Suspected 'Serial Killer of Women' Busted in Mexico

One of the victims of the suspected murderer was lured to her doom via a post on social media offering employment as a receptionist for $90 a week, with her “unrecognisable body” being found days later.

A suspected serial killer who lured his female victims via fake job offers on social media has been arrested in Mexico, AP reports, citing Mexican state and federal authorities.

Assistant Public Safety Secretary Ricardo Mejia described the suspect as a “serial killer of women” and suggested that “there are at least seven cases of women's killings where this person could be involved”.

The most recent case that the detained man is allegedly involved in is the death of Viridiana Moreno, a 31-year-old woman who was killed after going to a job interview last month.

“Viridiana Moreno left her house in (the town of) Cardel, Veracruz, and went to the Bienvenido hotel to attend a supposed job interview she had obtained with someone on Facebook*”, Mejia said. “After that she disappeared”.

Moreno’s “unrecognizable body”, as the media outlet put it, was discovered days later and was identified via DNA testing and by an ID card that was found nearby.

The job offer Moreno was apparently lured to her doom with was a Facebook Messenger post under an account registered to “Mary Madison”, which offered employment as a receptionist for $90 a week, Veracruz state prosecutors said.

The suspect is also being accused of killing a 22-year-old student who was looking for work last April, prosecutors in the state of Morello said.

The suspected perpetrator allegedly met the victim in a cafeteria and then took her to a barbershop where she was apparently killed, with prosecutors saying that the woman “had been beaten, sexually abused and strangled”.

The authorities also said that there is camera footage from two states showing the suspect meeting with the victims in public places, as well as driving one away on a motorbike in one instance.

The suspect was arrested in the state of Queretaro “along with a female companion”, the media outlet notes, adding that it wasn’t immediately clear if the man had a lawyer.

*Facebook is banned in Russia over extremist activities