Crime of Gádor

Francisco Leona c. 1910

At the time, it was believed that drinking the blood of a human child and using their body fat as cataplasm was a remedy for tuberculosis.[2]

Francisco Ortega El Moruno (The Moor) had recently been diagnosed with tuberculosis and was desperately seeking a cure.[3] He visited the local curandera Agustina Rodriguez, who in turn sent for the barber and healer Francisco Leona.[3] Leona, who also had a criminal record, agreed to cure Ortega in exchange for 3000 reales.[3]

Leona and Julio El Tonto (The Fool) Hernández, a son of Agustina the healer, offered to find a child. On the evening of June 27, 1910, Francisco Leona kidnapped Bernardo Gonzalez Parra, a seven year old from Rioja, drugged him with chloroform and put him in a sack.[4]

A brother of Julio "Tonto" Hernández, Joseph Hernández, was to advise the client Ortega, leaving his wife Elena to make dinner.

Little Bernardo's murder was as follows: after he was removed from the sack, dazed, Bernardo was stabbed in the heart by Leona, and Ortega mixed his blood with sugar and drank it.[4] 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 and mesentery 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 Ortega paid him for his services, the healer Leona tried and failed to trick his accomplice Tonto Hernández. Realizing Leona's intentions, Hernández told the Civil Guard who had seen the body of a child while he was chasing partridges.

Cortijo de San Patricio at present

When law enforcement officers arrived, the people of Gádor turned Leona over to them, as he was known for his illegal and occult practices.[5] During court proceedings, Leona indicted el Tonto Hernández in his testimony, who in turn did the same to Leona.[5] Finally, after multiple excuses, both confessed to the crime.[6]

Most of the perpetrators were executed by hanging.[4] Leona was sentenced to death by garrote, but died in prison.[7] The client, Ortega, and Agustina, the curandera, were both sentenced to death.[7] Joseph 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.[7][8][9]

This crime gave rise to the terms Hombre del saco and Sacamantecas,[10] because the kidnapers used a gunny sack to carry the children.[11] It was defined as "medical crime," inspired by folk beliefs about the medicinal properties of human blood and children's manteca.[12]

A TV episode named El sacamantecas was released in 1986.[13] A documentary directed by Juan Francisco Viruega and named La cicatriz was released on 21 November 2019 during the Festival de Cine de Almería.[14][15]