When I dance, I like to be held completely
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I was her only daughter.
Just imagine, I was always… everything, right? I was her everything.
I was her everything and she was mine.
She was demanding, but very warm.
She really spoiled me.
She gave me everything, right? Her love, mainly.
I was very happy to have her as my mom.
She was the most indulgent grandmother that you can imagine.
She took them out and traveled with them everywhere.
A week before an event that changed my life,
something amazing and magical happened.
It was as if my mom could tell what was going to happen
because she gave me even more love than she ever had before.
At around 1:00 or 1:30,
the phone rang
and I saw that it was my mom's number.
I froze and didn't want to pick up, you know?
Román, my partner, said,
"Answer the phone. Why aren't you answering?"
I grabbed the phone.
"Yes, Mom, what's up? How are you?"
And I heard the voice of my nephew, who lived here.
"Vero, your mom died."
Someone had strangled her with a cable.
Despite the evidence that the police has,
seniors are still being murdered.
FEDERAL DISTRICT, MEXICO SERIAL KILLER
The killer is a tall,
fair-skinned, and has a muscular build.
Between 1998 and 2005,
at least 49 cases have been recorded in Mexico City.
The "Mataviejitas" case has become
the biggest challenge for the Federal District police squad.
THE LADY OF SILENCE: THE MATAVIEJITAS MURDERS
My mom was applying for her seniors' benefits ID card.
My cousin mentioned,
"Yes, a social worker came and said that she would apply for her."
She didn't ask for ID or anything.
She took off and left her at my mom's house.
And when Román came to see her,
she was very bloated and her skin was blue, in fact.
OCTOBER 28, 2003
OLD LADY IS STRANGLED
The investigation began.
There were helicopters and more helicopters in the whole area.
I mean, it was shocking.
Riot policemen and others came here.
They were looking everywhere for clues.
I mean, we had no idea what was going on.
I noticed a number next to my mother's name.
So I started asking a police officer,
"Why do you have a board…?"
"My mom is number six. Why?"
"Because this could be the work of a serial killer."
I was astonished.
I have always liked investigative work.
Crime, the study of crime, and its social impact.
I have a close friendship
with the forensic doctor assigned to the Benito Juárez borough back then.
Each time they brought in a body,
I was curious to come and investigate the causes of death
because I have a diploma in Forensic Medicine.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In September 2003, I noticed there was a body.
And he said, "It is an elderly lady."
She had been strangled to death.
The cord was still wrapped around her neck.
One week later, we found another body,
that of an elderly person
who had died in the same manner, asphyxiated due to strangulation.
We started examining the victim's wounds,
and the type of knot that was used,
and we thought it was very odd because it was very similar.
Two weeks later, we received
the body of another elderly person.
Same thing.
We thought it was too odd and too frequent.
And about one month later, there was another homicide.
This time it was in Coyoacán, rather than Benito Juárez,
with the exact same characteristics.
That's when I first thought,
"This is a serial killer."
In 2003, we weren't sure yet if it was a serial killer,
because we didn't have serial killers in our country.
They didn't really take me seriously.
"No, don't watch so many TV shows."
"You're exaggerating."
The last serial killer we had, who was actually a spree killer,
was Goyo Cárdenas back in 1942.
He had killed four housekeepers
which is why he was considered a serial killer.
But from 1942 until 2003,
the fact that nothing like this had happened in our country
presented us with a big challenge.
I followed the news.
And I started keeping notes.
I started to work backward.
The earliest I got
was 1996, 1997,
which is when I found the first violent robbery
against an elderly person
in which the victim was strangled.
SERIAL KILLING OF OLD WOMEN
MURDERER OF NINE OLD LADIES IS BEING TRACKED
SERIAL KILLER IS THREATENING FEDERAL DISTRICT
We started telling each other
that something was going on,
and asking the questions that forced the police
to acknowledge that this was happening.
Because they obviously didn't want to make it public.
We slowly realized
that this was a serial killer.
Maybe I denied it at one point,
but it must have been at the beginning.
We also didn't want to spark an outrage,
or appear in sensationalist headlines.
We tried to be as discreet as possible.
There was no link
between the victim and the murderer.
They weren't family members, or friends, or enemies, or neighbors.
There was no real motive other than robbery.
The wave of senior killings in the Federal District
continues unabated.
In the eyes of the people,
the District Attorney's Office of the Federal District
is not doing anything.
After fierce resistance,
the city government had to acknowledge that there was actually a serial killer,
and the District Attorney's Office of the Federal District
formed a special group for finding and locating them.
-Prickly pears, ten pesos per bag. -What are you taking?
We were ready because we had a great team of specialists and experts
in crime scene reconstruction,
crime scene preservation.
Of course not. Who would be ready?
So we got ready along the way.
And what happened? The victim's family members
cleaned the crime scene, washed, picked up everything.
And when you got there, you'd say,
"Why did you clean everything? There's no way we'll find fingerprints."
"We won't be able to document with photos."
They'd say, "No, we're holding a vigil for Grandma."
I mean, I get it.
And who could blame them?
We started studying
serial killer cases,
events in other countries.
We asked for help from abroad,
from people who have investigated these types of cases for years.
Mainly the French,
who had dealt with the Monster of Montmartre.
Thierry Paulin could be the worst murderer
in the history of the French justice system.
Eleven old ladies killed, always with the same method.
He followed the victims to their homes,
he tortured them until they told him where they kept their savings,
and then he strangled them to death.
Death sentence!
He caused great unease in Paris.
The old lady killer
that was arrested yesterday committed at least 21 murders.
Thanks to fingerprints and other evidence,
Thierry Paulin, 24, was identified.
It's the result of three years of work.
TOULON, FRANCE
In serial cases like these,
there is no link between the perpetrator and the victim.
So you can work as much as you want
around the victim,
around their personal environment, but you won't find anything
because the encounter with the murderer is isolated and incidental.
That's why these investigations are so hard.
And perhaps everybody was aware at that time
of how difficult it was for the Mexican police
to work in these situations.
My first contact with the Mexican police
was when I came to teach the course.
COURSE ON SERIAL KILLINGS IS BROUGHT FROM ABROAD
It was a homicide investigation course.
They already had certain techniques
for investigating serial killers.
…participation in the course.
Each country has its own type of criminality.
Sometimes, there were even some misunderstandings
because they couldn't understand our methods and they would say,
"This cannot be done in Mexico because of this or that."
And I understood very well
because we do not work the same way.
Between signs, a bit of English, and a bit of French,
we took the course,
and I think I did learn a lot from those techniques.
We created the profile
based on the descriptions provided by the witnesses.
It was a tall person.
Between 45 and 48 years old.
Broad back, big hands.
Strong and burly.
Short hair.
Dressed as a nurse.
One of the killer's stratagems
was to pretend to be someone who was helping,
through the public policy program, through the welfare program,
elderly persons.
It was provided as financial support.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico City's Governor, had this idea,
which he considered a way
to safeguard the dignity of elderly people.
Acts of support continue
for seniors.
352,000 respectable seniors
are receiving this benefit.
A very original program, very important.
So if a person showed up
pretending to be someone who is helping you
get this card to receive this benefit,
that person would be welcome.
The information that we had started to match.
However, there were some variations.
No two witnesses describe a person the same way.
The main lines of investigation that I established
were finding nurses,
healthcare workers.
And we started noticing the modus operandi
of the perpetrator.
Today, a nurse that works at the ISSSTE
was detained.
Matilde Sánchez Gallegos
was a good coworker who we all liked.
