MEXICO CITY — Mexico City police said Friday they are investigating a murder suspect as a possible serial killer after bones, a saw, blood and identification cards of missing women were found in rooms he rented.
Mexico City prosecutors did not identify the suspect by name but said he was being held for trial on charges of murder and attempted murder of two women.
These charges stemmed from a brazen attack on Tuesday in which the suspect apparently waited for a woman to briefly leave her apartment. He then rushed in, sexually assaulted and strangled her 17-year-old daughter.
The mother came back and saw him leaving, but he cut her neck and ran away. The mother survived, but the daughter did not.
As the suspect lived close to the crime scene, he was quickly identified and captured. In accordance with Mexican law, police identified him only by his first name, Miguel.
When investigators searched an apartment he rented nearby, they found shocking evidence “that clearly indicates that we are investigating a possible serial killer of women,” according to city prosecutor Ulises Lara.
Lara said that during the search of the apartment, detectives found “biological material” – he did not specify whether it was flesh – bloodstains, bones, a saw, cell phones and identification cards from missing women.
The most frightening thing is that they found “a series of notebooks that could very well be narrations of the acts that Miguel carried out against his victims”, said Lara.
Lara did not say how many sets of bones or identification cards were found, but local media reported numbers ranging from seven to 20 possible victims.
Whatever the number, authorities in Mexico City have been plagued by questions about why they do so little to investigate cases of missing women – until their bodies turn up.
Without adequate funding, training, or professionalism, prosecutors in Mexico have consistently failed to stop killers until the bodies pile up to such an extent that they become almost inevitable.
In 2021, a serial killer in a suburb of Mexico City was only arrested after years of alleged crimes – 19 bodies were found mutilated and buried in his home – because of the identity of the last dismembered victim: the wife of a police commander.
In 2018, a serial killer in Mexico City, responsible for the deaths of at least 10 women, was only captured after being found pushing a dismembered body down the street in a baby stroller. He dumped most of his victims’ bodies in vacant lots.
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