Serial killer unmasked in Mexico
A BUTCHER HAS APPEARED IN COURT ADMITTING TO MURDERING, DISMEMBERING AND EATING HIS VICTIMS’ BODY PARTS
When Reyna González failed to return home from a shopping trip with family friend Andrés Mendoza, 72, on 14 May, her relatives began a frantic search. The 34-yearold mother of two’s husband, police officer Bruno Portillo, visited Mendoza’s home that evening, but Mendoza refused to let him in.
A furious Portillo returned with fellow police officers who, after a struggle, finally gained entry to the residence. But they were not prepared for what they were about to witness – Reyna’s dismembered remains lying across a table. Former butcher Mendoza admitted to killing her using knives and a butcher’s hacksaw, then he attempted to flee. But he was apprehended and, as the police began searching the rest of the property, they quickly realised Reyna was not the only victim. As the scale of Mendoza’s killings became apparent, evidence relating to a catalogue of unsolved cases involving missing women emerged. Clothing, ID cards and other personal items belonging to multiple victims were strewn around the home. Videotapes of the murders and a notebook containing the names of 29 women were also found.
In the basement, skulls and other body parts had been buried, and bones were located underneath the floors. Dilcya García Espinoza de los Monteros, special prosecutor for crimes against women in Mexico, said, “We have found different human remains, bones, women’s clothing, voter IDS and other things that lead us to presume that he could be a serial killer of women.” And in a statement, State of Mexico Attorney General Alejandro Gómez said, “Anthropologists, forensic archaeologists, geneticists, experts in criminology, dentistry, forensic medicine and photography, and detectives are conducting a three-phase investigation in search of more remains and other evidence.”
Mendoza’s home is located in a low-income northern suburb of Mexico City, where he was regarded highly enough to have been elected as a representative of a local
neighbourhood political group. Now, that home has been become a crime scene. Investigators released information about how they plan to recover any further victim remains. Teams will begin by digging out the patio and kitchen area, which is covered with wood and an unknown layer. They will then move on to excavate the bedroom and basement, which occupy two levels, before digging up another patio and removing the bathrooms. The search will be a rigorous and laborious process that will require DNA testing to identify the multiple bone fragments.
During his court hearing, stocky Mendoza, who was described by his neighbours as “affable”, made a series of chilling confessions. He said that he peeled the skin from one of his victims because she was pretty, and that he had eaten body parts of his other victims. He also described in gruesome detail how he had met his first victim in a bar in 2001, and after tricking her into returning to his house, had stabbed her to death. His second victim, Berenice Sanchez, had rejected his advances several times before he stabbed her and dismembered her remains. Mother-oftwo Flor Vizcaino also rejected his romantic advances, and after a couple of meetings at a bar in 2016, he killed her. On hearing the news that her belongings had been discovered at Mendoza’s home, her aunt, Silvia Mejia Molina, told reporters, “We could accept her
‘WHAT IS DONE IS DONE. ALL I WANT TO DO IS TELL THE TRUTH’
dying of an illness, dying of something, but the way she died, I think I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.” She added, “It’s hard to find things, her possessions and all, but of all the things they could find, what I would be thankful for, is if they gave me her, so that I could give her the burial she deserves, and know where she is,” Sadly, Flor was far from Mendoza’s last victim.
His obsession with Rubicela Castillo resulted in her kidnap and murder in
2019. He also confessed that he had killed two more women he met at a bar. Although he did not reveal details of how they were killed, he told the court that their names were Alyn and Gardenia. In further testimony, the alleged serial killer said, “What is done is done. All
I want to do is tell the truth”.
Excavation of his home continues until the true number of victims becomes known. Meanwhile, desperate families continue to pray for news of their missing loved ones. ◼