CHRONOLOGY:
June 17, 1878 – Catarina [Casimira] Juarez, young girl,
died.
Feb. 13, 1879 – sentenced to 13 years.
1886 – Guadalupe Martinez de Bejarano pardoned.
April 14, 1891 – Crescencia Pineda, 12, murdered,
hospitalized on Apr. 14; died afterwards.
1892 (?) – Guadalupe
Pineda, murdered.
1892 – Sentenced to
10 years; son, Aurelio sentenced to 2 years.
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FULL
TEXT (Article 1 of 3): If the world has ever produced a female possessed of more fiendish
instincts than the Mexican widow, Guadalupe Martinez de Bejarano, the criminal
records have failed to make any mention of her. Lucrezia Borgia was regarded as
a very demoness, but she practiced her horrible poisoning art upon men, and she
at least gave her
conscience the pitiable excuse that it was necessary for her purposes that
those whom she “removed” should be put out of her way. But “La Bejarano” has
not even that flimsy pretext to extenuate her awful atrocities. What she does
seems to be the result of the most inexplicable perversion of the moral sense.
Her
approaching trial in the City of Mexico for having caused the death of
Crescencia Pineda, a girl of twelve summers, has attracted attention to some of
her past misdeeds, for one of which she was convicted of murder.
The
crime which first attracted attention to the doings of this monster occurred in
1887. On the 17th of June of that year a young girl, Casimira Juarez, died in
one of the hospitals in the City of Mexico as a result of the injuries received
at the hands of “La Bejarano.”
The
history of the sufferings of the poor girl, covering a period of several months passed
in the service of her tormentor, is perhaps unequaled in the annals of crime.
She
was made to endure every cruelty and privation which the malignity of an
ingenious fiend could suggest or inspire.
Hunger,
exposure, blows, burns, scalds, pin thrusts, cuts and every other atrocity that
can be inflicted without causing death were the daily lot of this unfortunate
girl.
She
dared not complain. Widow Bejarano passed before her neighbors as a good soul, who
had taken upon herself the task of bringing up a refractory and vicious child,
who repaid her efforts with idleness and disobedience. The time came, however,
when the comedy played before the scenes would no longer cover the hideous
tragedy enacted behind them.
The
insidious diseases which confinement, ill treatment and loathsome food had bred
in the body of the poor girl reached their climax, and the health authorities
ordered her removal to the hospital, where she died. The marks of blows and the
scars of wounds were still fresh upon her. When first taken to the hospital,
the fear and influence of her tormentor being still fresh upon her, she made
evasive answers to all questions.
But
kind treatment and the knowledge that death was near gave her courage to reveal
the infamous causes of her condition and the author of all her sufferings.
The
unfortunate child died a few days after giving the startling information. Widow
Bejarano’s arrest, trial, conviction for murder and sentence of thirteen years’
imprisonment speedily followed.
When
she was locked up her fellow prisoners were with difficulty restrained from
tearing her limb from limb. By some inscrutable provision of the Mexican law
this wretch obtained a pardon, and in 1886 walked forth, free to continue her
torture of female orphans, who were her only victims.
Her
approaching trial is for having caused the death of a child of twelve, whose
birth out of wedlock ought to have excited at least a spark of pity. It was a
repetition of the former crime, with bus the variations of time, place and
subject, and perhaps some new devices of cruelty which Widow Bejarano had
conceived and matured during her long confinement in jail. Among these may be
cited the dragging of the child across the floor, the application of burning
matches to the exposed parts of her body and her confinement for
hours at a time under the flooring of the room, there to fight for her life
with mice and vermin and breathe the fetid air of her damp surroundings. The
conviction of “La Bejarano” is regarded as certain, and it would surprise no
one to read some day that the people of Mexico had summarily meted out to this
monster the punishment she so richly deserves.
[“A Female Fiend Incarnate - Widow Bejarano, Who Has Tortured Little Orphan Girls to Death.”
The News (Frederick, Md.), May 14, 1892, p. 6]
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The murderess tried to put the sole blame for the crimes – the kidnapping, abuse and deaths of the girls – on the shoulders of her son. But the jury did not believe her.
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James Alex Garza, El Lado Oscuro Del Porfiriato: Sexo, crímenes y vicios en la Ciudad de México, Aguilar, 2009
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Corrections of name and date errors in this post made on Oct. 27, 2015.
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For similar cases, see Murder-Coaching Moms
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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 3): City of Mexico, Mexico, April 23. – The trial by
jury of the famous Mexican female criminal, Guadalupe Martinez de Bejarano, and
her son Aurelio now proceeding in this city promises to be fully sensational as
one in which she took so prominent a part fourteen years ago.
The widow Bejarano, whose otherwise villainous countenance
is somewhat redeemed by a lofty brow, had a strange taste for cruelty to
indulge, and sought to gratify her unnatural craving by inflicting suffering on
the lowliest and most defenseless of God’s children – the young orphan girls of
the poor.
