“La Degolladora” – She holds her victims with her right arm
while slashing their neck with a knife in her left hand. [Pablo de Llano, “Is a
female serial killer behind mystery attacks in a Mexico City suburb?,” El Pais
(Mexico), Oct. 5, 2015]
***
Wikipedia:
Itzel Nayelí Montaño García (born 1995 in Chimalhuacán, State
of Mexico, Mexico) is an alleged Mexican spree killer accused of a series of
crimes committed in the municipality of Chimalhuacán. Montaño attacked random
strangers from behind, stabbing them in the neck. In total, a total of seven
attacks occurred, two of them fatal.
She was nicknamed “La Degolladora” ("The Decapitator of
Chimalhuacán") by the media. She was a disorganized killer, highlighted by
the fact that her attacks were committed "body to body", an unusual modus
operandi in female spree killers.
~ Life ~
Itzel Montaño was born in 1995, in Chimalhuacán, State of
Mexico, to a poor family in which she was the second of six children, her
father working unofficially as a "car washer". Her childhood was
spent in a marginalized area of her home municipality, sharing a house with her
parents, siblings and several relatives. She used to take care of her younger
siblings while her parents worked, and was described by relatives and
acquaintances as "quiet and calm". She attended school only until the
third grade, as her childhood and adolescence were marked by poverty.
At the age of 14, she moved in with a man and entered into a
domestic partnership. At a young age she got pregnant for the first and only
time—she suffered from an ectopic pregnancy, making it a necessity to undergo a
hysterectomy in order to save her life, leaving her sterile. At age 16, she separated
from her partner and began to consume alcohol, tobacco, and inhalants
excessively. She maintained herself by selling sweets outside the Mexico City
Metro. She had difficulties with reading, writing and maths.
At age 17, she met her second husband, a man named Rafael
who drove a minibus. She moved in with him only after a few months of
relationship. Their relationship was difficult, with fights which often ended
in physical aggression.
~ Crimes ~
The first attack attributed to Montaño occurred on September
14, 2015. The victim was a man named Antonio Soto Leyva. The 43-year-old was
attacked at 5:30 am by a woman who approached him from behind and stabbed
him in the neck. Despite a 15-centimetre (5.9 in) injury to his neck, no
vital organs were damaged and the victim survived. Soto was able to pursue his
attacker for 50 metres (160 ft), but could not catch her.
The first fatality attributed to the
killer came just a day later, on September 15, when a 40-year-old woman named
Rosario Laureano Ventura was attacked. The woman was travelling on a bus
when she was repeatedly stabbed in the neck by a young woman. That same day
there was a second attack, that of Rosa María Jímenez Martínez, who managed to
survive. The second murder attributed to the murderer occurred on September 17,
2016, when a 16-year old woman, Brenda Chantal Mondragón Martínez, was
assaulted while walking to her school. The killer cut her jugular vein.
Throughout September 2015, there were at least three more
attacks on two men and one woman, which were non-fatal. One of victims was José
Alberto Pichardo, 36, who was stabbed in the abdomen and then in the neck;
Pichardo came to declare that his attacker was "very fast," like a
"ninja".
~ Reaction and investigations ~
Soon the rumor began to spread that there was an active
murderer in Chimalhuacán randomly attacking people on the streets. The
neighbours began to form vigilante groups, arming themselves with blunt and
sharp weapons, as well as firearms. Soon the media also began to cover the case
and dubbed the alleged murderer as "The Decapitator of Chimalhuacán".
A mass hysteria developed.
With the collaboration of victims and some witnesses, the
police developed a profile of the attacker—she was described as a woman between
20 and 25 years of age, with light brown skin, long dark hair, thin,
well-dressed and with two tattoos of the Santa Muerte. At first, it was
theorised that the attacker could be a man dressed as a woman, because the
killer's style of attack is atypical to female murderers, but this hypothesis
was rejected.
There was no clear pattern in the victims, but the modus operandi
was the same in every attack—the suspect approached the victim from behind in a
public space and stabbed their neck from the back with a pocket knife. The
perpetrator's characteristics made the victims feel not threatened. All attacks
occurred in the neighbourhoods of tanners, farmers, cabinet makers, artisans
and fishermen, and occurred mostly in the morning. Patrols were started by
police on a recurring basis in order to arrest a suspect.
~ Arrest and trial
On October 2, 2015, after 20 days
of investigation, Montaño was arrested in the vicinity of her home in
Chimalhuacán, after being reported by her partner and a by a fellow street
vendor. Both men reported that she tried to kill them by cutting their necks.
She admitted to these two attacks and confessed to have committed them under
the influence of alcohol and inhalants. Both attacks occurred on September 13,
2015; the aggression towards the partner occurred in the context of a domestic
fight and the second, against a man named "Jorge", known as the
"leader of the street vendors", who demanded Montaño pay him so that
she could sell her sweets. At first the police denied that Montaño was related
to the Decapitator's crimes, but by October 9, 2015, they reversed that
statement and claimed that she was a suspect in the murders.
On July 2017, Montaño was sentenced to 20 years in prison on
a charge of attempted murder, and is still awaiting trial for other charges.
Her motives remain unknown, but according to declarations of relatives, when
she consumed inhalants her behaviour changed drastically, becoming violent and
uninhibited. She is believed to have been on drugs in all the attacks, including
the two attacks she confessed to.
***
CHRONOLOGY
1995 – Itzel Montaño was born, Chimalhuacán, State of
Mexico,
Sep. 14, 2015 – first attack attributed to Montaño
Sep. 15, 2015 – Rosario Laureano Ventura murdered.
Sep. 17, 2015 – Brenda Chantal Mondragón Martínez, murdered.
Oct. 2, 2015 – arrested.
Jul. 2017 – Montaño sentenced to 20 years, attempted murder,
awaiting trial for other charges.
***
***
***
***
***
[1361-1/15/21]
***
She's Itzel Nayeli.
ReplyDelete