The crime of the woman buried in a drum in Lloret in 2004 remains unpunished

Lloret crime

The crime of Ana María Martos, the 32-year-old resident of Sant Feliu de Llobregat who disappeared in January 2004 and was found dead in June 2013 inside a drum buried on a farm in an urbanization in Lloret de Mar (Selva), has been unpunished.

The Court of Instruction 4 of Blanes, in response to the request of the prosecutor, has filed the case after the authorities of Argentina, where the tarot card reader investigated for the murder and the main suspect had fled, reported that she had died.

The court was also investigating Lloret's neighbor, former owner of the land where her body was found, who admitted to being the one who buried her body.

The file order indicates that "it is impossible to prosecute this defendant alone with the evidence currently existing."

Ana María's parents saw her for the last time on January 18, 2004 and reported her disappearance on February 23.

The police were unable to locate her and after nine years of confusion, in January 2013 the Inter SOS Foundation for missing persons received anonymous calls alerting that Norma Beatriz Kuike had kidnapped, swindled and murdered Ana María and that her body was buried on a farm in Rafael Alberti Street in Lloret Residencial.

The National Police registered the plot with a georadar and after hours with an excavator they located the drum full of cement at a depth of 4 meters, with the remains of the girl.

The anonymous also gave the names of those involved in the death.

The police arrested the former owner of the land, Josep Maria T., and an arrest warrant was issued for Kuike, who was arrested in Argentina and extradited in January 2015. The Court ordered a prison sentence, but in February the Court released her after paying 10,000 euros.

She appeared periodically until mid-2016 after the prosecutor, Víctor Pillado, confirmed her charge of a crime of murder against those under investigation.

The judge issued another arrest warrant and in February 2020 Interpol reported that it had located her again in Argentina, but the authorities did not extradite her, according to the prosecutor, because "she was not in full mental faculties for having been diagnosed with an organic psychosyndrome cerebral".

They finally reported her death.

According to the prosecutor, on January 20, 2004, those under investigation took Ana María to the house of the person under investigation in Lloret de Mar and "when they were in the garage, by prior and mutual agreement, with the intention of ending her life, they launched a attack against her in which they killed her”.

Then the investigator, following the instructions of the tarot reader, wrapped the body, put it in the drum, filled it with cement and buried it on the farm.

After the tarot card reader died, the prosecutor requested that the case be archived for the other under investigation because, since it was impossible for them to be judged jointly and the investigation has not been able to clarify whether it was both or only one who ended the life of the victim, "it causes necessarily file the proceedings because the authorship of the facts is not duly accredited.”

The judge has closed the case, but it can be reopened if any new clues appear.

The defendant's lawyer, Carles Monguilod, is very satisfied with the case file because "there was no evidence to justify opening a lawsuit against my client", since "not even the autopsy specified the cause of death and natural causes are not ruled out" .

Similarly, he adds, "the burial of the body, the only thing that my client recognized, would be criminally prescribed."

The prosecutor's report states that "although the cause of death is undetermined, the circumstances surrounding it indicate that it was a violent death."

She was always suspected of an economic motive, Ana María sold her apartment, her car, asked for two loans and money from her ex-husband.

She entered 110,500 euros, "the destination of that money is absolutely unknown" concludes the prosecutor.

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