Mexican state and federal authorities said on Thursday that a suspected serial killer has been arrested after being accused of slaying young women that he lured on Facebook using fake job offers.
Officials said that they had surveillance camera footage from two states that showed the suspect meeting with the victims in public places and in one instance, driving a victim away on a motorbike. Assistant Public Safety Secretary Ricardo Mejia said that the suspect is a "serial killer of women, and there are at least seven cases of women's killing where this person could be involved."
Mexican Serial Killer
The official noted that the most recent case involved the murder of a 31-year-old woman in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz after going to a job interview last month. Mejia said that the victim, identified as Viridiana Moreno, left her home in the town of Cardel, Veracruz, and went to the Bienvenido hotel to attend a supposed job interview that she got from someone on Facebook.
The victim's name was made public by relatives who mounted protests after her disappearance but her unrecognizable body was found days later. Moreno was only identified by an ID card that was found near the scene and by DNA testing, as per ABC News.
Veracruz state prosecutors said that Moreno was lured by a Facebook messenger post under an account that was registered to "Mary Madison" that offered a $90 per week job as a receptionist. A copy of the message distributed by prosecutors said, "Duties include answering phones and making appointments."
Prosecutors in the central state of Morelos on Thursday said that the same suspect had killed a 22-year-old student who was looking for work in April. Local activists said that the victim was lured into meeting the suspect at a cafeteria in late March by a Facebook listing for a job or articles for sale.
According to The Guardian, the suspect took the victim to a barber shop which is the alleged place where she was killed. Prosecutors said that three days later, the victim's body was found and had been beaten, sexually abused, and strangled.'
Luring Women with Facebook Job Offers
Protests also erupted after the student's disappearance as one chilling aspect was that both women disappeared after making contact with the suspect in public places where there were a lot of people around and had accompanied him willingly as they were convinced of the job offers.
Prosecutors in both states mentioned finding the victims' remains in "several places" or in various plastic bags. The Morelos team said that the man had a long string of aliases and had been sought on rape charges in 2012. They listed Juan Carlos Gasperin and Greek Roman Villalobos as the most common aliases.
The suspect that was arrested had a female companion while they were in the northern state of Queretaro. Authorities said that he may have also been involved in cases in the states of Queretaro and Puebla.
Many believe that the desperation of the women needing work in small, provincial Mexican towns and the region's largely under-the-table economy provides a fertile field for fake job offers, CBS News reported.
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