Mexico City detains two serial killers

One is a female wrestler who allegedly earned the trust of elderly women, then strangled them. The other is a former soldier accused of luring gay men from bars and killing them. Mexico City police had two suspected serial killers in custody Thursday, saying they have solved the capital's infamous "Little Old Lady Killer" case and have broken another string of murders.

Authorities said Juana Barraza, 48, was caught fleeing a house Wednesday where an 82-year-old woman had been strangled with a stethoscope. Prosecutors said they have evidence implicating Barraza as the notorious Mataviejitas, or "Little Old Lady Killer," suspected in the slayings of at least 10 elderly women in the past two years.

Another suspect, Raul Osiel Marroquin, 29, was arrested Monday in the killings of four gay men in the capital, police said.

Both suspects confessed to killing at least some of the victims when they were paraded in front of the media, a tradition in Mexico, a country in which police and prosecutors have faced withering criticism for failing to investigate, let alone solve, most crimes.

At a news conference Thursday, Marroquin coldly described killing four gay men. Although there had been some reports of an increase in attacks against gays, the announcement of Marroquin's arrest was the first confirmation of a serial killer targeting gays.

Police did not give details about what led to his arrest. "I snuffed out four homosexuals that in some way were affecting society," Marroquin said. He told reporters he would kill again, if given the chance, but would "refine his methods."

Police said Marroquin tortured his victims before hanging or choking them and carved a star into the forehead of one man. They also accused him of kidnapping two other gay men, but said he let them go for ransoms of up to $11,500. Unlike Marroquin's case, which was little known until his arrest, news of the "Little Old Lady Killer" grabbed headlines, frightening residents for two years.

Police had suspected the killer was a man dressed as a woman and spent months detaining, questioning, and fingerprinting transvestites. Female serial killers are rare in any country, making up only 8% of all serial assassins in the United States.

Mexico City attorney general Bernardo Batiz said Thursday that they have enough evidence to pin at least 10 deaths on Barraza, a stocky former professional wrestler. Barraza was arrested Wednesday night as she fled a house in which Ana Maria Reyes, 82, had just been strangled with a stethoscope. Neighbors called police.

She told police and reporters she did kill Reyes but not the others. "Yes, I did it," she said, smiling at the television cameras as she was being taken away by police. She quickly added: "Just because I'm going to pay for it, that doesn't mean they're going to hang all the crimes on me."

But Batiz told reporters that Barraza's fingerprints match those at the scene of 10 homicides as well as one attempted murder. He also said Barraza has made incriminating statements in connection with four of the 10 killings, including that of Reyes. Barraza also resembles police composite drawings and a sculptured rendering of the suspected serial killer based on descriptions by witnesses, even including a similar haircut and facial mole.

"My partner and I caught her by the arms and took her back to the patrol car," officer Ismael Alvarado Ruiz said of the arrest. "We went back to the house, and everything was scattered all around."

Police said Barraza was carrying a bag with a stethoscope, pension forms, and a card identifying her as a social worker. Police have long believed the killer gained access to victims' homes by offering to sign them up for pensions or other social programs. But Barraza said she went to the victim's home seeking work doing laundry.

"That's a lie. I wasn't carrying the documents they have there," she said. She did not offer a motive but told reporters, "You'll know why I did it when you read my statement to police."

One of Reyes's neighbors, 73-year-old Lourdes Medina, remembered the victim as a tidy, hardworking woman. "This is very sad. It's not fair," Medina said. "This could have happened to me. I'm scared to walk on the street." (AP)