~ DARED NOT COMPLAIN. ~
The first crime which gave rise to the notoriety of “la
Bejarano,” as she is commonly known in Mexico, occurred on the 17th
of June, 1878, when a young girl, Casimira Juarez by name, died one of the
hospitals in this city, from the injuries and unhuman treatment she had
received at the hands of her fiendish tormenter. The details of this horrible
crime known from the recital made by the victim and filled the columns of the
newspapers in Mexico from day to day, and raised public indignation to a pitch
which is seldom attained in this country, where sympathy is more easily aroused
than any harsher sentiment.
The history of the sufferings of the poor girl, covering a
period of several months passed in the service of her tormentor, is, perhaps,
unequaled in the annals of crime. She was made to endure every cruelty and
privation which the malignity of ingenious fiend could suggest or inspire.
Hunger, exposure, blows, burns, scalds, pin thrusts, cuts and every other
atrocity that can be inflicted without causing instant death, was the daily
lot of this unfortunate girl. She dared not complain; her spirit was broken –
if she ever had any – and the threats of every horrible retribution hung over
her if she attempted to escape.
The insidious diseases which confinement, ill-treatment and
loathsome food had bred in the body of the poor girl reached their climax, and
the health authorities ordered her removal to the hospital where she died. The
marks of blows and the scars of wounds were still fresh upon her. When first
taken to the hospital, the fear and influence of her tormentor being still
fresh upon her, she made evasive answers to all questions, but kind treatment
and the knowledge that death was near gave her courage to reveal the infamous
causes of her condition and the author of all her sufferings. The unfortunate
child died a few days after giving the startling information.
Widow Bejarano was immediately arrested upon the charge of
murder, and her trial, one of the most sensational in the criminal annals of
Mexico, resulted in her conviction. She was sentenced to thirteen years and
some months imprisonment in the penitentiary. Her crime was made the theme of a
stirring Spanish novel. She was called “la mujer verdugo” female executioner,
as might be said in English.
~ A MODEL CONVICT. ~
While serving her term Widow Bejarano presented by her
conduct, which was exemplary and submissive in all respects, one of those
striking contrasts that torment and puzzle the psychical student. Her behavior
was such as to arouse in time some doubt as to whether her punishment was
entirely deserved, and after the first impression of her crime had softened or
passed away, came to regard her jailers as the possible victim of mistaken or
exaggerated evidence. After serving eight years’ time in the penitentiary a
pardon was secured, and in the year 1886 she left her place of confinement and
for some years was lost to the world.
On the 14th of April, 1891, Aurelio Bejarano, her
son, applied at the hospital of San Andres in this city for leave to bring a
sick [girl in] for treatment. A bed was provided and the invalid was received at the
hospital. She was a young girl, Crescencia Pineda by name, a child of sin,
whose age was unknown, even to herself, but to all appearances was not over 12
years.
It was a repetition of the former crime, with but variations
of time, place and subject, and perhaps some new devices of cruelty, which
Widow Bejarano had conceived and matured during her long confinement in jail.
Among these may be called the dragging of the child across the floor, the
application of burning matches to the exposed parts of the body, and her
confinement for hours at a time under the flooring of the room, there to fight
for her life with mice and vermin, and breathe the feted air of her damp
surroundings. After her death an autopsy was held, which confirmed her
ante-mortum statements.
Several deep scars were found on the head after the hair had
been removed, and on the left side of the body between the eighth and ninth
ribs a scar in process of healing was discovered. On the right arm were large
bruises, covering the entire limb from the shoulder to the wrist, and on the
left forearm there was a large burn, some seven centimeters in length, and
other marks, too numerous to mention, confirmed the worst suspicions.
In the preliminary examination herself [sic] and sons
declared themselves innocent of any cruelty towards the girl, and tried to
explain away the marks of her injuries by conflicting and improbable stories
about her awkwardness in handling the pots with boiling liquids, and her
propensity to fall and hurt herself in every conceivable way.
The widow herself persists in her innocence and lays great
stress on the alleged fact that the unfortunate girl overturned upon herself a
pot of boiling beans, an explanation of
the scalds and burns found upon her body, further stating that she was sickly
and could not be properly attended by her as she was caring at the same time
for her son Aurelio, who was sick with typhus.
[“A Female Fiend. – Remarkable Career of a Mexican Woman Who
Loved Young Girls. – Every Form of Torment Visited Upon Helpless Orphans. – The
Widow Bejarano and Her Strange Passion – Tortures Young Girls Just For the Fun
if the Thing – Her Sons Partake of Her Cruel Spirit – A Celebrated Case.” St.
Louis Dispatch (Mo.), Apr. 24, 1892, p. 25; date and name errors in original have been corrected]
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Wikipedia (Article 3 of 3: translated from Spanish) – Guadalupe Martinez de Bejarano (died in prison in Mexico City) was a
Mexican serial killer, who in the late nineteenth century, brutally murdered 3
girls. The press of the time nicknamed her as "The Fearsome Bejarano" ("La Temible Bejarano") "The Female Executioner"
or ( "La Mujer Verdugo").
