Claudia Mijangos Explained

Claudia Mijangos Arzac
Caption:Claudia in the 1980s
Birth Place:Mazatlán, Mexico
Other Names:"La hiena de Querétaro" (The Hyena of Querétaro)
Occupation:Catechism teacher and ex-beauty queen
Known For:Committing filicide against her three children
Criminal Charge:3 counts of murder
Penalty:30-years in prison
Conviction Status:Released to mental facility, 2019
Spouse:Alfredo Castaños Gutiérrez (?-) (divorced)
Children:Claudia María Castaños Mijangos
Ana Belén Castaños Mijangos
Alfredo Antonio Castaños Mijangos
Parents:Antonio Mijangos (father)
María del Carmen Arzac (mother)
Motive:Serious mental disorders
Capture Status:Free
Victims:Her 3 children
Date:24 April 1989
Country:Mexico
States:Querétaro
Apprehended:1989

Claudia Mijangos Arzac (born 25 May 1956) is a Mexican woman who was convicted of filicide.[1] In April 1989, Mijangos stabbed her three children to death declaring she was obliged by a diabolical entity that possessed her.[2] She was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and temporal lobe epilepsy. Therefore, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison, the maximum sentence for such a crime in Mexico.[3] [4] Mijangos was released from prison in 2019 and admitted to a psychiatric clinic.[5]

According to local legends, the house where she committed the crime (in the Jardines de la Hacienda colonia of Querétaro) is haunted.[6] The site was explored by the Mexican paranormal television program, Extranormal[7] and by the Mexican parapsychologist Carlos Trejo.

Background

Claudia Mijangos was born on 25 May 1956 in Sinaloa, Mexico,[8] where she was raised in an upper-middle-class family. In her youth, she was named beauty queen of her hometown of Mazatlán.[5] After graduating in commerce, she married Alfredo Castaños Gutiérrez. They had three children. After the death of her parents, the family inherited a sizable amount of money and moved to Querétaro City, Querétaro.[9] There, the three children were enrolled in the Catholic school Colegio Fray Luis de León, where Claudia Mijangos worked as a catechism teacher.[5] Claudia later opened a clothing store downtown.[5]

In the late 1980s, Claudia and her husband Alfredo began to develop marital problems. She began to display signs of emotional instability, according to relatives and friends. The couple attended marriage counseling with Dr. Jaime Flores. Claudia and Alfredo separated in 1989.

Murders

When Claudia was 33 years old, she began to experience severe psychotic attacks in the months preceding the murders. These attacks reportedly involved hallucinations of demons and angels which left Claudia psychologically tormented.

On 23 April 1989, Claudia's husband picked up their children from a school fair and brought them to Claudia's house.[9] There, Castaños and Claudia engaged in an intense argument.[5] He probed her about Father Ramon and articulated his desire to get back together. Furious, Claudia defended Father Ramon and rejected Castaños's desire to rekindle their relationship. Before he left, Claudia threatened Castaños saying he would be sorry.[10] After locking the door behind him, Claudia went upstairs to tuck her children in bed and went to sleep.

A few hours later on 24 April 1989, at around four in the morning, Claudia awoke to loud voices in her head. She stated that the voices told her Mazatlan had disappeared and that "all of Queretaro was a spirit". Desperate, Claudia called her friend Veronica Vazquez who asked Claudia to calm down. Veronica 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 were still sleeping.

At about five in the morning Claudia woke up her 6-year-old son Alfredo and attacked him with a knife. Leaning on his bed, she grabbed his left hand and completely amputated it. Alfredo screamed out which awoke his eldest sister, 11-year-old Claudia Maria, 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 her mother for mercy. The screams woke the neighbors. 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.

Crime scene and evidence

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Rosado . Isaías . April 24, 2015 . A 26 años del caso Mijangos . To 26 years of the Mijangos case . Spanish . ADN Informativo . Queretaro, Queretaro . May 28, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160531222016/http://adninformativo.mx/a-26-anos-del-caso-mijangos/ . May 31, 2016 . dead .
  2. News: Pino . Ángeles . September 16, 2011 . La trágica historia de Claudia Mijangos . The tragic history of Claudia Mijangos . Spanish . El Universal . Mexico City . May 28, 2016 .
  3. Web site: Claudia Mijangos, la Hiena de Queretaro. . Escrito con sangre . Escrito con sangre blogspot . May 28, 2016. Spanish . "El diagnóstico fue epilepsia del lóbulo temporal, acompañado de esquizofrenia, por lo que se suspendió el proceso penal ordinario y se acordó aplicar una medida de seguridad de 30 años de prisión...".
  4. Web site: Claudia Mijangos, la Hiena de Queretaro. . Escrito con sangre . Escrito con sangre blogspot . May 28, 2016. Spanish . "Hubo rumores y artículos de periódico afirmando que había salido de prisión y se había ido del estado, pero no era verdad...".
  5. Web site: Claudia Mijangos, la exreina de belleza que mató a sus tres hijos a puñaladas y quedó libre tras pasar 30 años recluida . BBC News Mundo . 20 August 2022 . es . 27 April 2019.
  6. News: Venegas Alarcón . Sergio A. . Alcalá Cabrera . Lorena . La Casa 408 de Hacienda del Vegil . 20 February 2024 . Diario de Querétaro . 27 April 2009 . es.
  7. Web site: Claudia Mijangos: la mujer que sacudió Querétaro . Ciudadypoder.com.mx . 28 May 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131110205907/http://ciudadypoder.com.mx/blogs/noticias/index.php/noticias/queretaro/item/19494-claudia-mijangos-la-mujer-que-sacudi%C3%B3-quer%C3%A9taro . 10 November 2013 . dead .
  8. Web site: ¿Quién es Claudia Mijangos, a quien llamaron "La Hiena de Querétaro"? . El Universal . 20 August 2022 . Mexico City . es . 24 April 2019.
  9. Web site: Álvarez . Carlos . La hiena de Querétaro, historia de una infamia . . 20 August 2022 . Mexico City . es . 14 May 2021.
  10. Web site: A 26 años del caso Mijangos ADN Informativo Noticias de Querétaro. adninformativo.mx. 2017-01-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20170218085009/http://adninformativo.mx/a-26-anos-del-caso-mijangos. 2017-02-18. dead.