Marta's last known location
Marta Calvo disappeared in the early hours of November 7, 2019. Before contact with her family stopped, she had sent her mother the location of a house in Manuel, a municipality in the province of Valencia.
Investigators identified Jorge Ignacio Palma as the man she had met there. The disappearance became part of a much broader criminal investigation after authorities connected Palma to other women who had died or survived encounters with him.
The broader criminal case
The final court record did not treat Marta's death as an isolated event. Palma was prosecuted for the deaths of Marta Calvo, Arliene Ramos and Lady Marcela Vargas, as well as six attempted murders and sexual offenses against surviving women.
According to the facts upheld by Spain's Supreme Court, Palma administered large quantities of cocaine to women without their consent during sexual encounters, conduct that caused three deaths and came close to killing six other women. The case therefore became a serial-murder prosecution rather than a single homicide file.
Trial and conviction
A jury in Valencia convicted Palma of three completed murders, six attempted murders, sexual offenses and a drug offense. The first-instance sentence totaled 159 years and 11 months of imprisonment. The High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community later reviewed parts of the judgment but did not initially impose Spain's maximum permanent-reviewable prison sentence for Marta's murder.
The question then reached the Supreme Court: could permanent-reviewable imprisonment be imposed for the third murder when all three murders were being adjudicated together rather than through earlier final convictions?
The Supreme Court's 2024 decision
On September 23, 2024, Spain's Supreme Court answered yes. It imposed prisión permanente revisable for Marta Calvo's murder and maintained a further 137 years of imprisonment for the other two murders and the six attempted murders.
The court reasoned that the rule applies to serial or multiple murderers even when the killings are adjudicated in the same proceeding. It also increased the civil compensation payable to Marta's parents to €140,000.
What remains unresolved
Marta's remains have not been recovered. That fact does not make the criminal responsibility for her murder legally unresolved: Palma's conviction is final. It does, however, leave an enduring unanswered question for her family about where her remains are.
The archive therefore classifies the case as solved / adjudicated while separately recognizing that the recovery of Marta's remains is still unresolved.
Timeline
November 7, 2019: Marta Calvo disappears after arriving at a house in Manuel, Valencia.
December 2019: Jorge Ignacio Palma surrenders to authorities as the investigation into Marta's disappearance intensifies.
2022: a Valencia jury convicts Palma in the combined prosecution involving three murders and multiple surviving victims.
2022–2023: appellate review addresses the sentence and civil-liability issues.
September 23, 2024: Spain's Supreme Court imposes permanent-reviewable imprisonment for Marta's murder and confirms the remaining long prison terms.
Current status
Jorge Ignacio Palma stands finally convicted of Marta Calvo's murder and the other crimes adjudicated in the same proceeding. The Supreme Court's September 2024 decision is the controlling final judgment reflected in this file.