Throughout the late 1990s into the early 2000s, an unidentified serial killer terrorized the streets of Mexico City, targeting defenseless elderly women who lived alone.
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The killer stalked her targets, posing as a social worker or nurse offering medical services to earn the victims’ trust and gain access to their homes without forced entry.
Investigators in Mexico City were puzzled by the crimes – all the victims were over the age of 60, were bludgeoned and strangled to death, and their homes looted.
The suspect would use a rope, women’s stockings, or other material lying around the victim’s homes to strangle them.
Relying on eyewitnesses and the nature of the crimes, Mexican police believed their suspect was a cross-dressing man or transgender male with broad shoulders, large hands, and a muscular build.
Under intense pressure from the media and concerned residents, authorities incorrectly arrested several innocent people, including a nurse and a slew of transgender men and prostitutes who they believed resembled the suspect.
By late 2005, the number of deaths linked to the serial strangler reached a staggering 47 – still, Mexican officials had no leads or potential suspects.
Desperate for answers, Mexico City Governor Alexandro Encinas tapped National Autonomous University of Mexico neuropsychologist Dr. Feggy Ostrosky to study the murders.
MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH
Dr. Ostrosky exclusively revealed to The U.S. Sun that her involvement with the murders began before officials even built a case on the suspect.
“We don’t know what we’re looking for. We think it’s a serial killer, but we are not sure about that,” the neuropsychologist recalled Encinas told her.
“And, finally, he (Encinas) gave me the data of some cases that were going on.
“They were like these old ladies who were killed, and they didn’t have any idea what was going on. To tell you the truth, I didn’t have any idea either.”
Dr. Ostrosky said investigators only knew they were looking for a tall, bulky man or woman, approximately six-foot-1-inches.
Then on January 25, 2006, authorities caught a break in the case when they arrested a female suspect who was seen fleeing from the home of the serial killer’s latest victim.
Joel Lopez was walking to his home in the Moctezuma neighborhood in Mexico City when he noticed a female bolting from his landlord’s residence.
When he entered the home, he found his landlord, 82-year-old Ana María Reyes Alfaro, strangled to death.
The tenant quickly ran outside and shouted at police officers nearby to stop the woman, that she was La Mataviejitas, the Little Old Lady Killer.
‘THE BRAIN OF A SERIAL KILLER’
The suspect was identified as then-48-year-old Juana Barraza, a towering woman with a troubled past who led police to believe she was a professional wrestling star.
Although she never competed in the ring, Barraza was obsessed with Lucha Libre – a Mexican style of wrestling where competitors wear colorful masks and perform rapid and high-flying maneuvers.
She indulged in the Lucha Libre scene by socializing with fellow wrestlers, fabricating her own mask, costume, and championship belt, and dubbing herself La Dama Del Silencio, or The Lady of Silence.
A week before her arrest, Barraza was interviewed by Azteca TV during a Lucha Libre event at Arena Mexico, where she described her character La Dama Del Silencio as a “ruda (heel) to the heart.”
Dr. Ostrosky and her team began studying Barraza on the day of her arrest, visiting La Mataviejitas at the Santa Martha de Acatitla prison.
“It was really shocking because I went, and they took me to the jail system, and they said, ‘Okay, doctor welcome. Where do you want to meet her? Do you want to meet her in her cell?’ the neuropsychologist recalled.
“I said, ‘No, no, just take me to an open space so I can interview her.’”
Dr. Ostrosky recalled the challenges she faced during her first sitdown with Barraza, who refused to work with her.
“We were just measuring each other in that first interview,” Dr. Ostrosky said.
“I was curious about what was going on. But I didn’t want to be in a very small space with her.
“I was curious because it was an opportunity for me to find out what happened in the brain of a serial killer,” she told The U.S. Sun.
CHILLING CONFESSION
Dr. Ostrosky sat down with Barraza for three consecutive weeks, determined to piece together why she committed the gruesome crimes.
Barraza confessed to Dr. Ostrosky that she was in Reyes Alfaro’s house the day she was found dead but wasn’t certain she killed her.
“‘Yes, I killed her, I was there… well, I’m not sure that I really killed her because I just choked her a little bit,'” Barraza told her, showing no remorse.
Dr. Ostrosky recalled how Barraza then shifted the blame to Reyes Alfaro’s tenant, Lopez.
“Somebody arrived in the apartment, and when he arrived, I just ran. I think that the tenant that came in was the one who finished her off,’” Barraza told the neuropsychologist.
During their daily interviews, Dr. Ostrosky reflected on how Barraza admitted to killing three victims but denied murdering all 16 she was eventually convicted of.
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‘I DO LIKE YOU; YOU’RE TOUGH LIKE ME’
The UNAM professor recalled one comment from Barraza that sent chills down her spine.
During one visit, Dr. Ostrosky brought a group of students to help her with the tests, and at one point, a pissed off Barraza – who was clueless about the professor’s work – questioned: “Why are you asking me all this.”
Confound, Dr. Ostrosky went on to explain that she was there to conduct neuropsychological testing when Barraza replied: “You know, I think like you because you’re tough like me.’”
Her response spooked Dr. Ostrosky, whose initial thought was: “‘Omg, I’m not like you.'”
However, for Dr. Ostrosky, the comparison, in a war, was a bonding moment between her and Barraza.
“When you are interviewing serial killers, multiple homicide suspects, and I have interviewed people who are cannibals – you need to have a bonding with the person,” she explained.
“They need to really trust you so they can tell you whatever you need to know.”
LONGEST PRISON SENTENCE IN THE HISTORY OF MEXICO
On March 31, 2008, Barraza, despite being charged with 30 counts of murder, was found guilty of 16.
Officials believe Barraza murdered about 42 to 48 victims.
A judge handed Barraza the longest prison sentence in the history of Mexico, sentencing her to 759 years.
Dr. Ostrosky’s study pointed to several factors that shaped Barraza into a serial killer.
“There are a lot of conclusions. I found that some areas of the brain that had to do with planning, organization, and sequence were not functioning,” she told The U.S. Sun.
“It’s not that Juana one day said, ‘I’m going to kill old ladies.’
“It’s what happened before and what’s her history, and how that history brought her to do that.”
Barraza was born to a single mother in Epazoyucan, Hidalgo, a rural and poverty-riddled area north of Mexico City.
During their daily interviews, Barraza disclosed to Dr. Ostrosky that she never attended school and was sold at a young age to a man by her alcoholic mother in exchange for three beers.
Barraza became pregnant as a teenager and gave birth to a son who was later murdered by bat-wielding muggers.
“She never had a school teacher, a psychologist, or a friend who could help her with these issues that she had,” Dr. Ostrosky said.
Dr. Ostrosky believes Barraza was killing her mother with each woman she killed.
Barraza is serving her sentence at the woman’s facility Santa Martha de Acatitla prison in Mexico City.