Remedios Sánchez murdered three elderly women with her own hands in the summer of 2006 in Barcelona and tried it with five others. The woman, a Galician cook who had a reputation for making the best croquettes in Eixample, sowed panic among the most vulnerable grandmothers who were asked by the Mossos d'Esquadra, before arresting the criminal, not to trust her. nobody. That they distrusted and resisted opening the door to strangers.
The one known as 'maviejas' is not the protagonist of this story, but until the moment of her arrest, the police from the El Vendrell investigation unit, especially the veterans, believed they saw in the criminal after whom they were going to a new 'assaults grandmothers' who, although he tried to avoid the use of violence, had no problem doing harm on at least one occasion. The woman spread panic in several towns in Baix Penedès, in Cunit, Segur de Calafell and Vendrell.
The story, revealed this Wednesday on the TV3 program Tot es Mou, is horrifying and makes your hair stand on end due to the absolute coldness and cruelty with which the criminal assaulted vulnerable women who could not defend themselves.
The investigation unit of the Mossos d'Esquadra of El Vendrell managed to arrest their suspect, a 40-year-old Moroccan, in Cunit on November 1 and charge her with eight thefts, one robbery with violence, two frauds and two robberies with force. The municipal police of Cunit also participated in her arrest, after receiving consecutive notices of two robberies at homes on Joaquim Mir and Pere Romeu streets. They had no doubt that she was the suspect.
The victims were not chosen at random. On the contrary. There would be prior work to collect information and data to confirm that these were vulnerable women, who lived alone, with mobility problems and some were even blind. A previous job for which the Mossos suspect that there were other collaborators of the assailant and whom the police are now trying to identify.
Sergeant David Torroella, responsible for the investigation unit, details to this newspaper the complexity of finding the woman. Despite having no doubt that it was her, because she also had more than a hundred police records for similar incidents and three search and arrest warrants, and another for immediate imprisonment, as well as a date for a trial for previous accusations , the woman usually changed her address. One of the victims was 93 years old.
On some occasions he would approach them on the street and always tell them the same story. "Hello, I'm Carmen's daughter. Don't you remember me? How is that possible? Yes, woman, how short your memory is." With exquisite shapes and a lot of tenderness, pretending to be pregnant, the victim ended up doubting. And she asked him to come into the house because she said she was dizzy at that moment and she needed a glass of water.
One of the victims with mobility problems that kept her bedridden even begged him not to rob her. In her case, the thief accessed the property by climbing through the exterior, since it was a first floor. The woman's son had installed a surveillance camera in her mother's room, so that when he was away he could monitor her mother and communicate with her. Once in the house, the assailant began to search through drawers, under the mattress, while the woman begged her, from the bed, to please not take anything from her, that her economic situation was precarious and that she had compassion. But the pleas were of no use. Nor to another of the victims who knelt in front of the thief to beg her not to take the chain with a medal, of little economic value, but all sentimental value. He took her away and even when she was detained, before the judge, the magistrate who had heard the victim's statement still crying over that medal, asked the suspect to tell him where she had resold that piece so he could try to return it to the woman. But she flatly refused to give details. He attacked that victim when, after her pleas, she tried to approach the woman to recover her medal.
When the Mossos finally arrested her, the woman was carrying some of the stolen pieces. It was not difficult to relate the crimes, despite the difficulties of the victims in participating in the identification lineups. The suspect had the habit of leaving pieces of the previous robbery in the next house she entered. For example, at one time she stole a wallet and at the next address she left it empty.
After the arrest, the woman began to cry. Did she regret it? "I doubt it. But we believe that he was crying because of the arrest and because he knew that this time he would spend time in prison, not because he felt sorry for any of the victims whom he had no problem looting despite their pleas and vulnerability," he said. Sargeant.
