Meet Juana Barraza – a former lucha libre wrestler turned one of Mexico’s most infamous serial killers.
Between the late 1990s and early 2000s, Barraza preyed on elderly women in Mexico City, exploiting their trust and vulnerable living conditions, often posing as a nurse or social worker, carrying a stethoscope to enhance her disguise.
Once inside, Barraza would strangle them using whatever items were at hand, such as telephone cords, stockings, or even the stethoscope she carried.
Barraza’s reign of terror began in 1998, when an elderly woman was found dead in her apartment, strangled with a scarf. Over the following years, similar cases emerged, with victims often found in isolated residences.
Despite the brutality of the crimes, authorities were slow to make a connection, initially dismissing the possibility of a serial killer.
Barraza was arrested on January 25, 2006, after being caught fleeing the scene of her last murder. A neighbor saw her leaving the apartment of Ana María de los Reyes Alfaro, an 82-year-old woman whom Barraza had strangled with a stethoscope.
A search of Barraza’s home revealed a chilling collection of trophies taken from her victims, as well as newspaper clippings about the murders.
Although Barraza confessed to only one murder, authorities suspect she might be responsible for as many as 49 murders.
Beyond her criminal activities, Barraza was also a professional wrestler, known in the ring as “La Dama del Silencio” (The Lady of Silence).
In 2008, Juana Barraza was convicted of 16 murders and sentenced to 759 years in prison.
However, under Mexican law, the maximum prison sentence is 60 years for all crimes combined.
