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Juana Barraza

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Juana Barraza
Born
Juana Dayanara Barraza Samperio

(1957-12-27) 27 December 1957 (age 68)
Epazoyucan, Hidalgo, Mexico
Other namesMataviejitas
(Spanish for "Little Old Lady Killer")
La Dama del Silencio
(Spanish for "The Lady of Silence)
Spouse
Miguel Ángel Quiróz
​
​
(m. 2015; div. 2016)​
[1]
Children4 (1 deceased)
Criminal penalty
759 years
Details
Victims16 (convicted)
40-48+ (suspected)
Span of crimes
1998–2006
CountryMexico
StateMexico City
Date apprehended
25 January 2006
Imprisoned atSanta Martha Acatitla

Juana Dayanara Barraza Samperio (born 27 December 1957) is a Mexican convicted serial killer and former professional wrestler known as "La Mataviejitas" ("The Old Lady Killer"). She was convicted of the murders of 16 elderly women and sentenced to 759 years in prison.

The killings attributed to "La Mataviejitas" have been variously dated: some accounts place the first murders in the late 1990s, while at least one source cites a specific killing on 17 November 2003.[2] Authorities and the press have estimated the total number of victims at between 42 and 48 deaths.[3] After Barraza's arrest, officials officially closed the Mataviejitas investigation despite more than 30 unresolved cases.[4] In 2005, Araceli Vázquez and Mario Tablas were also arrested and were at times identified by police and media as "La Mataviejitas".[5][6][7][8][9]

Early life and family

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Juana Dayanara Barraza Samperio[10] was born in Epazoyucan, Hidalgo, a rural area north of Mexico City.[11] Barraza's mother, Justa Samperio, was an alcoholic who reportedly exchanged her for three beers to a man who repeatedly raped her while in his care, and by whom she became pregnant with a son.[11] She had four children in total, although her eldest son died from injuries sustained in a mugging.[11] Prior to her arrest, Barraza was a professional wrestler under the ring name of La Dama del Silencio (The Lady of Silence).[12] She had a strong interest in lucha libre, a form of Mexican masked professional wrestling.[11] She fought as a ruda (a heel).[13]

Profile

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All of Barraza's victims were women aged sixty or over, many of whom lived alone.[14] Barraza bludgeoned or strangled them before robbing them.[15]

Bernardo Bátiz, the chief prosecutor in Mexico City, initially profiled the killer as having "a brilliant mind, [being] quite clever and careful",[16] and suggested that the killer probably struck after gaining the trust of the intended victim. Investigating officers suspected that the killer posed as a government official, offering victims the chance to sign up for welfare programs.[15]

Boy in a Red Waistcoat, by Jean-Baptiste Greuze c. 1775–80, a painting reproduced in prints found in several of the victims' homes

The search for Barraza was complicated by conflicting evidence. At one point, the police hypothesized that two killers might be involved. An odd coincidence also distracted the investigation: at least three of Barraza's victims owned a print of an eighteenth-century painting by French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Boy in a Red Waistcoat.[17]

The authorities believed that Juana Barraza was a psychopath who felt no remorse. Furthermore, Barraza associated her elderly victims with her mother and believed that she was helping society by killing them. In order to gain her victims' trust, Barraza posed as a government official who worked in social welfare.[18]

Investigation

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The authorities were heavily criticized by the media for dismissing evidence that a serial killer was at work in Mexico City as merely "media sensationalism" as late as the summer of 2005. Soon after setting an investigation in motion, the police incurred further criticism by launching what one journalist described as a "ham-fisted" and unproductive swoop on Mexico City's transvestite prostitutes.[9]

A major breakthrough in the case occurred on 25 January 2006, when a suspect was arrested fleeing from the home of the serial killer's latest victim, Ana María de los Reyes Alfaro, who lived in the Venustiano Carranza borough of Mexico City. Alfaro, 82, had been strangled with a stethoscope.[19][12]

To the surprise of many Mexicans, who had supposed the killer to be male, the suspect detained was Juana Barraza, 48, a female wrestler known professionally as The Silent Lady. Witnesses at previous murder scenes had described a masculine-looking woman[11] and police had previously looked for a transgender person, although they later admitted that the former wrestler resembled composite images of the suspect.[12] 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.

