Juana Barraza

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Barraza and the second or maternal family name is Samperio.
Juana Barraza Samperio
Juana Barraza as a wrestler (left) and after her arrest (right)
Born (1957-12-27) 27 December 1957 (age 66)
Epazoyucan, Hidalgo, Mexico
Other namesMataviejitas
(Sp. Little Old Lady Killer")
La Dama del Silencio
(Sp. The Lady of Silence)
Spouse
Miguel Ángel Quiróz
​
​
(m. 2015; div. 2017)​
[citation needed]
Children4 (1 deceased)
Criminal penalty759 years
Details
Victims16+
Span of crimes
1998–2006
CountryMexico
State(s)Mexico City
Date apprehended
25 January 2006
Imprisoned atSanta Martha Acatitla

Juana Dayanara Barraza Samperio (born 27 December 1957)[1] is a Mexican serial killer and former professional wrestler dubbed La Mataviejitas (Sp. "The Little Old Lady Killer") sentenced to 759 years in prison for the killing of 16 elderly women.[2][3] The first murder attributed to Mataviejitas has been dated variously to the late 1990s and to a specific killing on 17 November 2003.[4] The authorities and the press have given various estimates as to the total number of the Mataviejitas victims, with estimates ranging from 42 to 48 deaths.[5] After the arrest of Juana Barraza the case of the Mataviejitas was officially closed despite more than 30 unresolved cases.[6] Araceli Vázquez and Mario Tablas were also arrested in 2005 and called by police and media The Mataviejitas.[7][8][9][10][11]

Early life and family[edit]

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

Profile[edit]

All of Barraza's victims were women aged 60 or over, many of whom lived alone. Barraza bludgeoned or strangled them before robbing them.[citation needed]

Bernardo Bátiz, the chief prosecutor in Mexico City, initially profiled the killer as having "a brilliant mind, [being] quite clever and careful",[14] 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.[citation needed]

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.[15]

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 the trust of her victims, Barraza posed as a government official who worked in social welfare.[16]

Investigation[edit]

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.[11]

By November 2005, the Mexican authorities were reporting witness statements to the effect that the killer wore women's clothing to gain access to the victim's apartments. In one case, a large woman in a red blouse was seen leaving the home of a murdered woman. Two months later, police began checking the fingerprints of bodies in the city's morgues in the apparent belief that Mataviejitas might have committed suicide.[citation needed]

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.[17][13]

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[12] and police had previously looked for a transgender person, although they later admitted that the former wrestler resembled composite images of the suspect.[13] 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 10 murders[18] of the as many as 40 murders attributed to the killer.[3] The wrestler is said to have confessed to murdering Alfaro and three other women, but denied involvement in all other killings.[13][19] She told reporters she had visited Alfaro's home in search of laundry work.[citation needed]

Trial, verdict, and life in prison[edit]

Barraza was tried in the spring of 2008, the prosecution alleging she had been responsible for as many as 40 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 16 charges of murder and aggravated burglary, including 11 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 60 years, she will most likely serve the full sentence in prison.[20]

While in prison, Juana Barraza has been working as a gym instructor and selling tacos to support her family.[21] According to news reports, Juana also got married and divorced while serving her sentence.[22]

Portrayal in media[edit]

She was first portrayed in a TV series called Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real in the early 2000s. Mexican producer Pedro Torres brought the story to television on an episode of the 2010 Mexican television series Mujeres Asesinas 3 that was produced by Televisa. The episode is called "Maggie, Pensionada" starring the Mexican actress Leticia Perdigón as Maggie and Irma Lozano, Ana Luisa Peluffo, and Lourdes Canale as victims.[23]

Barraza was highlighted in the documentary Instinto Asesino which aired on Discovery en Español in 2010. The episode was entitled, "La Mataviejitas".[24] Juana Barraza was also highlighted on the show La Historia Detras Del Mito, the episode was also entitled "La Mataviejitas".[25]

In September 2015, Barraza was highlighted in the Investigation Discovery series Deadly Women, in an episode titled "Payback".[26]

"Machismo", the nineteenth episode of the first season of Criminal Minds is partly based on Barraza.[27]

Juana Barraza was featured on the 478th episode of The Last Podcast on the Left.