MATILDE SÁNCHEZ WAS INTERROGATED FOR MORE THAN 10 HOURS
Back then, I used to represent
these workers at the ten ISSSTE clinics.
Well, on January 9, 2004,
my coworkers called me on the phone
to tell me that Matilde
had basically been forced
to get into a patrol car and was driven away.
The Metro newspaper published on its front page
one of the first composite sketches of the "Mataviejitas".
A pair of beat cops who'd bought the newspaper that day,
while skimming through the newspaper,
noticed there was a person at a bank
with the physical features of the composite sketch.
The nurse was detained at a bank branch
in the Coyoacán borough.
When she saw the police, she started acting suspiciously,
so the police decided to detain her.
We requested information about Matilde.
They said that she wasn't there, that they didn't know what I meant.
Suddenly, they came out running
with a person, covering her with some jackets,
and I saw that she was wearing white shoes.
I immediately thought it was Matilde.
So, I yelled, "Matilde! Don't take Matilde!"
The news started showing
that the "Mataviejitas" had been found.
And when I saw the composite sketch again,
it resembled my coworker more and more.
I couldn't believe it, but the features
actually fully matched.
I told my coworkers, "You know what?"
"What will happen is that we'll have a scapegoat
and she will be sent to prison."
She was put in a room with a one-way mirror
to be identified by witnesses of some of the cases.
Obviously, they didn't recognize her.
We decided to block Tlalpan Avenue
as a way to pressure them to release Matilde.
We said that once she was released into our care,
we would leave.
They had to release her 15 hours later
without any charges.
We had some fingerprints and compared them to hers,
and they didn't match at all.
She was released
and we're very sorry for what happened
because these things should not happen, right?
The FBI says
that serial killers have different phases.
The first is the selection phase.
Observing and stalking their potential victim.
Choosing their victim.
We knew that she studied the person
and made sure that the person was alone.
The next was the seduction phase.
That was important.
The skill that would grant her access to the home.
It was difficult.
Back then, especially due to the lack of public safety
nobody agreed to it.
So, the killer displayed an ability to interact with seniors.
"Hey, I work for the City Government."
"I provide support to seniors. What do you need?"
"Let me help you."
"We'll give you a special card because I see that you live by yourself."
"Yes, come in. Let me make you some tea."
She sat down to have some tea. The seduction phase.
Once she realized that her victim would be her victim,
she moved on to the execution phase.
Then, she strangled.
In a very similar way in all cases.
With a scarf
or with one if the old lady's items.
It could be the cord of a curtain rod.
It could be a robe sash.
It could be the cable of an old tape recorder.
And then there was a "take a souvenir" phase.
She would take something that reminded her of that victim.
PRAYER TO ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
And it creates outrage within the society.
I hope they solve it soon.
It was my grandma, but I don't want it to happen to anybody's grandma.
They're not taking care of it as they should.
The authorities aren't doing anything.
Years ago, nobody paid attention to the elderly.
And now, they want to protect us from murderers running amok.
The District Attorney's Office acknowledged that the number of murders
of seniors increased from 12 to 14 this year.
When you turned on the TV or opened the newspaper,
the first thing you saw was news about the "Mataviejitas."
"Mataviejitas."
OLD LADY STRANGLED
There wasn't a single place
where the case wasn't being discussed.
ANOTHER OLD LADY IS KILLED, IN SANTA MARÍA
SERIAL HOMICIDES
18 SENIORS KILLED IN A YEAR
ONE SINGLE PERSON KILLED 20 OLD LADIES
In every family, everybody has to go to work, go to school.
And seniors
stay home, alone.
And then they become potential victims
of someone who might want to take advantage of that.
Some precautions are put into place, even within families,
"Don't open the door to anybody. Don't talk to anybody."
If you see a senior with someone else,
call the agency's emergency numbers as soon as possible.
What we are doing
is telling people to be cautious.
To be wary.
To be alert.
To not be deceived the way other seniors were, unfortunately, deceived.
MARÍA DE LUZ GONZÁLEZ ANAYA 64 YEARS OLD
They started realizing that all the female victims
were women who lived by themselves.
They said that their lives were gloomy
and filled with nostalgia.
And this defines the serial killer profile,
and the prevention strategy for the serial killer.
Knowing there's a man on the loose
who is murdering seniors
and walking alone
on these streets, like this woman walking here, vulnerable.
Which precautions do you take? Do you look around?
I turn around and I watch.
If I see someone
who is following me,
I cross over there and I turn around discreetly to see
if they're still following me.
Do you know what this person looks like?
No, because I am actually scared of everybody.
There was a specific statement
made by District Attorney Bernardo Bátiz
that defined the parameters of the investigation.
Old habits and standards of behavior
regarding respect towards the elderly, children and women start disappearing
and the number of homicides indeed increases.
Bátiz says that before he finishes his term, he has to find
the "Mataviejitas" serial killer
because they are attacking a sector of the population
that nobody attacked before, not even criminals.
Sara García,
one of the most important actresses of the Mexican Golden Era,
and who, as time went by, became Mexico's grandma,
played the part, in her movie The Three Garcías,
of a selfless grandma
that scolds her grandsons,
classic macho men who have respect for nobody, except their grandma.
Bernardo Bátiz's statement was, literally,
like a scene from The Three Garcías.
There is a general sense of respect
towards seniors, especially older ladies.
Everybody calls them "grandma," even if they are not their grandmas.
Tell me why
Tell me, grandma
Tell me why
Why are you so old?
Tell me why
You don't like
Jumping on the beds anymore
In Mexican culture, grandmothers
represent the ideal woman.
A selfless mom that makes sacrifices for her family.
That's why it was preposterous
that Mexican grandmas were getting killed.
I didn't want to go inside that house.
We felt that, any minute,
something awful would happen again.
Our nerves were shot.
We had to ask the police to come with us,
to take every strand of hair, every piece of garbage.
I found the glass that was in the living room,
I put it in a bag.
Turns out, it had the fingerprint of the person who hurt my mom.
That was crucial.
A FINGERPRINT LEFT BEHIND…
LINK FOUND TO MURDER OF ELDERLY WOMAN IN CUAUHTÉMOC
EVIDENCE POINTS TO "MATAVIEJITAS"
A victim's report led to the capture of this woman,
who, through the fingerprints she left behind on a glass,
was identified and located.
She was identified by four elderly people
who were deceived with the promise of financial aid cards.
She will be in custody
of the Main Prosecutor's Office for Homicide Investigation.
Araceli Vázquez was linked
to several burglaries
by the investigative police unit at main prosecutor's offices.
My mom had this quirk.
She never removed tags from anything.
I remember that she had these watches
with tags that were yellowed because they were old.
And one of the watches taken from Araceli
had that characteristic.
That was the only thing I saw.
And my children, who had to be there,
said, "My grandma used to wear this. My grandma used to wear that."
Because of her methods,
the police are investigating if this woman
is also linked to at least five of the murders
of old people that have been committed lately.
Please note that we found at her home
a white coat, a wig,
and some ID cards from the National Institute of Old Age
that were issued to elderly people,
and this matches the modus operandi of the murders.
At that time, suspects were shown in public.
This happened at a press room.
People were exposed there
to whatever the police wanted to do and say.
-Let her do it herself! -Let her do it herself!
Let her do it herself!
The thief is female?
We could yell a question at them.
How did you know which houses to target?
Because I never followed a specific method.
I walked.
If I saw an elderly person sweeping or peeking outside…
I don't know, cleaning their windows,
I'd say, "There's someone here."
