Juan Pedro Martínez: Spanish Boy Mysteriously Vanishes
Baffling Mystery Born Out of Tragedy
On June 25th, 1986, a man behind the wheel of a tanker truck lost control of the vehicle and crashed in Spain’s Somosierra mountain pass. The driver, Andrés Martínez, and his wife Carmen were killed on impact. However, the fate of their ten-year-old son, Juan Pedro, was less clear.
Inexplicably, the boy was missing from the crash site, despite the fact that he was known to have been on the trip with his parents and had even been spotted with them earlier that morning. An extensive search of the area was conducted, but Juan Pedro couldn’t be located.
Juan Pedro’s disappearance—considered by Interpol to be one of Europe’s strangest missing persons cases—continues to baffle many.
While items found at the scene, including some of his clothing and cassette tapes, confirmed that he’d been present for at least part of the journey, other information would hint at a more sinister explanation for his absence and that he might have never even been at the crash site.
What happened to Juan Pedro Martínez?
Juan Pedro Martínez
An only child, Juan Pedro Martínez was born on January 1st, 1976, to parents Andrés and Carmen. The small family resided in Murcia, in southeastern Spain. Juan Pedro was a good student, who enjoyed reading and had a sense of adventure.
In late June 1986, Andrés, a tanker truck driver, decided to allow his bright and curious son to accompany him on his next trip, as a reward for Juan Pedro’s excellent grades. The child was excited to go on this journey to northern Spain, eager to see “the cows that make milk and the green pastures.” Carmen came along to help watch their ten-year-old son.
Andrés’ task was to transport 5,200 gallons of sulfuric acid to Bilbao, a northern port city. Juan Pedro brought along some audiobooks on cassette, which kept him occupied in the back of the cab during the drive.
At approximately 5:30 a.m. on June 25th, the Martinez family stopped at a restaurant for an early breakfast. The waiter noticed nothing strange about them, but remembered Juan Pedro because he was dressed all in red.
Tragic Accident
An hour later, at 6:30 a.m., their trip was brought to an abrupt and tragic end when Andrés lost control of the tanker truck in the Somosierra mountain pass, causing the vehicle to overturn. Emergency personnel soon arrived on the scene, finding the lifeless bodies of Andrés and Carmen still in the cab.
Both had died on impact, but their bodies had sustained further damage due to being splashed with sulfuric acid, as the tank had ruptured in the accident.
The authorities found cassettes and a young boy’s clothes among the wreckage, but didn’t realize that another person had been with the couple. It was only when they contacted Carmen’s mother to tell her the heartbreaking news about her daughter and son-in-law that they learned about Juan Pedro.
“And the boy?” Maria asked. “Where is my grandson? What happened to Juan Pedro?”
With the fresh knowledge that there was possibly a third victim, law enforcement conducted an extensive search of the area—utilizing horses, dogs, motorbikes, and helicopters—but found no sign of the missing boy anywhere.
“And the boy?” Maria asked. “Where is my grandson? What happened to Juan Pedro?”
Where is Juan Pedro?
Investigators initially considered the possibility that Juan Pedro’s body might have been dissolved by the sulfuric acid.
However, this theory was soon discredited by expert chemists, who explained that a body would need to be totally submerged in the substance—which Andrés and Carmen hadn't been—for a complete dissolution to occur. Additionally, help had arrived too quickly for such a thing to have time to take place.
So the question remained–where was Juan Pedro?
Eyewitnesses came forward to report an odd sighting. On the morning of the accident, two unidentified people in a white Nissan Vanette had allegedly stopped at the crash site. One of the strangers, an elderly woman, claimed to be a nurse. She and her male companion searched the wreckage and came out with a bundle, which they placed inside their van and then drove off. They weren’t seen again.
(Side note: there is no other information available about this "bundle," including its size or other details about its appearance.)
Who had they been? And what did they take? The police would go on to investigate over 3,000 similar vans, but came up with nothing.
In another bizarre twist, the police found traces of heroin in the truck, yet neither Andrés nor Carmen were known to have a history of selling or using drugs. When questioned, Andrés’ family revealed that he had been coerced into transporting heroin to the north of Spain by a local drug smuggling ring.
Now detectives had a new—and disturbing—angle to investigate. Was it true that he’d been forced to smuggle drugs? And, if so, was this somehow related to the crash and Juan Pedro’s disappearance?
Strangely, the truck’s tachometer showed that 12 short stops had been made in the final eight-mile stretch. The vehicle hadn’t left the motorway during any of these stops and there was very little traffic that morning.
Investigators couldn’t determine what the purpose of the stops had been. The truck itself had recently passed a safety inspection and, upon re-examination, it was clear that there were no issues with the brakes or engine.
Further Developments
“We spent more than two months going from bush to bush around that point in the Sierra,” noted Juan Manuel Sanchez, the Civil Guard captain in charge of the search. “We couldn’t rule out the possibility that the little one got scared and ran through the mountains. But there was no sign of it within a radius of 30 kilometers (roughly 19 miles).”
Numerous sightings of the missing child were reported in the wake of his odd disappearance, including one in Madrid that placed him in the company of an elderly blind woman. None of these sightings could be substantiated, though.
Interestingly, the truck had been traveling at approximately 86 miles per hour when it skidded and overturned, which is faster than it should have been going. So what accounts for this?
The authorities began to wonder if Juan Pedro had been abducted at some point between the last sighting at the restaurant and when Andrés lost control of the tanker truck—a window of only one hour.
One theory is that someone from the drug smuggling ring might have been following them and forced them to stop, taking Juan Pedro to insure that Andrés would complete his drug smuggling mission. And when he attempted to pursue them, frantic to get his son back, that’s when the accident occurred.
Ultimately, law enforcement has been unable to prove this—or any other theory—and the investigation continues. No solid leads or additional evidence has materialized and Juan Pedro has never been located. However, his surviving family members still hold out hope that they will find him one day.
Decades later, the baffling case of Juan Pedro Martínez—or “The Boy from Somosierra,” as he’s sometimes called—remains unsolved.