Aug 30, 20213 min read

Juana Barraza | La Dama Del Silencio

Updated: Oct 14, 2021

Luchador and Serial Killer

As far as terrible childhoods go, Juana Barraza’s is pretty bleak.

Born into poverty in rural Mexico, she was raised by an alcoholic mother, who would regularly sell her to be raped in exchange for 3 beers.

This abuse would lead to an abortion and the birth of her first child, all whilst still a child herself.

Lucha Libre

Juana would go on to have 4 children and would witness one of her sons beaten to death with a baseball bat during a violent mugging. He was 12.

As a single mother, she kept her family afloat in any way that she could. She would undertake domestic work and work as a street vendor.

“Neighbours in this otherwise largely middle-class area described the children as friendly and their mother as always pleasant in passing.”

Also, at weekends, Juana would don her pink lycra suit and enter the ring as, La Dama del Silencio (The Silent Lady.)

She had always loved Lucha Libre and genuinely enjoyed her job as a Luchador. When asked if she was a técnicos (good guy) or a rudos (bad guy) she would rather tellingly reply that she was “rudo to the core.”

However, an injury to her spine would lead to her retirement in 2000. She still kept herself in the periphery of the Lucha Libre world, now as a popcorn vendor.

Murder

Despite her efforts, making ends meet was a struggle and Juana began shoplifting in 1995. This would escalate to home burglaries and soon enough, murder.

Her targets were all Women over 60, who usually lived alone. She would pose as Health Worker, sometimes dressing as a nurse, in order to gain the trust of her victims and access to their homes.

Once inside she would either distract or beat them and then strangle them with various ligatures. She would then rob them and take away some sort of small souvenir.

Red-Handed

A tenant would stumble upon Juana fleeing the murder scene of their Landlady, 82-year-old Ana María de Los Reyes Alfaro. He would give chase and Juana would be apprehended by 2 police officers, who, as luck would have it, happened to be passing by.

When she was arrested they found her to be in possession of:

A stethoscope (which had been used to strangle Ana.)
A stack of pension forms
A fake Social Worker Identity Card.

A Woman!

Her arrest sent shockwaves around Mexico. Despite numerous eyewitnesses describing a broad, masculine yet female suspect, Police refused to entertain the idea of the killer being anything other than a man with a “confused sexual identity.”

This insistence would see them largely focusing on Mexico Cities Transgender Community.

For years, investigators have been tracking a killer they believed was a man disguised as a woman responsible for possibly dozens of daytime deaths.

A futile waste of time.

Juana’s arrest would prove that the mysterious assailant known as, El Mataviejitas (masculine noun) who had been terrorising Mexico City since the ’90s was actually, La Mataviejitas (feminine noun.) La Mataviejitas translates as “The Old Lady Killer.”

Evidence

As well as her being caught fleeing the scene of a crime, her fingerprints would link her to another 10 murders of elderly women in Mexico City.

Juana had been interrupted by a potential victims son, earlier that year and had clumsily left a full fingerprint.

That print was matched to partial prints from five other slayings. The police now say that it belongs to Ms. Barraza and that they have other evidence linking her to at least 10 killings and one attempted murder.

At her 2008 trial, Barraza would be charged with 16 counts of murder and aggravated burglary, including 11 separate counts of murder.

Despite this, she only pled guilty to the 1 murder, that of Ana María de Los Reyes Alfaro, citing her hatred of her mother as the motive.

“I only killed one little old lady. Not the others.” Barraza told the Court…”It isn’t right to pin the others on me.”

Verdict

Juana was found guilty of all the charges and received the largest sentence ever handed out in Mexico, 759 years.

Barraza showed little emotion as she heard the verdict. ”May God forgive you and not forget me,” she said, adding that she would appeal against all but one of the convictions.

She will be 100 years old when she is eligible for parole in 2058, so it’s fair to say, La Mataviejitas will most likely die in prison for her brutal crimes.