If I saw a family member, a son, a daughter, someone,
I kept walking, I never went inside.
I mean, in fact, I never broke into a house.
She was accused of several robberies,
but perhaps she was identified in one of the murder cases.
We had prepared a lineup
with all the murderers linked to this case,
in a one-way mirror room for the witnesses.
ARACELI VÁZQUEZ'S HOUSE IS SEARCHED IN ACOLMAN AND STOLEN OBJECTS ARE FOUND
ROBBER IS LINKED TO OLD LADY'S DEATH
THIEF IS ACCUSED OF FIVE CRIMES
ARACELI VÁZQUEZ GARCÍA 39 YEARS OLD
DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE LINKS ARACELI VÁZQUEZ TO HUSBAND IN THE CRIMES
"MATAVIEJITAS" IS PUNISHED
PRESUMED COLLUSION IN THE HOMICIDE OF GRANDMAS
Early this morning,
the body of María de los Ángeles Repper Hernández
was found in her room with a garment tied around her neck.
She was 92 years old.
I remember that a few months after Araceli was detained,
murders of old ladies kept happening
and so, the question was,
"Are they?"
"Are they not?"
"And who is then committing these crimes?"
GUADALUPE GONZÁLEZ SÁNCHEZ 74 YEARS OLD
ESTELA CANTORAL TREJO 85 YEARS OLD
DELFINA GONZÁLEZ CASTILLO 92 YEARS OLD
MARÍA VIRGINIA XELEHUATZI TIZAPÁN 84 YEARS OLD
MARGARITA MARTELL VÁZQUEZ 72 YEARS OLD
MARÍA DE LOS ÁNGELES CORTÉS 84 YEARS OLD
More than ten old ladies have been strangled so far
in the Federal District in 2004.
They all lived alone and had some form of income.
Another alleged murderer of elderly women was detained.
His name is Jorge Mario Tablas Silva,
and he, allegedly, committed two crimes.
He wore a white coat and either a wig
or dyed hair.
He pretended to be a nurse
in order to establish a relationship with María Eugenia Guzmán Noguez,
of 66 years of age, to whom he promised to give a financial support card.
The capital's District Attorney's Office
believes that he's the perpetrator of eight additional murders.
The District Attorney's Office conducted many searches and, officially,
found many belongings
linked to the murder of old ladies.
FIFTH CRIME IS ATTRIBUTED TO IMPRISONED "MATAVIEJITAS"
A blonde wig,
a stethoscope, and even a Bible,
which had some passage on the front cover
through which God gave his permission to exterminate.
Apparently, he was the second serial killer,
and we were wondering, "How many are there?"
It's been six years
since Jorge Mario Tablas committed his first crime
against a person who gave him a place to stay.
In May 1998,
the suspect was linked to the murder
of María Amparo González Salceda,
who also died by strangulation.
Were you able to prove that homicide?
No, I don't think we were.
And there wasn't, just like in Araceli's case,
any conclusive evidence
to prove that he was the serial killer.
There were copycats.
And they kept killing people.
We had to keep working.
There were copycats and the Prosecutor's Office,
formerly the District Attorney's Office, needed
to deliver some results.
That's the problem with these cases.
Back then, many times, and in many District Attorney offices,
they detained people to investigate, instead of investigating to detain people.
It was a chance for the Office of the District Attorney
to decrease some of the pressure they were feeling.
Political, social, and media-related.
Despite the composite sketches and the leads that the police has,
the killings of elderly people in Mexico City haven't stopped.
The capital's District Attorney's Office requested the help of this institute,
whose investigators concluded that the "Mataviejitas"
has decreased the interval between murders.
The first ones are one year apart.
Then, the interval decreased to a few months.
And now, it's a few weeks.
The opposing party in Mexico City
obviously used this to attack the government.
To prove that things were not done right.
There were complaints against the District Attorney, Mr. Bátiz.
They said, "Are you going to catch the 'Mataviejitos'?"
"Our grandmas are being murdered."
Mr. Bernardo Bátiz Vázquez, District Attorney of the Federal District.
We hereby formally express our sincere concern
over the rising wave of violence against elderly women.
And we urge you to take decisive action
to protect this segment of society
which is classified as one of the most vulnerable ones.
They were demanding the removal of the former District Attorney.
We, the local legislators from Acción Nacional Parliamentary Group
have launched actions to inform and prevent,
through a campaign called Safe Home,
which we believe you've been made aware of.
There are some PAN legislators
that, with good or bad intentions,
are saying that some locks, some little chains, are necessary.
They even gave me one for free.
The lock for Bátiz's home.
It was not necessary to force open doors to get to the victims.
They opened the door.
Or out on the street, they gave the criminal instructions
on how to get to their home.
When I made that joke, the journalists said,
"Hey, they say that, since you're an old man,
they'll bring a lock to your home."
I live with my wife.
And I may be old, but I still got it.
District Attorney, but this kind of…
They got very upset, but then they calmed down.
I think that the trigger that made the case explode
was the fact that in 2005,
we already had more than 30 homicides that were connected to this case.
Between 1998 and 2005,
at least 49 cases have been recorded in Mexico City.
There were three murders committed in 1998.
Two in 1999.
Two in 2001. Two in 2002.
By 2003, there were 12.
Seventeen in 2004.
And on the weekend, two more were recorded.
The investigations done by the police didn't seem meticulous.
We know there was concern inside the District Attorney's Office.
It was affecting the administration.
It was undermining the people's trust in the police
and the fight against crime at the time.
INAPAM HIRES CRIMINOLOGIST TO "HUNT" "MATAVIEJITAS"
PGJDF OFFERS MORE RESOURCES TO CATCH THE "MATAVIEJITAS"
One of the factors that made this a high-profile case
was the daily political confrontation between the Governor of Mexico City
and former President Vicente Fox.
There were disputes every single day.
Therefore, the possibility that a serial killer might exist
could reflect the inability of the Governor of Mexico City,
who wanted to run for President back then.
Long live Mexico!
Long may it live!
I think that this "Mataviejitas" case
became very high-profile because it happened in Mexico City.
Because, even though we were seeing
an increase in the number of femicides in the State of Mexico,
and, unfortunately, in Ciudad Juárez as well,
in that poor border area,
it wasn't treated the same way because that was happening far away.
Violent crimes against women are unstoppable in Ciudad Juárez.
According to numbers provided by the State Attorney's Office,
murdered women make up more than 10% of the crimes recorded
in that part of the state of Chihuahua.
The investigation binders created more than a decade ago
are still unsolved.
There's been a lot of violence in Ciudad Juárez for a long time.
They haven't solved anything. We don't have faith in them.
I don't even have faith in the police.
During my investigation work in the "Mataviejitas" case,
which lasted at least ten years,
I noticed that during the same time
that the murder of old ladies took place in Mexico City,
more than 300 murders of young women
were officially recorded in Ciudad Juárez.
And at least 4,000 people disappeared in the State of Mexico.
The statements provided by the police and the media
are drastically different.
While the "Mataviejitas" victims
are considered vulnerable,
femicide victims are judged by the way they dress,
where they go, where they are.
The government has never launched such an exhaustive search
to solve the femicide cases
as they did with the search of the old lady serial killer.
In fact, 92% of femicides
go unsolved.
Teacher Lolita left her door open
almost all afternoon long after coming home from work.
And in the evening,
she closed her door and went to bed.
The "Mataviejitas" used to sit down with the doorman
and talked about the neighbors,
which ones lived by themselves…
So, she found out that Teacher María Dolores lived alone
and she befriended her.