The case was the subject of a 2023 documentary film, "The Lady of Silence: The Mataviejitas Murders", on Netflix.[28] Some sources gave the film mixed reviews, with Decider saying it "offers the best and worst of the true-crime-doc genre" and is "occasionally lascivious", having "some fat to be trimmed", and ultimately saying it "too frequently reeks of crass exploitation" and recommending its readers to "skip it".[28] Decider particularly took issue with footage of Barrazza using a necktie and a member of her legal team posing as a pretended victim to demonstrate how she committed the stranglings, saying the footage is "beyond gruesome, not to mention tasteless, and reeks of lionization and morbid fascination".[28] However, Rolling Stone said the film "transcends its subgenre" and "walks a fine line between observing the serious and pointing out the ridiculous", and concluding that it "may be the year's best true crime doc".[29]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ according to birth record
  2. ^ "Condenada en México la Mataviejitas por 16 muertes". El País. 31 March 2008.
  3. ^ a b "Life for Mexico's Old Lady Killer". BBC. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  4. ^ Tuckman, Jo: “'Old lady killer' set to strike again”, The Guardian, 21 November 2005.
  5. ^ "Capturan a la supuesta "mataviejitas"".
  6. ^ Vargas Cervantes, Susana. The Little Old Lady Killer: The sensationalized Crimes of Mexico's First Serial Killer. NYU Press, 2019. P. 11
  7. ^ "PGJDF: Falta confirmar si la Mataviejitas tiene cómplices - la Jornada".
  8. ^ "Exculpan a Mario Tablas del asesinato de una anciana - la Jornada".
  9. ^ "Atribuyen quinto crimen al mataviejitas prisionero".
  10. ^ Salgado, Agustín: “Del mataviejitas, 24 de 32 asesinatos: Renato Sales Archived 18 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine”, La Jornada, 17 November 2005.
  11. ^ a b 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.
  12. ^ a b c d e Tuckman, Jo (19 May 2006). "The lady killer". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  13. ^ a b c d "Woman held in Mexico killer hunt". BBC. 26 January 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  14. ^ Fernández, Rubelio; Cancino, Fabiola (11 October 2005). "Bátiz define a 'mataviejitas' como brillante y muy hábil". El Universal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  15. ^ "Mexico police hunt serial killer". BBC News. 11 October 2005. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  16. ^ "Woman held in Mexico killer hunt". BBC News. 26 January 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  17. ^ "Mexico's "Little Old Lady Killer" gets life term". Reuters. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  18. ^ "Police nab two in serial killings case". USA Today. 26 January 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  19. ^ Tuckman, Jo (2 April 2008). "Little Old Lady Killer handed 759 years in a Mexican prison". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  20. ^ “'Life for Mexico's Old lady killer'”, BBC News, 1 April 2008.
  21. ^ "¿Recuerdas a la Mataviejitas, nacida en Hidalgo? Así es su vida en prisión". La Silla Rota (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Detenido un profesor de un instituto de Totana por agredir sexualmente a una docena de alumnas". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 18 April 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  23. ^ "Maggie, Pensionada". Mujeres Asesinas. 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  24. ^ "La Mataviejitas". Discovery en Espanol (in Spanish). Discovery Communications Inc. 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
  25. ^ "La Mataviejitas". La Historia Detras Del Mito. 2010. TV Azteca. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  26. ^ "Payback". Deadly Women. 4 September 2015. Investigation Discovery. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  27. ^ Ramsland, Katherine (2 February 2010). The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 170. ISBN 9781101171691. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  28. ^ a b c https://decider.com/2023/07/28/the-lady-of-silence-netflix-movie-review/
  29. ^ Vognar, Chris (27 July 2023). "Netflix's 'The Lady of Silence' May Be the Year's Best True Crime Doc". Rolling Stone.

External links[edit]

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