The shepherd saw everything—watched as El Chalequero dragged an elderly woman toward the Consulado River, pulled a knife from his

Episode 11 of 15 | Season 36: Serial Killers in History

Mexico City's first documented serial killer hunted working-class women for nearly three decades. This episode examines the systemic failures that allowed Francisco Guerrero Pérez to operate freely while authorities looked the other way.

The Women History Forgot

Murcia Gallardo was 47 years old when she died—a market vendor in La Merced who sold chilies and produce from the same corner stall she'd operated for over a decade. Her customers knew her voice calling out prices before dawn. She had three children and six grandchildren. Her daughter worked a stall two rows over. When Francisco Guerrero Pérez offered to help carry her baskets home that evening, she had no reason to refuse. He looked respectable. Spoke politely. Everyone in the market district knew El Chalequero by sight—the well-dressed craftsman in his elegant vests.

She became one of at least 21 women murdered along the Consulado River between 1880 and 1908. Market vendors, washerwomen, sex workers—women who worked brutal hours for subsistence wages, who walked to and from work in darkness because they had no choice. Women whose deaths barely registered in police records because the Porfirian authorities considered their lives disposable.

Why This Case Matters

The El Chalequero case exposes a stark truth about institutional failure. For eight years, bodies appeared near the same river, bearing the same method—strangulation with the victim's own clothing. Authorities knew the pattern. Neighbors whispered the killer's name. Yet systematic investigation never came because these were poor women from working-class neighborhoods. Their deaths weren't worth resources or urgency. When Francisco Guerrero Pérez was finally convicted in 1888, it was for just one murder despite evidence suggesting at least 20 victims.

Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence against women and sexual assault references. Listener discretion advised.

Key Case Details

The investigation into El Chalequero represents one of the earliest documented serial murder cases in Mexican history, spanning nearly three decades of the Porfiriato era.

• Timeline of Terror: Guerrero Pérez began killing around 1880, continued until his arrest in February 1888, was released in 1904 due to a bureaucratic error confusing him with political prisoners, and killed again in June 1908. His final victim, an elderly woman named Antonia, was witnessed by a shepherd and the Solorio sisters.

• Pattern and Method: All victims were working-class women from neighborhoods along the Consulado River—Tepito, La Merced, Peralvillo. He used their own clothing, particularly rebozos (traditional shawls), to strangle them. Witnesses reported he would return to crime scenes days later to observe the aftermath.

• Justice Delayed: Despite confessing and being sentenced to death twice, Guerrero Pérez never faced execution. His first death sentence was commuted to 20 years imprisonment. He died of natural causes in Hospital Juárez in November 1910—the same month the Mexican Revolution began—while awaiting his second execution.

• Survivors Who Testified: Two women—Emilia, a washerwoman left for dead, and Lorenza Urrutía, a sex worker who fought back—survived attacks and later testified. Their courage provided crucial evidence that authorities had long ignored.

Historical Context & Sources

This episode draws on Mexican court records from the 1888 and 1908 trials, contemporary newspaper accounts from the Porfiriato era, and historical research into late 19th-century Mexico City's criminal justice system. The investigation reveals how the rapid industrialization under Porfirio Díaz's regime created stark divides—electric streetlights and European architecture for the wealthy, while working-class neighborhoods along the Consulado River became hunting grounds where women's deaths went largely uninvestigated. Additional insights come from studies of Porfirian-era policing priorities, which focused on protecting elite interests and suppressing political dissent rather than solving crimes against the poor.

Resources & Further Reading

For listeners interested in exploring this case and its historical context further, these sources provide additional perspective:

• The Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City maintains criminal court records from the Porfiriato era, including trial documentation from both Guerrero Pérez proceedings.

• Academic studies of crime and policing during the Porfiriato, particularly work examining class dynamics in Mexican criminal justice, offer crucial context for understanding institutional failures.

• Historical maps of 1880s Mexico City show the stark geographical divide between wealthy neighborhoods and the working-class districts where El Chalequero hunted.

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