And she'd go up to her apartment.
Therefore, she knew and was aware, as they say, of all her activities.
And it didn't take her long.
Maybe a month or two before she was killed in her apartment.
Apparently, the telephone cord was wrapped around her neck and she was choked.
Ever since, her apartment has remained exactly like she left it.
GRANDMA KILLER ATTACKS
A few months later, we were told there was a suspect.
A potentially suspicious man.
In some cases,
the murderer is tall, with fair complexion and stocky.
Actually, due to how the victims have been subdued,
it can't be ruled out that it's a man dressed as a woman.
We know that the suspect dresses as a woman,
but is also reportedly strong and with big hands,
so it could be a man.
We knew it could be a man dressed as a woman
or a strong woman with some masculine features.
We have information from witnesses
and we think
that this is the one that most closely resembles
the potential serial killer.
The one thing that made it less likely that it was a woman
was the strength used to suffocate the victims.
That was one of the most solid theories,
that it was a man dressed as a woman.
And it could be a homosexual.
I mean, we couldn't rule out anything.
We had to investigate everything.
At a certain time, we went to the meeting spot where we work.
I found it strange to see patrol cars,
but I didn't think it was important.
And I arrived at the spot with the ladies,
and we were all talking.
"There are many patrol cars back there."
The trucks of the famous riot police officers.
We never imagined it was an operation
against sex trade work, as it's called nowadays.
Previously, we called it "whoring."
And they started to come to the spot where we gathered.
From the left and the right sides.
And they started making arrests.
Those who resisted or said, "Tell me why," or "What's going on?"…
Pardon the language, but we were fucking forced to go.
Once inside the vehicle, they used tear gas.
"Don't look at me. You are so fucked."
And they kidnapped us
because at that moment, we didn't know the cause of the operation.
I remember I was home,
and my coworker Alma Delia called me.
She said, "Hey, guess what."
"There's an operation and everyone is being taken."
"They are being beaten up."
"They are being tear-gassed."
We didn't know what was happening around us.
They took our fingerprints from both hands.
They violated all our rights. They trampled us and all that.
It was what is commonly or colloquially known as a raid.
I never ordered a raid or a massive search.
If the preventive police or the judicial police
did something on their own
which, sometimes, they did…
They had to confront on the streets
what I only saw from far away in my office.
The District Attorney's Office, with their absurd theory or hypothesis
that the "Mataviejitas" was a cross-dresser…
well, obviously, who else, except the hookers?
"This one has more resemblance. This one has more features."
"No, this one is almost the composite sketch."
In fact, they got me involved by saying that I was the "Mataviejitas."
I think it was simply because of my physique.
My appearance, because I am stocky,
I don't look like a Barbie doll.
Why did you suspect, at some point, that it was a transvestite?
Because of the physical strength.
I believe they arrested between 80 and 120.
Most of us were booked.
There were no bookings.
There were no bookings or anything else.
We only wanted to see if the fingerprints matched.
They didn't match and they were released. We didn't do anything else.
HOMESEXUALS DEMAND NOT TO BE TREATED AS CRIMINALS
TRANSVESTITES AGAINST "MATAVIEJITAS"
We apologized.
But we had to investigate.
We were working on a very serious, very severe case.
And we were working on a case
of murder of the most vulnerable people in our society, the elderly.
They tried to solve the case
without having all the evidence.
There was great confusion.
I remember
around 47, 48
crime scenes.
They had traces of fingerprints.
But none of them helped to make an identification.
Criminals rarely leave behind full fingerprints.
In one of the cases, we had a full fingerprint.
She pretended to be a paramedic.
She offered her services.
She had some X-rays…
The victim had some X-rays.
The killer asks to see the X-ray.
The killer takes it, looks at it.
A family member of the potential victim stopped by, so the killer fled.
We had a full fingerprint on an X-ray.
Now we had to link a name to that fingerprint.
And we had a very large fingerprint database.
And we compared the fingerprints left behind by the "Mataviejitas"
at the crime scene,
and there were no matches.
We accessed all the databases we could.
We obviously accessed the databases linked
to other prosecutor's offices back then.
They meticulously scrutinized
each case during the investigation,
but they didn't know who it was.
It was kind of an obsession,
because I already knew what this person looked like.
And you start searching, right?
Who looks like the killer? This one does. This one has a different height.
The walls in my room were covered with the composite sketches.
With the maps.
They said, "We have to catch her, no matter what."
I told the head of Forensic Services
that we should make a 3D bust.
And he said, "No, we only do that
to identify bone remains."
So I decided to do it myself.
Since I had all the composite sketches up to that point,
120 or 125 composite sketches,
I started getting averages of the same type of eyes,
the same type of nose, the same type of lips,
and I created a composite picture.
And that was enough to create the 3D bust.
I created it with a Styrofoam base
and commercial plasticine.
The eyes are made of glass.
I used fake eyelashes.
And since it was commercial plasticine,
it melts with heat.
I kept it in the fridge at home.
My daughters were young and used to say, "Mom, get that out of there."
"Each time we open the fridge, we see that head."
And people started to identify her.
Because when I was creating it,
I was in touch with some witnesses and victims.
I'd ask, "What do you think?"
"Does it look like her? From which angle did you see her?"
And I started doing little modifications,
until I got the bust that people know.
Gender, female.
Age, 45 years old.
Height, 1.70 meters.
Build, stocky. Mouth, medium. Lips, thin.
My grandma had fallen inside her apartment.
Ever since, she couldn't go outside to run her errands.
I asked her to come live with me somewhere else.
She refused. This was her home.
I asked her, "Do you want to stay here?"
She said, "Yes," and I said, "Fine."
Let's get organized and we can stay here.
What made us happy
was going to museums, the opera, Bellas Artes.
I even took her to bars.
She was…
She was… my favorite person in the world.
She was sleeping. In the morning, I went to work early.
I always called her between 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon.
She didn't answer.
It was around noon.
Between 12:00 and 1:00, I was having lunch.
My mom and my dad used to close the window when they were eating.
I said, "I'll close it."
Then I turned around,
and saw someone going through Margarita's drawers.
She stared at me.
We stared at each other.
The look in her eye was harsh, cold, disturbing.
Since I left in a hurry, I forgot the keys.
And so, I rang the bell.
She didn't come out, and all the lights were off. It was getting dark.
I rang the neighbor's bell.
I said, "My grandma didn't answer the door and I don't have my keys."
Through the window, he yelled, "Miss Margarita!"
And I yelled, "Mane," but there was no answer.
Then Ale said, "Something is going on."
That's why they broke the glass.
The back bedroom looked like it had been ransacked.
Then, someone called me…
I don't remember which of the two called me and said, "She's here."
There were two pieces of evidence.
One, the jewelry boxes.
They found fingerprints there.
And second, my grandma was very eccentric, maybe.
And if she placed some cushions in the living room,
they had to be perfectly aligned.
And I said, "Those cushions are misaligned."
They flipped one of them, and it was stained.
They performed forensic tests
and realized that it was my grandma's blood.
In short, she suffocated her.
The street was in chaos because of the live broadcasts.
The neighbors asked, "What happened? We're watching the news."
And I said I didn't know anything.
Someone told me to pack some clothes. I only took my pajamas.
I didn't know that they would shut down the apartment.
Jewels were stolen.
Money, since my grandma received a pension.
The killer knew exactly where to look.
The jewelry boxes that were not visible. They were among her clothes.
Then we went to the police station,
and that's when they told me.
That's when I learned
that my grandma was very likely…
one more victim.