Mexico City prosecutors said fingerprint evidence linked Barraza to at least ten of the approximately forty murders[20] attributed to the killer.[21] The wrestler is said to have confessed to murdering Alfaro and three other women, but denied involvement in all other killings.[12][22] She told reporters that she strangled Alfaro after a dispute over pay for Barraza's maid services.[23]

The arrest of Juana Barraza came two days after the capture of Raúl Osiel Marroquín, another serial killer active in Mexico City. Marroquín was known as The Sadist and The Rainbow Killer and had kidnapped and tortured six gay men, killing four of them.[24]

Trial, verdict, and life in prison

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Barraza was tried in the spring of 2008, the prosecution alleging she had been responsible for as many as forty deaths. She admitted to one murder, that of Alfaro, and told the police her motive was lingering resentment regarding her own mother's treatment of her. On 31 March, she was found guilty on sixteen charges of murder and aggravated burglary, including eleven separate counts of murder. She was sentenced to 759 years in prison. Since sentences imposed in Mexican courts are generally served concurrently, but the maximum sentence under Mexican law is sixty years, she will most likely serve the full sentence in prison.[21]

While in prison, Juana Barraza has been working as a gym instructor and selling tacos to support her family.[14] According to news reports, in July 2015, Juana married Miguel Ángel, an inmate who had been convicted of murder.[25] Later, in October 2016, she divorced her husband while serving her sentence.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 Ahrens, Jan Martínez (28 October 2016). "48 murders later, the "Little Old Lady Killer" files for divorce". El País. Retrieved 29 June 2026.
  2. ↑ Tuckman, Jo: "'Old lady killer' set to strike again", The Guardian, 21 November 2005.
  3. ↑ "Capturan a la supuesta "mataviejitas"".
  4. ↑ Vargas Cervantes, Susana. The Little Old Lady Killer: The sensationalized Crimes of Mexico's First Serial Killer. NYU Press, 2019. P. 11
  5. ↑ "PGJDF: Falta confirmar si la Mataviejitas tiene cómplices - la Jornada".
  6. ↑ "Exculpan a Mario Tablas del asesinato de una anciana - la Jornada".
  7. ↑ "Atribuyen quinto crimen al mataviejitas prisionero".
  8. ↑ Salgado, Agustín: "Del mataviejitas, 24 de 32 asesinatos: Renato Sales Archived 18 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine", La Jornada, 17 November 2005.
  9. 1 2 Servín, Minerva and Salgado, Agustín: "De 1998 a la fecha, 49 asesinatos de ancianos Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine", La Jornada, 26 January 2006.
  10. ↑ according to birth record
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Tuckman, Jo (19 May 2006). "The lady killer". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Woman held in Mexico killer hunt". BBC. 26 January 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  13. ↑ Vargas Cervantes 2019, p. 2.
  14. 1 2 Henry, Grace (26 July 2023). "Where is Juana Barraza now? The Lady of Silence: The Mataviejitas Murders subject today". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 June 2026.
  15. 1 2 C. McKinley Jr., James (26 January 2006). "Woman Held in Mexico City Serial Killings". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2026.
  16. ↑ Fernández, Rubelio; Cancino, Fabiola (11 October 2005). "Bátiz define a 'mataviejitas' como brillante y muy hábil". El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 February 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  17. ↑ "Mexico police hunt serial killer". BBC News. 11 October 2005. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  18. ↑ "Woman held in Mexico killer hunt". BBC News. 26 January 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  19. ↑ "Mexico's "Little Old Lady Killer" gets life term". Reuters. 1 April 2008. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  20. ↑ "Police nab two in serial killings case". USA Today. 26 January 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  21. 1 2 "Life for Mexico's Old Lady Killer". BBC. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  22. ↑ Tuckman, Jo (2 April 2008). "Little Old Lady Killer handed 759 years in a Mexican prison". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  23. ↑ Vargas Cervantes 2010, p. 187.
  24. ↑ "Female wrestler, ex-soldier suspects in serial killings". Taipei Times. AP. 28 January 2006. Retrieved 29 May 2026.
  25. ↑ Calderón, Verónica (28 July 2015). "The Mexican serial killer who has found love behind bars". El País. Retrieved 29 June 2026.

Sources

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