Francisca Ballesteros Maravilla was born in 1969 in Valencia, Spain. She grew up in a troubled household with four siblings and left home upon reaching adulthood. She married Antonio González Barribino, and the couple had three children: Florinda, Sandra, and Antonio. They resided in Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa.

In 1990, Ballesteros experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her first child, Florinda. Desiring to end her marriage, she poisoned five-month-old Florinda using Colme, a medication intended to treat alcoholism. The child's death was initially attributed to natural causes.

Fourteen years later, in 2004, Ballesteros sought to escape her familial responsibilities after forming an online relationship. She poisoned her husband, Antonio, on January 12, 2004, using sedatives Zolpidem and Bromazepam. On June 4, 2004, she poisoned her 15-year-old daughter, Sandra, who died shortly after hospitalization. She also attempted to poison her 12-year-old son, Antonio, who survived after an eight-month recovery.

Suspicion arose following the rapid succession of illnesses and deaths within the family. An autopsy on Sandra revealed poisoning, leading to Ballesteros's arrest on June 7, 2004. She confessed to the murders and attempted murder.

During the investigation, authorities discovered that Ballesteros had been communicating with multiple men online, expressing intentions to start a new life. She was sentenced to 84 years in prison on September 26, 2005, for three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. She was also ordered to pay compensation to her surviving son.