In a city like the Federal District,
it isn't easy to find a needle in a haystack.
But there was a key piece of evidence that helped us see a common pattern,
which is what you look for in cases like this.
I started creating a geographical profile by pinpointing on a map
the spots where the homicides took place.
I gave each year a different color.
Serial killers never kill close to their homes,
never kill close to their workplaces.
We could see that there were subway stations
in the surrounding areas.
Next stop, Tlatelolco station.
The killer would exit the station or transfer to another train.
And went looking for a new victim.
Sometimes, the killer didn't find anybody
and went somewhere else the following day.
Mattresses, refrigerators.
Or anything made of iron that you're selling.
While we tried to determine where the killer lived or worked,
we realized that the murders always happened in front of parks.
So, we noticed how this matched the selection phase.
And we have the modus operandi.
She approaches by gaining, or trying to gain, the victim's trust.
Most likely close to a park or garden,
because in 99% of all cases,
the homicides take place next to a park or garden.
At the Undersecretary's Office of Public Safety,
as well as other agencies related to safety,
people who have a position
are usually identified by means of a moniker.
A nickname.
In my case, they called me "Tiger."
I had the opportunity to be called
by Mr. Renato Sales Heredia, deputy district attorney,
who told me, "Tiger, come to my office."
And he said, "We want to show you what we're doing
to stop the "Mataviejitas."
And they showed me a map of Mexico City
that had some pins attached to it.
He said, "This is the area where the crimes are taking place."
We have deployed an operation called "Parks and Gardens."
The criminal goes to parks
to find elderly people,
and then offers to walk them to their home,
killing them there."
So, I said, "Come over to this side."
"What do you see?"
He went over and checked. And he just stared.
He said, "The map." I said, "Yes, but the map is telling you something."
Renato said, "I don't understand."
I said, "Tell me the distance between this park
and the house where it happened."
"Six blocks."
I said, "Six blocks on foot."
"That's not it."
"Have you at least inquired
if there are activities at those parks
geared towards elderly people?"
"No, there aren't any."
I said, "Then you should rule out that hypothesis."
I asked, "Do you have a map that shows which way the streets go?"
They brought a road atlas, and I said, "Look."
"The sites where the crimes occur
are connected to main roads
that allow for a quick escape route."
"As long as you do it going the opposite way."
So, they asked, "Would you help us?" I said, "Of course."
It was on September 28, 2005.
There was a knock on the door, and it was Ms. Lupita.
But I noticed that she came with a woman.
Very stocky.
Not really fat, but stocky. Like with a broad back.
I just remember that she was wearing a red raincoat.
A red raincoat.
She had cropper hair and dark olive complexion.
And when I peeked outside, she turned away from me and popped
her collar.
Like she wanted to hide.
We didn't pay attention to those things.
Then, Ms. Lupita went upstairs with that person.
And that was it.
There was no commotion, no noise, no nothing.
Miss Lupita was lying on her back.
Her skirt was pulled up.
Completely suffocated, with her hosiery still around her neck.
You know? Like wrapped around it.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
OLD PEOPLE PANIC
MRS. GUADALUPE OLIVEIRA WAS CHOKED
LAST FAREWELL TO MRS. LUPITA
I immediately called all the police officers.
They arrived right away, as always.
You have to treat police officers like police officers.
So, I said, "I'm just leaving the District Attorney's Office,
where they say
that you are only good to get drunks out of bars, and just occasionally."
"They wouldn't stop saying that you are all incompetent,
useless, worthless."
My patrol car that day was BC3-2050.
I was in charge of the first section of the Moctezuma neighborhood.
We were neighborhood police officers back then.
And then, one of the officers said, "Motherfuckers."
I said, "They said worse things about you."
That you root for América." They all said, "Oh."
"Tell me. Is it true what they said at the District Attorney's Office?"
"No, sir."
"Who owns this city?" "We do."
"Who patrols?" "We do."
"Who will stop her?" "We will!"
I said, "Go ahead then."
I started going around neighborhoods at 5:00 a.m.
All the officers went out with that order, to find the serial killer.
Then I took out the composite sketches.
After the pep talk, I said,
"Distribute them immediately among all units."
And we had it with us the whole time,
as if it was part of our uniform.
"Keep your eyes wide open."
"Report anything that seems odd."
Chief Briones. A great guy.
I said, "Look."
"This dude is operating in this area."
"Look at this map."
"Then, increase the patrol rounds, but do it differently."
And I remember he said, "Yes, in a serpentine pattern."
I said, "Whichever way you want, man, but you should innovate."
Operation Serpentine consisted in patrol cars
driving at cruising speed with the siren on.
We had to be unpredictable.
They covered every street of that neighborhood
north to south, and south to north.
The composite sketches started showing up all around the city.
In the media, the campaign intensified.
We were hard on her heels.
Most of the time that I lived in Jasso
it was at Ana María de los Reyes's house.
Normally, the space that we shared most often was the kitchen.
Drinking coffee or smoking a cigarette.
There was a song called "I Smoke While I Wait."
She had this couch where she watched TV, and she'd say, "Sit here."
"Pretend that you're smoking and sing the song."
We were always communicating through little notes.
If we didn't tell each other something,
she'd leave a note on my door.
"Joel, I went out shopping."
"I left food on the stove, strawberries, and lemonade."
I loved watching them. They held hands and looked like a couple.
They went to the market and came back.
And he whistled at her like Pedro Infante to La Chorreada…
And she answered…
We were like two children enjoying life.
She came very often
because she liked coming to smoke a cigarette with me.
We had coffee, we had juice.
And then she'd ask, "Shall I bring cheese or beans? Let's have a taco."
We'd have a taco.
A beautiful person.
Based on the chronology of the crimes, when do you expect…?
She liked watching news programs.
And I do remember that at some point, she talked about that.
So in the Federal District, the number of deaths could be between seven…
I just remember that I said,
"Oh, those are just stories."
More than 100 police officers search for this serial killer,
whose composite sketch has been released on TV.
As an expert on serial killers,
Ontiveros believes that the "Mataviejitas"
has been killing for about seven years in the capital city.
JANUARY 25, 2006
That day, I woke up, got ready,
saw Ana,
she waved like this…
I left, went to work and completed my shift.
Unfortunately, Joel was late that day.
He had to receive some merchandise at work, and he was late.
When I left the subway station
and got to the corner to turn on Jasso Street…
I turned and I saw a patrol car on the left.
I had…
a weird feeling.
I got home
and saw that the windows were open…
as well as the front door to the house.
That seemed very odd.
And I whistled.
But there was no response.
That was very strange, so I thought, "I'll take a peek."
All the drawers were open.
The clothes were scattered.
I turned to my left…
and I saw Ana lying on the floor of the TV room.
I thought…
"This can't be happening."
KITCHEN - TV ROOM
At that moment, I heard a noise.
And I saw…
that woman.
During that brief moment…
we looked into each other's eyes.
I never spoke with her.
That woman turned around.
She left calmly through the living room.
I remember that I walked slowly, kind of following her.
I went outside,
and at that moment,
I had the impulse to yell.
"Stop that woman!"
And I thought about Celina.
And I started yelling, "Celina!"
"Celina, help me!"
He came in and pushed the door very hard.
"Help me! That woman hurt Ani!"
At that moment, we were driving along Zaragoza Street.
We turned on José Jasso Street.
A young man came running.
He said, "Officer, help me!"
I noticed that the person turned around and started running faster.
So I sped up
and told my partner, "You know what?"
"Get out and go to the other side."
"If she gets to the subway, she's gone."
