"Mataviejitas" Juana Barraza Is Sentenced to 759 Years for Killing Elderly Women in Mexico City
The former amateur wrestler posed as a nurse or social worker to get into her victims' homes, prosecutors said. She confessed to only one killing.
Published
For years, elderly women living alone in Mexico City were found strangled in their homes. On March 31, 2008, a court convicted Juana Barraza, known as "La Mataviejitas," or the Little Old Lady Killer, and sentenced her to a cumulative 759 years in prison for homicide and aggravated robbery.
Barraza, 50, a single mother who had wrestled on the amateur circuit as "La Dama del Silencio," was held responsible for the deaths of 16 elderly women. The judge heard evidence that she looked for elderly women on their own in public places and gained entry to their homes by helping with shopping bags, asking for cleaning work or pretending to be a nurse or social worker. The prosecution said she strangled her victims with objects such as phone cables, tights or a stethoscope.
Barraza was arrested in January 2006, after a lodger arrived home as she was leaving the house where his 82-year-old landlady lay dead. That was the only killing she confessed to. "May God forgive you and not forget me," she said at her sentencing, adding that she would appeal all but one of the convictions. She is serving her sentence at the Santa Martha Acatitla women's prison in Mexico City.
The Guardian reported that Barraza confessed to only one killing, while the court held her responsible for the deaths of 16 women.
Sources
- Little Old Lady Killer handed 759 years in a Mexican prison, The Guardian (Jo Tuckman, Mexico City)
- ¿Qué le pasó a La Mataviejitas y por qué salió de prisión?, Récord
Related News
- January 25, 2006: Mexico City Police Arrest Former Wrestler Juana Barraza as the Suspected "Mataviejitas" Strangler