Fear of a Serial Killer Grips Mexico City
Reuters
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
______________________________
Mexico City (Mexico):
Long used to kidnappers and drug hitmen, Mexico's capital is now in fear of another type of criminal: a serial killer in women's clothes who strangles and batters old ladies in their homes.
Police believe a single murderer is responsible for the unusual killings of four elderly women in the city so far this year and may have committed some of 37 others since 2003.
Bizarrely, three of the four victims had prints of the painting Boy in Red Waistcoat by an 18th century French artist, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, hanging on their walls, but prosecutors say that may just be a coincidence.
The murderer, dubbed the mataviejitas, or "little old lady killer", is either a tall, powerfully built woman or a man who dresses in female clothes, talks his or her way into the victims' houses, then kills with household objects.
"It is a criminal acting alone, who is very careful, is brilliantly clever and acts with a lot of skill, winning the confidence of old people," the city's chief prosecutor, Bernardo Bátiz, said on Monday.
AdvertisementIn the four cases that police say are definitely linked, the victims were strangled by women's tights, a curtain cord or a phone cable after they opened their doors to the killer. Detectives think the murderer may have posed as a doctor or nurse.
Oct 12, 2005
Reuters
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
______________________________
Mexico City (Mexico):
Long used to kidnappers and drug hitmen, Mexico's capital is now in fear of another type of criminal: a serial killer in women's clothes who strangles and batters old ladies in their homes.
Police believe a single murderer is responsible for the unusual killings of four elderly women in the city so far this year and may have committed some of 37 others since 2003.
Bizarrely, three of the four victims had prints of the painting Boy in Red Waistcoat by an 18th century French artist, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, hanging on their walls, but prosecutors say that may just be a coincidence.
The murderer, dubbed the mataviejitas, or "little old lady killer", is either a tall, powerfully built woman or a man who dresses in female clothes, talks his or her way into the victims' houses, then kills with household objects.
"It is a criminal acting alone, who is very careful, is brilliantly clever and acts with a lot of skill, winning the confidence of old people," the city's chief prosecutor, Bernardo Bátiz, said on Monday.
AdvertisementIn the four cases that police say are definitely linked, the victims were strangled by women's tights, a curtain cord or a phone cable after they opened their doors to the killer. Detectives think the murderer may have posed as a doctor or nurse.
Oct 12, 2005