When she was about to go inside the subway station,
I grabbed her and she stared at me like this.
She asked why.
"Get inside. Let's see what you did."
She tried to hit me.
I saw her trying to hit my partner.
I got out of the car and went to help him.
The young man came
and asked, "What did you do? What did you do to my neighbor?"
She ran out of the house.
The lady took off, running down the street.
My partner and I each grabbed one of her arms
and put her in the patrol car.
THE "MATAVIEJITAS" HAS BEEN CAUGHT
The "Mataviejitas" was caught more than seven years after the murders began.
The most wanted serial killer in Mexico was finally arrested.
She was arrested today in the Venustiano Carranza borough.
…by officers of the city police unit
after having killed an 82-year-old person.
Thanks to the statement of a person who saw her leaving,
the police managed to capture her.
The "Mataviejitas" was caught. Let's see what happened.
A neighbor noticed something suspicious. He asked the police for help.
Fortunately, there was a patrol car nearby,
car BCA3-1050.
She is now in custody.
CAPTURED!
We've been able to confirm, with great accuracy,
that this is the woman who has committed
several homicides of elderly women.
She had two shopping bags, the kind you get at the supermarket,
with plastic handles.
She had some voter ID cards,
food bank ID cards for seniors.
She had several wrestlers' business cards,
receipts of professional wrestling ring rentals.
She had some bottles of shampoo in her bags.
Lotions.
A hairspray,
a cell phone,
a blood pressure monitor.
She had some old coins,
pendants, chains.
A card of Saint Lazarus
and another one of Our Lady of Holy Death.
She also had a keychain
that had the inscription "The Lady of Silence!"
"Professional wrestler, wrestling female world champion."
"Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" on it.
I was surprised.
Seeing such a calm person.
Seeing a person with no malice on her face.
She sat in the car, took out a sandwich, and started eating.
In fact, she had in her hand an image of the Holy Death.
And she started to eat.
I arrived.
I saw a very flashy person
with too much makeup.
I said, "Good afternoon." I sat down, and she turned around to see me.
I asked, "Tell me, what do you do?"
She said, "Well, I do lots of things."
I said, "You must be an important woman."
"Besides, you're imposing." I was looking at her arms.
I was looking at her hands.
Because when I talked to Renato
he told us that his forensic team had indicated
that because of how the murders had happened, and the testimonials,
it was probably a male who practiced wrestling.
Because of how the chokehold was applied.
It's the headlock.
Yes, it's the headlock.
Those who practice it, apply the lock with their arm.
She did it with an object.
I thought about this when I was talking to her,
and I saw her arms and her big hands.
I asked, "What sport do you like?"
I said, "Tell me." And I nudged her with my elbow.
She said, "Well, I really like wrestling."
I was like, "Oh, shit."
"Awesome. Great. I love wrestling."
I said, "Well, I'll be right back. Let me speed up the paperwork."
"Fine. Thanks."
I stepped out. Briones was there. The officers that detained her were there.
I turned towards Briones and said, "It's her."
Why did you kill her?
-Why did you kill her? -I can't tell you.
Ma'am, what's your name?
-Did you have a relationship with her? -No, sir.
-Is this your first murder? -What's your name?
Juana Barraza Samperio.
-Is it the first, ma'am? -Yes, ma'am.
-Did you steal something from the home? -No.
Is it the first time you've done this?
The first crime was in 1998.
And over the course of almost eight years, 48 old ladies died.
And the District Attorney's Office says that this woman's fingerprints
match the fingerprints found in at least ten murders
in which she would be directly involved.
We were always looking for a man.
And what surprised the whole police force
was that the serial killer was a woman.
Later I told one of my female coworkers
to check if she was actually a woman, and she was.
I was really surprised.
Forty victims. A woman did it.
It wasn't easy to imagine
because this is not what usually happens.
Besides, there was violence,
which is more common with men than with women.
Strong arms, a man.
Uses chokeholds, a man.
The stereotype of a serial killer
is always a man, not a woman.
Even saying "serial murderess" creates a different type of allure.
"Oh, murderess. Look. Wow!"
A totally different curiosity.
Well, her name is Juana Barraza Samperio,
and she admitted that she murdered her victims out of anger.
The district attorney disclosed this woman's troubled past
and said it could be the root cause that turned her into a serial killer.
She was asked
about her motive, why she killed her victims,
and she said it was out of anger.
When did you start committing your homicides?
-My what? -The homicides.
-No, it's the first time. -It was the first time?
You haven't committed any others? Why did you murder today?
Honestly, I lost it.
Why? What happened? Tell me.
-That lady and I started arguing. -Why?
-Because of money. -What money?
-My wages. -I wasn't there.
Tell me everything in detail. Why did you argue?
I arrived at her house and she was going inside, opening the door.
She was coming back from the market.
And I asked her if she needed me to wash or tidy up her home.
She said, "Not now." I said, "Please give me some water."
She did, and she happily invited me to come inside.
I checked things out, but didn't steal anything.
But how was it? What made you so angry that you'd want to hurt her?
Because I asked her how much she would pay me for the quilts.
When she told me, I said, "That's very little, ma'am."
She said, "You want to make twice as much." That made me furious.
And I grabbed the rubber band, but it wasn't mine.
It was on her table.
I grabbed it and choked her with it.
You left your fingerprints in each of your crimes.
We are not making things up or trying to trick you.
We don't need to treat you badly. This is an open-and-shut case.
-You're here. We caught you. -Yes.
I am not denying it.
First she said all of them, then she said none.
Then she said one, then she said only the last one.
-Were you mistreated as a child? -Yes.
-By whom? -By my mom.
Your mom mistreated you? Tell me about it.
Tell me.
My mom mistreated me badly. She used to hit me.
And she always cursed me. She gave me away to an older man.
-She gave you away? Let it off your chest. -Yes, with a very old man.
-And I was abused? -You were abused?
-Yes, that's why I hated the ladies. -You hated the ladies.
-Let it off your chest. -I know it's no excuse.
I don't deserve to be forgiven by God or anybody.
I did it.
According to what she said herself,
when she was a teenager, when she started her teenage years,
her mom exchanged her for a carton of beer.
She gave her to a person, an old man, a senior man,
in exchange for a carton of beer.
That's when the drama began for her.
That was, undoubtedly, one of the psychological causes
of her deviation, of her personal conflict.
Probably our first serial murderess, right?
A Mexican one.
We would like to know what goes on
inside the mind of this type of criminal.
When she was in the prosecutor's waiting room,
Dr. Apodaca asked her, "Show me how you strangled them."
I decided to take off my tie and give it to her.
And she began explaining.
She used Dr. Apodaca to show us, and began strangling him.
At one point, she got excited and squeezed hard.
I told another coworker, Miguel,
"Miguel, there is some hosiery at the office."
Something like this.
When… Can you lower yourself a bit? I did something like this.
I pulled like this, but leaning my hand here so it doesn't straighten.
And here.
Here I pull tighter,
and when you can't breathe, you fall, and I release you.
But I never remove…
And if the victim doesn't lower herself, what do you do?
I push her down, like this.
But I never touch her with my hands.
-Just with the forearms. -Yes.
And you tie another knot?
Yes, when I do this and…
I mean, because I won't remove it. I do this.
Yes. Just leave it like that.
Look. Nobody has this.
This is one of the knots.
This is the knot with which she strangled Miguel.
But the most important thing, I'll show you,
is that she leaves an autograph.
This is Juana's… signature.
I told her, "Give me your autograph."
And she happily did.
