96-year-old María was left alone at home. Good Friday, April 18, 2003. Her son had stepped out around noon to pick up his bride and their great-grandchild, staying nearby in case of a return visit. They planned to eat together, but time moved slowly and quietly away.
Maria has limited eyesight but manages day by day. She attends mass, buys bread, and enjoys simple walks. Her family is always near. The doorbell rings around one in the afternoon. María does not answer. Everyone in the family has a key, yet she hesitates. The bell keeps ringing. The old woman suspects it could be her granddaughter at the door.
“Police unit, tell me.” At two in the afternoon, 091 received the call. On the other end, María’s son speaks in a voice of real shock. He has just returned home to find his mother lying face down on the bedroom floor. Bruises mark her arms, her mouth is blocked by swelling and debris, and she is not breathing. She was found murdered at 71 Ayala Street in the Salamanca neighborhood.
That first act of violence was particularly brutal, and Madrid would soon face three months of terror: two murders, three attempted murders, and about twenty robberies. The assailant was identified as a 39-year-old woman, tall, of Gypsy descent, with long dark hair and a stocky frame. Encarnación Jiménez, nicknamed “mataviejas,” was the attacker. From Monday to Friday she worked in the mornings. The case would lead to a conviction of 152 years in prison for harassment, beating, tying up, and killing elderly women in their homes.
Photographs of Encarnación Jiménez Moreno after her arrest fill the record of the case. She stood in OPEN STATUS.
When María opened the door, there was no time to defend herself. Encarnación waited outside. The woman was murdered and robbed in under an hour. When María’s family returned, they could do nothing for her. The son, upon finding the scene after unlocking the door, discovered a cigarette butt on the floor and a disturbed entrance. Inside the living room, the upper part of María’s teeth lay on the ground, evidence of the first brutal blow.
There was no sound, just a heavy silence. The attacker told María’s husband and grandson not to go further. He found María in a shirt, her mouth obstructed by a prosthetic tooth that pressed against her throat, a doll dress left nearby. The autopsy attributed the death to suffocation.
€300 in cash and some jewelry were missing, valued at about €598 in total according to the police report, including María’s wedding ring inscribed with “MI 30.5.30.” A neighbor recalled a dark-dressed woman with brown hair knocking on doors to sell something, noting she appeared Gypsy in appearance.
shameless
When María answered the door, Encarnación was there. The killer struck quickly, stealing and leaving before help could arrive. The son, upon opening the door with the key, found a cigarette butt at the entrance and a messy scene. The upper dental work of María lay on the floor, evidence of the violence that followed the knock.
There were no sounds, only a haunting quiet. The attacker ordered the family not to go further as he searched the living areas. María lay bound, her blouse torn, her prosthesis displaced, and a doll’s dress found at the scene. The autopsy confirmed suffocation as the cause of death.
€300 in cash and several pieces of jewelry were missing, totaling around €598 according to the police report, including María’s wedding ring. A neighbor later reported seeing a dark-dressed, brown-haired woman in the area who looked like a gypsy, and had knocked on doors to sell items.
“Please, I’m Diabetic”
20 May. Karmen, an 81-year-old, was cleaning the door of her house on Los Urquiza Street (Quintana) when a dark-haired woman approached. She claimed not to feel well and fainted, requesting a glass of water. As Karmen stepped aside to fetch it, the visitor entered, but the moment she re-entered the house, the intruder forced her to the floor.
In that quick moment, the attacker bound Karmen’s feet with socks or cloths, then searched the house and grabbed a purse containing €1,413 in cash along with jewelry. The thief left, smoking a cigarette in the process, and Karmen was left tied up and alone.
A few days later the same pattern repeated in the Haliana neighborhood. An 88-year-old woman named Carmen opened her door to a stranger who, appearing frail and thin, knocked her down and assaulted her with a single forceful blow, uttering a robbery as the motive.
Mercedes, 76, was visited by Mataviejas on June 7. A push, a few blows, and she was left with more than €40 in cash and some jewelry. The thief smoked while walking around and left the scene with the victim bound. “Please, I’m diabetic, I need to give myself insulin, don’t tie me up,” she pleaded. The thief was unsympathetic and left after more than twelve hours, with a neighbor eventually helping Mercedes.
Without pause, the attacks continued. The next incident occurred three days later at Plaza Bami in El Carmen. Evgenia, 80, opened the door to a visitor who claimed to be a social worker or a check on the water meter, and the intruder forced herself into the home and assaulted Evgenia. The attacker dragged Evgenia into a room and continued the violence, leaving the victim with injuries and trauma that persisted long afterwards. A week later another elderly victim endured a similar assault, suffering a heart attack later as a result.
Police officers issued a circular in April, May, and June urging special care for the elderly. Communities, victims, and housekeepers alike noted the pattern: the thief appeared in the neighborhood, often in the form of a well-dressed woman with fair skin and a stocky build, typically about 40 to 45 years old and roughly 1.60 meters tall with large dark eyes. She carried a black bag, smoked cigarettes at the scene, and did not wear gloves, leaving marks.
The trajectory continued through July. The attacker moved along several streets including Barquillo, Reina Victoria, Pedroñeras, García Llamas, Camarena, Lusitana, and Maldonado, always following the same brutal routine: ring the doorbell, push the occupant aside, drag the person into a back room, bind and gag them, then search for valuables while the victim is restrained. The violence escalated and even involved threats with a knife, with the attacker warning, “If you move I will kill you.”
Black Friday
The attacker began checking mailboxes for elderly residents, using deception to gain entry by claiming to be selling jewelry or posing as a relative. If a resident opened the door, the intruder would bind and gage them swiftly, including one incident where a pet dog’s actions aided the victim’s survival. The spree continued, growing more dangerous with each new home.
That fatal day arrived when a 64-year-old woman in Villaverde was found bound and suffocated in her pajamas, the home left in disarray. Neighbors later confirmed that a similar tactic had been used to enter several homes just minutes earlier.
We have it
Gospel, 88, was one of the last victims. Upon opening the door, she was pushed aside. The killer fled toward San Blas, attacking another woman observed by a rescuer who could describe the clothing she wore: pink shirt, black pants, and a shoulder bag. A patrol soon arrested the suspect in Usera after spotting her wandering through multiple entrances.
Authorities declared, “We found her.” Encarnación Jiménez was born on March 20, 1965 in Seville. At the time she was 38, a mother of five, married to a bricklayer, and kept the loot she took.
She denied the charges, claiming, “I’m just selling.” The suspect was transported to the Tetuán police station while fingerprints, DNA from cigarette butts, and statements from several victims confirmed the case. She received a 152-year sentence for murder, attempted murder, assault, theft, and trespassing. She did not express remorse.
Money and numerous stolen items were confiscated from her home. At the bottom of a vase wrapped in parchment paper lay María’s wedding ring, María being the first victim who died on that Good Friday night.