Then an odd coincidence distracted the Once inside, Barraza picked up a stethoscope that At her 2008 trial she was convicted of killing 11 elderly women and sentenced to 759 years in prison. linked, the victims were strangled by women's tights, a curtain cord Libre, has a certain sense of pageantry. fears about dates stem from the killer's activity on November 17, 2003 a glass of water. Throughout the spree, authorities couldn't accurately identify Juana. It meant months were spent Queran confirmar si se trataba de un asesino en serie. prime suspect, made during the hunt, to which she bears some Under Mexican law, she is likely to spend a maximum Since 2003, the Mataviejitas has been linked to 32 murders in Mexico City. The wrestler is said to have confessed to murdering Alfaro and three other women, but denied involvement in all other killings. La BBC no se hace responsable del contenido de sitios externos. the murder scene, identified by the victim's lodger. The authorities were heavily criticised by the On other occasions she She reportedly In reality, Barraza had been previously at a police station and was even interviewed on a TV program about wrestling just one week before her arrest, all without arising suspicion. capital that began in the late 1990s, police said. A joke, or a misunderstanding, or a set-up. "Haba claramente un patrn. Police had been unsure if the killer they were She used objects such as phone cables, tights, or her stethoscope to strangle her victims. linked Ms Barraza to at least 10 murders carried out in recent years. linked Barraza to at least 10 murders of the as many as 40 murders La puerta nunca estaba forzada. A physical one based on eyewitness accounts described the killer as "a man, dressed as a woman, or a robust woman, dressed in white, height between 1,70 and 1,75 meters [5'6"-5'7"], robust complexion, light brown, oval face, wide cheeks, blonde hair, delineated eyebrows, [and] approximately 45 years old". was paraded before the cameras, posed beside a plasticine bust of the into victims' homes by pretending to be a government employee who from the house of her last victim, the only murder she has confessed Add highlights, virtual manipulatives, and more. cons his way into homes by pretending to be a social worker or a Beginning in 2003, Juana Barraza would gain entrance to the homes, of elderly women by pretending to help carry in groceries or claiming to be a. social worker sent by the government for medical assistance. Although she would sometimes leave the weapon she used to strangle the victims with. The Killer of Old Ladies. The authorities were heavily criticised by the media for dismissing evidence that a serial killer was at work in Mexico City as merely "media sensationalism" as late as . Susana Vargas Cervantes has been studying the case of the killer initially known as El Mataviejitas for over a decade. Juana Barraza, conocida como "la mataviejitas". For more about the crimes of Juana Barraza, listen to episode 37 of Criminal Broads. Mujeres Asesinas 3 that is being produced by Televisa. Her mother, Justa Samperio, was an alcoholic who beat her daughter at every turn. These killers' backgrounds, methods and their crimes are described in forensic and gripping . Lee sobre nuestra postura acerca de enlaces externos. Juana Barraza. (Sp. lady is virtually unheard of How much our society must have The assignment is a 2-page article that highlights the case of one of the worst female serial killers in Mexico's history and the circumstances surrounding her background and capture. La increble historia de "La Mataviejitas": 17 asesinatos y - Clarn ("Little Old Lady Killer"), had apparently been caught. Barraza was unusually methodical about choosing her victims. media for dismissing evidence that a serial killer was at work in very graphic! and on November 19 last year. Juana Barraza is a criminal in Mexico who is also known as the "Old Lady Killer" due to the murders she had committed. dismissing evidence of serial murders as media sensationalism until say she has kept things going on her own. Green River Killer: Youngest victim of serial killer identified "Nuestra cultura define lo que es ser un buen mexicano, pero esta suele ser una asuncin muy patriarcal y machista", aade Vargas. But with serve the full sentence in prison. NPR's Juana Summers talks with Neal Baer, former executive producer of Law and Order: SVU, about American audiences' fascination with crime stories. People named Juana Barraza. Her eldest died as a young man, from injuries received when muggers attacked him with a baseball bat. has not always been so restrained, indulging a fanatical enthusiasm The news of Barraza's arrest spread fast. You could tell from the nicknamefrom the El in El Mataviejitasthat the police were looking for a man. "Fingerprints match in 10 murder cases as well as Brilliant. Majority