Well, this is the second one, because on the other side
is the first signature on the same piece of hosiery.
This is priceless,
especially because of the knot and the signature.
The capital police will get together with the person who reported
the serial killer to see how they can reward him.
The police officers that carried out the arrest
will each be rewarded with 100,000 pesos.
I was told they were holding a ceremony
in which I would get an award.
He would actually be deemed a hero just like the preventive police officers.
We give you this award. Congratulations.
Good luck.
Buy us something.
-Were you afraid? -No, because it's our job.
It's your job. How did catching this serial killer change your lives?
It's mostly personal satisfaction. It's all personal.
-What did they tell you at home? -"Congratulations."
-Your kids. Do you have kids? -Yes, one.
-How old? -Six.
-Six. He's young, right? -Yes.
-What did your wife tell you? -"Congratulations."
My siblings, my mom, even my neighbors.
When we did interviews,
people asked us to pose for a photo with their kids.
In fact, a grandma once told me
that she had lit a votive candle for me. "I lit a candle for you."
I got this medal from Congress.
We also received the Police Achievement Award.
And as financial reward,
we each received 100,000 pesos and an apartment.
That's what we…
And they suddenly said,
"You were instrumental. You were a hero."
But I don't see it that way.
I would have wanted…
to rescue her.
Everything about the crime! She killed the grandmas.
It's in the newspaper!
According to her neighbors, Juana Barraza was a normal woman.
She lived with her two children.
Like any other woman, she had her hair cut two months ago
at the salon near her home.
I cut it and didn't want to dye it because it was brittle.
I found it odd that she wanted a new look every week.
And she had like a lower back injury because she couldn't walk properly.
Even though she's been detained,
the neighbors are afraid.
In a way, I'm very afraid because just imagine.
This is where she had been living the last six months.
According to some neighbors, she was a very lonesome woman
who did not interact with any of the other residents.
Her whole place was painted red.
A total mess,
and the bedrooms were full of objects.
There were beds, and you couldn't walk around
because of all the bags, shoes, and clothes that were scattered.
On the right side of the entrance,
there was an altar dedicated to the Holy Death.
There was a framed photo in the living room.
What size?
Like 80 centimeters, so like a poster.
Of herself with her arms like this,
posing as a wrestler.
"MATAVIEJITAS" CAPTURED
Yes, today's main story is the "Mataviejitas."
The mysterious killer turned out to be a female wrestler.
She called herself "The Lady of Silence."
For a while,
she was a professional wrestler.
She was called "The Lady of Silence."
"The Lady of Silence."
That was her nickname.
Well, we all wanted to learn more,
so we decided to go to the San Juan Arena.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is wrestling tonight!
We have great fights lined up. Heels versus Faces!
I have a question for you. Are you ready?
The Lady of Silence!
THE LADY OF SILENCE
We were sort of friends… when it came to partying.
We partied together all the time.
Like, "Are you dating that guy? Then I'll date this one."
We were…
We were wild.
She always said, "What do you need? I'll come see you."
Yes, I really trusted her
because I even told her about my personal problems.
I told her about my problems with my daughter.
Lady!
But she never seemed angry.
There wasn't a trace of aggression in her.
She was a sweetheart.
Do it!
But I did find it odd
that she treated us to lunch and paid a huge bill.
Yes, my pal carried quite a bit of money.
I found it strange that she dyed her hair a lot.
I remember telling hair, "Your hair will fall off."
She dyed it almost every month.
She dyed it blonde, red,
brown.
And she moved often.
Just last Friday,
there was a story in the midday newscast
that makes you wonder about life's surprises.
That's right. That woman that was wrestling that day
is the "Mataviejitas."
It seems like an act of defiance
that the woman most wanted by the police
whose composite sketch was all over the country
would dare to appear on television.
In cold blood, the alleged killer
of, at least, ten old ladies,
said before our cameras last Tuesday, January 17,
that she is very, very tough.
Never…
I never suspected that she was…
That it was her.
And my mom and I were watching TV, and when she saw her…
I looked at my mom
and she said, "Oh, honey. That's your friend."
"See? And you used to bring her here."
And when she was caught, I missed her.
And my family used to say, "Don't say she's your friend. Aren't you ashamed?"
"Why would I be?"
THE LADY OF SILENCE
"The Lady of Silence."
That is a Face name.
It's not a Heel name.
But she was quite tough.
Maybe when you learn that she's The Lady of Silence
it's because she was keeping a secret.
Strangely enough, when she quit wrestling due to a back injury…
She used to lift 100-kilogram weights.
When she quit wrestling, she started killing.
So, I think she unloaded a large part of her frustrations
that came from that awful early childhood
through wrestling.
I think she always dreamed of becoming a wrestler.
But she was never a wrestler.
She never set foot in a ring.
I asked several wrestlers,
"Did you ever fight against The Lady of Silence?"
"No, never."
She liked being in the wrestling environment.
She had her own costume made, but she wasn't a wrestler.
Anybody can have wrestling gear custom-made.
And anybody can buy a championship.
Come on, Lady!
Come on!
The Lady of Silence never existed.
The Lady of Silence could spend the rest of her life behind bars
because she was charged this afternoon
with at least 11 homicides.
These are horrible crimes that have shaken us.
When I was writing about the Juana Barraza case,
I realized that she gave the media and the police
the perfect sensationalist story.
portraying Juana Barraza as a psychopath
because of her muscular body,
which is always described this way because she is stocky,
because of her love of wrestling
as The Lady of Silence,
and not so much because of the crimes she committed.
Her criminality was described as something she was born with,
something innate.
It has been proven that criminality
is not apparent on someone's face.
Therefore, judging somebody by their looks,
by their gaze, by their features,
ends up being very dangerous criteria
as a basis on which to build a criminal's profile.
On the day…
I had to go to courthouse 67 in Santa Martha,
I was a meter and a half away from a glass window.
She was behind that window.
And she seemed bigger
than the way she was described as a big, stocky person.
Well…
A very hefty, very strong person
with a strong personality.
She seems like a mother… Sorry.
Like this.
And on top of what she did to me,
she took away my mom, my grandma, my Mane,
she told me, "Yes, but you left her alone."
I couldn't take it anymore.
I had just been to the restroom. I went outside to throw up.
I knew she wouldn't do anything to me,
but she did.
The hearing was canceled that day because…
I couldn't do it.
I didn't feel any hatred.
Honestly. I didn't feel any hatred because I've asked God
to help me let go of that part of me.
I just blurted, "May God forgive you."
"Really, may God forgive you."
And she stared at me, surprised.
And I just remember she said,
"Do you know who my God is?"
I said, "I don't."
And she took out a card of the Holy Death.
She said, "This is my God and she protects me."
I said, "That's great!"
"I'm glad she protects you."
And I don't know why I told her,
"You haven't hurt me."
"But you've hurt your children the most."
And she turned around and left.
The accused, Juana Barraza Samperio,
was given a sentence
of 759 years and 17 days of prison.
I don't agree.
I don't agree with anything.
At the courthouse, behind the cubicle for the defendants,
the names of all the persons
that she allegedly killed are being read.
She was very calm.
The names were being read, and I remember that she said,
"Add some more, come on."
"Seeing as I'm your patsy. Who cares? Add some more."
Juana Barraza Samperio, also known as the "Mataviejitas,"
was sentenced to 759 years in prison.
…for the murder of 17 women
and 12 more charges for burglary.
The so-called "Lady of Silence" says she'll appeal the verdict.
That sentence
was part of the sense of justice
that the government wanted to give to the people.
It's a political sentence.
