Man Accused of Killing 8 Women in Mexican Border Town Dies in Jail
MONTERREY, Mexico - A man accused of taking part in the murders of eight young women in the border city of Juarez was found dead in his prison cell of apparent complications from a hernia operation, prison officials said Sunday.
Officials at the Aquiles Serdan Center for Social Readaption in northern Chihuahua state said Gustavo Gonzalez Meza, 29, was found dead Saturday after undergoing an operation late last week.
He had been returned to his cell Friday after what was thought to have been a successful, routine operation.
Gonzalez and another man, bus driver Victor Garcia Uribe, were arrested and charged with murder after the skeletal remains of eight women were discovered in November 2001 in Juarez.
The men claimed they were tortured into confessing, but Chihuahua officials have denied that.
More than 300 women have been murdered along the border near Juarez since 1993. Police have confirmed that more than 75 of the cases are related to a string of rape-murders.
Dozens of suspects have been arrested - and some convicted - in the murders. But bodies have continued to turn up in Juarez.
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press | found at SignOnSanDiego.com