Quick Facts
Biography
Claudia Mijangos Azrac (born May 25 1956, in Mazatlan, Sinaloa) is a Mexican convict, who was condemned in 1990 for filicide. She confessed to stabbing her three children allegedly obliged by a diabolical entity who possessed her. Was diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder and temporal lobe epilepsy, and condemned to 30-years prison, her mental state was considered extenuating - for this reason was condemned to the minimal penalty - but she wasn't considered unimpeachable.
According with local legends, the house where she committed the crime is haunted. The site was a subject of investigation by the Mexican paranormal television program, Extranormal and by the alleged Mexican parapsychologic, Carlos Trejo.
Background
Claudia Mijangos was raised in a functional middle-class family and won the title of Mazatlán beauty queen in 1956. After earning a degree in Commerce she married Alfredo Castaños Gutiérrez and together they had three children. Following the death of her parents, the family inherited a sizable amount of money and moved to Queretaro City, Queretaro. There, the three children were matriculated in a catholic college, Colegio Fray Luis de León, where Claudia Mijangos collaborated as a Catechism teacher. Additionally, Claudia opened a Fashion store in the center city.
In the late 1980s, Claudia and Alfredo began to develop marital problems and, according to relatives and friends, she began to display signs of emotional instability. The pair consulted with a couples therapist, the Dr. Jaime Flores of Instinto Asesino, a television show on Discovery Channel. Dr. Flores asserted that the power struggle apparent within the marriage was irreconcilable. Shortly after, Claudia became obsessed with Father Ramón, another teacher at the Colegio Fray Luis de León. In 1989, Claudia and Alfredo separated.
Murders
When Claudia was 33-years-old, she began to experience severe psychotic attacks in the months preceding the murders. These attacks were reported to manifest with hallucinations of demons and angels and left Claudia psychologically decomposed.
On April 23, 1989, Alfredo Castaños picked his three children up from school and brought them to Claudia's house. Here, Castaños and Claudia engaged in an intense argument. He probed her about Father Ramón and articulated his desire to get back together. Furious, Claudia defended the Father and rejected Castaños's desire to rekindle their relationship. Before he left, Claudia threatened that "he would repent." After locking the door behind Castaños, Claudia went upstairs to bless her children and went to sleep.
A few hours later, on April 24, 1989, at about 4 in the morning, Claudia Mijangos awoke to loud voices in her head. She stated that the voices told her that Mazatlan had disappeared and that "all of Queretaro was a spirit." Desperate, Claudia called her friend Veronica Vazquez, who asked Claudia to calm down and promised to come in the morning to help her. Following the call, Claudia got out of bed, dressed, went to the kitchen and took three knives, while her children still slept peacefully.
At about 5 in the morning, Claudia woke up her son, Alfredo Gutierrez, 6-years-old, and attacked him with a knife. Leaning on the child's bed, she grabbed him by the left hand and completely amputated his left hand. The boy screamed in pain and terror. Awakened by the noise, Alfredo's eldest sister, Claudia María, 11-years-old, came to the room and begged her mother to stop.Switching knives, Claudia rushed over her eldest daughter and stabbed her six times. Wounded, Claudia María managed to leave the room and loudly pleaded with her mother. The screams of pain and despair woke up the neighbors. Afterwards, Claudia took the third knife and stabbed her nine-year-old daughter Ana Belén in the heart. Claudia ran downstairs, searching for Claudia Maria, who had fainted on the dining room floor, and stabbed her again. She then dragged her upstairs and placed her lifeless body in the master bedroom.
External links