It's a medieval sentence
because its goal is to have an impact on public opinion,
not to be an effective sentence.
Women who kill in Mexico and in the rest of the world
consistently get the longest sentences,
because they aren't punished for what they did,
but because they are thought to be evil by nature.
And that sentence, at the same time,
serves as a warning for other women.
Araceli Vázquez, one of the alleged "Mataviejitas"
has been in prison for 19 years,
with no homicides proven against her.
Some years after my arrest, I was in prison
when my fellow inmates told me,
"The 'Mataviejitos' was just detained."
I was shocked and said, "Why? Didn't they say it was me?"
I always stole things,
but it had nothing to do with that situation.
And she was found in possession of some objects
or belongings of people who had been robbed.
And they claimed,
"She is the "Mataviejitos." Araceli is the killer."
And they booked me at a press conference with more than 70 news outlets.
She was introduced wearing a wig.
Who knows which of those crazy minds
in the investigation police unit
came up with the idea of the wig.
They said, "Make her wear this to make it more appealing, okay?"
And they were going crazy at the press conference.
They decided
to create a soap opera.
Prosecutor Zayas said,
"Araceli will get away with the robberies, so add the homicides."
"It's 42 years."
"No, you can't do this. I didn't kill anyone."
I kept saying that I hadn't killed anyone.
"No, it's her. Record it, get her ready. She's going straight to prison."
"I'M A THIEF, NOT A MURDERER"
SHE DENIES HAVING KILLED GRANDMAS
SHE CLAIMS SHE'S INNOCENT
The witness said, "It's not her."
"The person I saw was tall, with short hair and broad back."
"Fair skin."
"This lady has dark skin."
"She's short."
"These people were looking for someone tall,
with big hands."
"And that's not her."
Did Araceli Vázquez match the suspect's profile?
No, not 100%.
Let's say not 100%,
but our duty was
to investigate all the evidence we had.
They had me at the Reclusorio Oriente prison,
and three or four people were being murdered every day.
So, I'd run up to the warden's office and say,
"More have been killed."
"It's not me!"
At the beginning, Araceli Vázquez was linked to several cases.
Among them, the murder of Mrs. Gloria Rizo.
The evidence is that they allegedly found some jewelry
that Araceli stole from Mrs. Gloria.
Araceli said, "My fingerprints are not at any of the crime scenes."
"My fingerprints don't match
the murders that we would later learn were committed by someone else."
When Juana Barraza was captured,
they just said, "The fingerprint matches the one on the glass that you brought us."
They told me. They even gave me an official letter.
That she was solely guilty
of her homicide, and the homicide of many others.
They never mentioned Araceli Vázquez again
and they never said, "We'll release her…" No.
So, nothing. I wasn't in touch with her or anybody else.
I assumed that if they found the other woman,
then Araceli would be released right away.
That did not happen.
Later on, the investigation results showed
that she wasn't the person we were looking for.
A faulty case.
Not really, because she's still serving a prison sentence.
Perhaps on other charges. I can't remember.
-You don't remember Araceli? -Was that a Homicide Prosecutor's case?
No, I honestly don't remember that case.
Araceli has served her sentence of 17 years and nine months for burglary.
And now she's serving a sentence of 23 additional years
for the murder of Margarita Aceves in the Cuitlahuac residential unit.
Reading the file, there's no evidence that links her to this homicide,
the fingerprints don't match,
or the physical appearance described by witnesses.
In fact, no witness ever picked her out of a lineup.
I just want to clarify
that I did not kill those people.
And the evidence is there.
I've kept silent for 18 years.
If there's a judicial error, it needs to be remedied.
The current District Attorney's Office would be responsible for that.
And also the judiciary.
If it turns…
If it turns out to be a judicial error, there are mechanisms in place to solve it.
It's very unfortunate.
But one of the awful things about investigations
is that errors are made, and they should be acknowledged
and we should be able to remedy them.
It's not always done
for political or media purposes.
But one should be able to acknowledge that an error was made.
It makes you think, if there isn't enough evidence
to prove that a person is guilty,
why is that person processed and sentenced?
They said that Mario Tablas
was linked to four murders.
Then seven, then nine.
And apparently, he didn't do them.
Just like Araceli, he said, "My fingerprints were not there."
We read in the official report
that one of the homicide cases
for which Mario had actually been sentenced
actually matched
Juana Barraza's fingerprints at the crime scene.
When we asked him
why the prosecutors filed those murder charges,
he said,
"They fabricated guilty people."
Mario Tablas was sentenced to almost 70 years in prison
for the murder of two old ladies.
The last I heard was that he died in prison
and he always claimed he was innocent.
and without ever being released,
There's no perfect crime,
but there are imperfect investigations.
So those issues must be fixed,
because they contribute to impunity.
Juana Barraza is at the Santa Martha Acatitla prison
serving her sentence for killing 16 old ladies
and robbing 12 more.
Due to her good behavior, she's been given
permission to cook on Tuesdays and sell her food,
and therefore have an income in prison.
We know that she got married in 2015
and later got divorced.
I decided to get in touch with Juana.
I approached her very cautiously.
I said, "How are you? I am Claudia Bolaños,
a reporter from El Universal."
And she said, "I don't give interviews."
"If I give one, I'll charge 10,000 pesos."
I went to Santa Martha to see her.
I was shocked to see…
it wasn't exactly respect, but more like fear from the guards.
They would make room for her and say,
"Mrs. Juana, how are you?"
"Ma'am, go ahead."
She's become kind of a celebrity.
Or she is a celebrity that has
a certain social status in prison.
I think about how people,
when they hear the term "Mataviejitas" these days…
possibly think of a legend or myth.
And that, just like any legend,
it feeds off truths
and lies,
and the police like to tell stories.
The media also likes a good narrative.
A story… with many elements.
And also the people, the society in Mexico
actually loves being told stories.
THE "MATAVIEJITAS"
CLOSE MURDERER
TOUGH AT HEART
THE "MATAVIEJITAS"
CLOSE MURDERER
16 OLD LADIES
Professional wrestler
She calls herself "The Lady of Silence"
Nobody is suspicious, nobody can imagine
This killer could be your neighbor
The first serial killer, and it's a woman.
And it happens in Mexico City, with old ladies.
Of course it was a high-profile case.
It was so high-profile, that you're interviewing me right now,
20 years later.
To sell more.
That's why it becomes high-profile.
Songs, corridos and cumbias were written about her.
She's the "Mataviejitas"
The "Mataviejitas"
She's a serial killer
A criminal was turned into a celebrity.
So she was the "Mataviejitas," and the wrestler, and…
So many things. I think,
"What about the victims?"
Victim one, victim two, victim three.
There's a murder and they talk more about how they killed,
how they did it, what they stole from her,
instead of talking
about who the murdered person was.
They are forgotten, but not by their families.
They're still there,
possibly demanding justice years after the fact.
And I think that they also deserve
that the investigations continue, that justice is served.
The victim
is a loser
in the duel for life.
Awful, right?
After each person's murder…
there is great pain.
And people
aren't aware that they leave…
That they leave behind holes in the lives of people.
Juana Barraza, also known as "Mataviejitas"
will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
The police recorded 49 cases of elderly women
that were strangled with the same modus operandi
between 1998 and 2006.
Juana Barraza was only charged with 17 homicides,
but 32 murders remain unsolved to this day.
It's 8:04.
THE VICTIMS 1998 - 1999 - 2001 - 2002
THE VICTIMS 2003
THE VICTIMS 2004
THE VICTIMS 2005 - 2006