Hers was one of
the earliest serial murderer cases in the history of Mexico (other contemporary
cases: Felipe Espinosa, Francisco Guerrero and Rodolfo Fierro), can be
considered as the first female serial killer of on record in Mexico. She was,
according to standard serial killer classifications, an organized killer,
motivated by hedonistic sexual satisfaction, sedentary and sexual predator.
Not much is known
about her private life, except that she was married to a man named Bejarano,
and that she had at least one child, Aurelio Martinez Bejarano. She belonged to
a higher social stratum or medium-high (determined by sensed by the modus
operandi ).
She attracted her
victims, young and poor girls, offering employment as a servant in her
household. Only after the victim had been installed in the domicile were the
true intentions of the mistress revealed. The girl would be enslaved and
subjected to torture with a markedly sexual nature. Guadalupe especially enjoyed forcing
the girls to sit naked on a burning brazier (roman chair); she would strip them and hang them
from the ceiling by the wrists and flog them with a cattle whip. Finally the
victims would be starved to death.
Victims:
Victims:
Casimira Juarez: girl killed in 1887 was the first known crime of Bejarano.
She was apprehended and convicted of this crime, but the weak criminal law of
the time condemned her to only a few years in prison.
Crescencia and Guadalupe Pineda: two sisters who were murdered in 1892. Bejarano
had just emerged from prison after having spent only five years in for the
first murder.
Police arrested
Guadalupe after several complaints that people were talking about possible
abducted and tortured at home. But it was too late, the sisters Pineda were
dead, after months or years of abuse.
The murderess tried to put the sole blame for the crimes – the kidnapping, abuse and deaths of the girls – on the shoulders of her son. But the jury did not believe her.
Public outrage
called for the death penalty to be given to "La Mujer Verdigo," but Guadalupe was given a 10-year sentence [which could be
paroled to only eight months – translation
unsure]. Guadalupe’s son Aurelio Bejarano was also sentenced to two years
in prison as accessory, for having failed to intercede in his mother’s crimes.
Guadalupe
Martinez was being held in jail in Bethlehem for women, in solitary confinement
, due to the threat posed by other prisoners, who hated her for her terrible
crimes. There she died of natural causes before her sentence was fulfilled.
Despite the
horror of her crimes, the name of Guadalupe Bejarano Martinez has been
forgotten over time, to the point of being little known today. Although at the
time her case raised a stir and was an inspiration to writers and composers.
The engraver José Guadalupe Posada published several
woodcut illustrations of the case, The writer and publisher Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, meanwhile
wrote the "Ballad of the fearsome
Bejarano.”
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After the trial of Guadalupe Martinez Bejarano, any woman
who abused a child would be called a “Bejarano” or a “New Bejarano” (“Nueva
Bejarano”). Examples of this have been even three decades after the murderess's death (“Une
Nueva Bejarano,” Cronista del Valle (Brownsville,
Texas), August 4, 1927, p. ?]
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“El 13 de febrero de 1879 Guadalupe Martínez de Bejarano fue sentenciada a trece años de prisión por haber causado la muerte de una niña sometiéndola a horribles tormentos. Se le llamó “la mujer verdugo.” [Manuel Gutiérrez Najera, Obras IX, Periodismo y literatura artículos y ensayos, 1877-1894; Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, 2002, p. 198]
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“El 13 de febrero de 1879 Guadalupe Martínez de Bejarano fue sentenciada a trece años de prisión por haber causado la muerte de una niña sometiéndola a horribles tormentos. Se le llamó “la mujer verdugo.” [Manuel Gutiérrez Najera, Obras IX, Periodismo y literatura artículos y ensayos, 1877-1894; Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, 2002, p. 198]
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Sources : See online « Las Bejanaros, »
Escrito con Sangre (website)
Augustín Sánchez
González, Un Dulce Sabor A Muerte :
De La Bejarano a la Miss México un siglio de mujeres criminales, Editorial:
Planeta, 2009
Augustín Sánchez
González, Terribilísima : Historias
de Crímenes y Horrores : en la Ciudad de México en el siglo XIX, Ediciones
B México, 2006
James Alex Garza, El Lado Oscuro Del Porfiriato: Sexo, crímenes y vicios en la Ciudad de México, Aguilar, 2009
El libro rojo,
Continuacion, V. I: 1868-1928, Gerardo Villadelángel
Viñas, 2008
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Corrections of name and date errors in this post made on Oct. 27, 2015.
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For similar cases, see Murder-Coaching Moms
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Links to more cases: Female Serial Killers Who Like to Murder Women
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For more Real Life Ogresses see: Ogresses: Female Serial Killers of the Children of Others
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[13,783-8/21/18]
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Links to more cases: Female Serial Killers Who Like to Murder Women
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For more Real Life Ogresses see: Ogresses: Female Serial Killers of the Children of Others
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[13,783-8/21/18]
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