales Ortega paid him for his services, Leona didn't share it out equally so Julio Hernández resorted to authorities and declared the crime. Realizing Leona's intentions, Hernández told the Civil Guards who had seen the body of a child while he was chasing

partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They ar ...

Judicial and police intervention

When law enforcement officers arrived, the people of Gádor turned Leona over to them, as he was known for his illegal and occult practices. During court proceedings, Leona indicted ''el Tonto'' Hernández in his testimony, who in turn did the same to Leona. Finally, after multiple excuses, both confessed to the crime. Most of the perpetrators were executed by hanging. Leona was sentenced to death by

garrote A garrote ( ; alternatively spelled as garotte and similar variants)''Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spelling variant. or garrote vil () is ...

, but died in prison. The client, Ortega, and Agustina, the

, were both sentenced to

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

. José Hernández, was sentenced to 17 years in prison while his wife, Elena, was acquitted. Julio ''el Tonto'' was sentenced to death, too, but received a pardon on grounds of insanity following a psychiatric report.

Francisco Leona Romero

Francisco Leona (1835–1910) was a Spanish child killer,

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...

curandero A ''curandero'' (, "healer"; f. , also spelled , , f. ) is a traditional native healer or shaman found primarily in Latin America and also in the United States. A curandero is a specialist in traditional medicine whose practice can either con ...

, and

Sacamantecas Sacamantecas ("Fat extractor" in Spanish) or mantequero''Al Sur de Granada'', pages 190-193, Gerald Brenan, 1997, Fábula - Tusquets Editores. Originally ''South from Granada'', 1957 ("Fat seller/maker") is the Spanish name for a kind of bogeyman ...

from the region of

, who was arrested and convicted of murdering seven-year-old Bernardo Gonzalez Parra for the purpose of using the boy's blood and fat as a

treatment for a wealthy farmer, Francisco Ortega.

Aftermath

This crime gave rise to the terms '' Hombre del saco'' and ''

'', because the kidnapers used a

gunny sack A gunny sack, also known as a gunny shoe, burlap sack, hessian sack or tow sack, is a large Bag, sack, traditionally made of burlap (Hessian fabric) formed from jute, hemp, sisal, or other natural fibres, usually in the crude Spinning (textile ...

to carry the child. It was defined as "medical crime", inspired by folk beliefs about the medicinal properties of

human blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is compo ...

and children's '' manteca''. A TV episode named ''El sacamantecas'' was released in 1986. Between 1990 and 2000 Quina Jiménez bought the cortijo and she restyled it. A documentary directed by Juan Francisco Viruega and named ''La cicatriz'' was released on 21 November 2019 during the Festival de Cine de Almería. The film '' The Boogeyman: The Origin of the Myth'' (2023), directed by Ángel Gómez Hernández, was inspired by this crime.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crime of Gádor 1910 in Spain Deaths by person in Spain History of Almería June 1910 in Europe Tuberculosis European traditional medicine 1910s murders in Spain Incidents of cannibalism