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A Mexican couple have admitted to killing at least 20 women after being caught transporting human body parts in a baby stroller, AFP reported on Monday.
The man also admitted of raping some of his women victims and selling their body parts, said state prosecutor Alejandro Gomez of Mexico state.
Juan Carlos and his wife Patricia, who have only been identified by first name, were detained on Thursday in Ecatepec - a crime-ridden suburb of Mexico City - after officers caught them coming out of a house with a stroller full of dismembered body parts, officials say.
“He described it in a completely natural way, I would say he actually seemed happy to have done this. He wants people to see his picture, to know his name. I would obviously classify this person as a murderer, a serial killer.” Gomez said in an interview with Mexican radio network Formula.
The couple also admitted to selling the two-month-old baby of one of their victims to another couple, who was also arrested, according to the newspaper El Universal.
He has “a mental disturbance consistent with psychosis and a personality disorder,” while she has been “mentally disabled since birth, and also has acquired induced delirium,” said Gomez.
He cited a psychiatric exam presented by prosecutors at the man’s initial court appearance Sunday.
“But both can distinguish between right and wrong,” Gomez added.
The couple were living with their three children, including a baby.
When authorities searched their two houses, they found human remains in cement-filled buckets and wrapped in plastic bags inside a refrigerator, as well as articles of clothing apparently belonging to some of their victims.
The man told investigators that he and his wife lured their victims, many of whom were young mothers, with offers of discount clothing for their babies.
“They were single mothers and they needed someone who could help them find inexpensive baby clothes,” said Gomez.
Investigators tracked down the couple by tracing cell phone calls the missing women had placed to them, he said.
The case has triggered shock in Mexico, even by the standards of a country plagued by a surge in violent crime.
Hundreds of people protested in Ecatepec on Sunday, carrying candles and white flowers to demand action by the authorities to deal with an explosion of violence against women and girls.
Seven women and girls are killed in Mexico every day, according to UN Women.
Mexico State, where Ecatepec is located, led the country in femicides last year, with 301 women and girls murdered, according to official figures.
Across Mexico, there were a record 28 702 murders last year. The number has surged since 2006, when the government deployed the army to wage war on the country’s violent and powerful drug cartels.
(Agency Inputs)
