A local tarot card reader named Norma Beatriz traveled with tourists along the Rambla in Barcelona, weaving stories about life and luck. In 2003, she crossed paths with Ana Maria Martins, a nurse from Sant Feliu de Llobregat who was clearly in a difficult period. Like many who turn to fortune tellers in hard times, Ana became a target for manipulation, and Norma spent as she pleased. Yet Ana’s fate differs from the usual pattern—the search for fortune-telling profit ends with a harsher reality on a farm near Lloret de Mar, where a crime scene leaves a person buried from sight. Norma narrowly escaped a harsher fate herself.
“In the final six months of her life, Ana, then 32 and living in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, made drastic moves. She sold her house and car, applied for a bank loan, and borrowed money from her recently broken-up ex-husband,” explains Joseph Hyacinth, chief commissioner of the National Police. The investigator who reviewed records for EL PERIÓDICO, part of the Prensa Ibérica group, pieces together the timeline.
Missing
Early in 2004, Ana vanished. Her family reported the truth only after several days. The woman had shown interest in pursuing a better future elsewhere, but authorities initially believed it was a voluntary departure. The Mossos d’Esquadra and, later, the withdrawal of the National Police from similar cases, delayed a robust search for nine long years—until 2013.
During a moment of distress, the SOS association for relatives of missing persons described an incident in which Ana’s family sought comfort. An anonymous call from an Argentine individual suggested that Ana had not left by choice and warned that someone had manipulated circumstances, leading to financial ruin and murder.
The investigators later confirmed that Ana did not renew her national identification between 2004 and 2013 and had traveled no borders during that period. Financial movements ceased in 2004, and those who had lived with her recalled that she left behind belongings not belonging to her, hinting at a life left behind rather than a voluntary exit.
Tracing the financial trail, authorities discovered the shipping company that facilitated a transfer tied to Norma Beatriz. This clue connected Ana’s disappearance to Norma, who had returned to Argentina years earlier in 2013. The thread, when pulled, broadened the search and pointed toward a man still living in Catalonia. Jose Maria, a retired builder, would become a central figure in the unfolding story.
Soon after the National Police intensified their inquiry, a call to Inter-SOS was received again. A voice with an Argentine accent named Ana as the victim—buried on a Lloret de Mar farm. Jose Maria owned machinery suitable for digging and possessed a farm in that town, including land he had divided to give to Norma. The police tightened the circle around him.
“Yeah you’re late”
Jose Maria eventually confessed. The commissioner recalls that the timeline was stretched by delays in the investigation, with the contractor noting that inquiries would have come sooner if not for the long wait. Norma and Jose Maria described a plan hatched in early 2004: Norma, financially exhausted and convinced that Ana’s illness would worsen, asked him to pick up Ana from a train station one night. Jose Maria complied, and the two women were driven to his Lloret de Mar mansion, a large, older property on land near the outskirts.
Inside the garage, Jose Maria left the two women briefly unattended. When he returned, he found Ana lifeless, bleeding in a pool of blood. Norma allegedly departed then, promising to return to dispose of the body. Days passed before Jose Maria decided to conceal Ana by placing her remains in a drum on his farm. That version later framed Norma’s role and raised questions about her involvement, while Jose Maria provided an account of events.
Find out
The National Police obtained a court order granting 24 hours to locate the drum. A backhoe was brought in, using the same ground-penetrating radar employed in other high-profile searches. Moments before midnight, the metallic arm struck the drum, and nine years of quiet finally gave way to truth.
Norma was arrested in Argentina and extradited in 2015. She faced trial in Spain, but before it could proceed against her and Jose Maria, she was released on bail and fled back to Argentina, where she eventually died of natural causes last year.
“If justice had been swift, the case would have been prosecuted earlier,” laments Montserrat Torruella, head of Inter-SOS, highlighting how the long wait compounded the suffering of Ana’s family. The pain lingered and affected health, underscoring the lasting impact of unresolved crimes on loved ones.