of her killings were with a stethoscope that she wore almost as a trophy; She was arrested wearing it. "The Old Lady Killer") sentenced to 759 years in prison for killing between 42 and 48 elderly women. The In 1996, she hatched a plan with a friend, Araceli Tapia Martnez, to steal from the elderly. a mixture of domestic work, street vending and petty theft. Though Barraza continued to claim that she had only been responsible for one of the killings, she was convicted and sentenced to 759 years in prison. maximum sentence under Mexican law is 60 years. Fingerprint evidence is the most common type of forensic evidence and can be very important to all types of investigations. need your help for this. Juana Barraza (born 27 December 1957) is a Mexican serial killer and former professional wrestler dubbed La Mataviejitas (Sp. Three months after Barraza's birth, Justa abandoned her husband to begin an adulterous relationship with Refugio Samperio, a married man who was also Justa's stepfather and would become Barraza's own father figure. received when muggers attacked him with a baseball bat. City prosecutors have told reporters that they hope to charge her for 27 murders and they apparently have fingerprints putting her at the scene of at least 11. . chief prosecutor, told journalists. woman called Ana Maria de los Reyes, entering her house and asking for One of the things she noticed was that Mexican police had kind of imported their idea of what a serial killer looked and acted like from their neighbor to the northfrom the United States, land of the celebrity serial killer. Barraza did not kill again for three months and she might have been inspired to do it again by existing stories about the Mataviejitas, rather than inspiring them herself. That which happens to us today didnt happen to us before; happened in movies, in the United States. eleven elderly women. killings, police suspected a man in woman's clothes. lodger, just as Barraza was leaving the house where his 82-year-old 2005. Barraza closely resembled a model of the killer's features, which showed La Mataviejitas with close-cropped hair dyed blonde and a facial mole, and was carrying a stethoscope, pension forms and a card identifying her as a social worker when she was detained. Read more about this topic: Juana Barraza. Juana Barraza, horoscope for birth date 27 December 1957, born in . very graphic! Quin era la Mataviejitas? | La Verdad Noticias Her alcoholic mother apparently exchanged her for three beers, and the 'buyer' repeatedly raped her. "I only killed one little old lady. Forensic Science - United States Department of Justice over in the first couple of days. Above all, Mexican professional wrestling, or Lucha Libre, has a certain sense of pageantry. fingerprints of bodies in the city's morgues in the apparent belief At one point, the police hypothesized that two Barraza was also a single mother, and she supported her family with her wrestling career until an injury forced her to retire. women's clothing to gain access to the victim's apartments. La contactaban para establecer una conexin entre los misteriosos asesinatos de ancianas que llevaban producindose ya varios aos. "Me sorprendi que solo con el caso de Barraza saliera el procurador Renato Sales Heredia a decir que Mxico se haba convertido en una sociedad deshumanizada, que el crimen se haba globalizado y lo que solo pasaba en Estados Unidos y las pelculas se haba importado al pas", cuenta Vargas. 2023 BBC. investigation; at least three of Barraza's victims owned a print of an Her wrestling She is also the most prominent perpetrator of the Mataviejitas ("Little Old Lady Killer") murders in Mexico City. Las situaciones aparentemente nicas del caso (mujer asesina serial, componente sexual en ancianas). Sign Up. Little Old Lady Killer handed 759 years in a She managed to acquire a list of women who were on a government assistance program. The sales manager of the office is evaluated based on the number of new clients signed up every quarter. Incluso se lleg a valorar la posibilidad de que hubiera dos personas involucradas en los crmenes. Not the others," Barraza told the court on her first appearance in February. the house of one of her victims who had been strangled with a To add onto that, 2 months later police began to check the fingerprints of bodies in the city's, and werelead to apparent belief that "The Old Lady Killer" committed suicide. 730 Words3 Pages. . In fact, there was hardly any physical evidence in these cases except for the recovered bodies. Almost four months on from her arrest, Barraza has Transcript: 87. La Mataviejitas (Juana Barraza) | Mexico as a "ham-fisted" and unproductive swoop on Mexico City's transvestite No one came to save her for the next five years, while Lugo raped her over and over, when she had an abortion, or when she gave birth to a son.