Jose Luis Calva Zepeda

Case information

Jose Luis Calva Zepeda was an aspiring horror writer in Mexico City who was accused in connection with the mutilation of his girlfriend’s body and suspected of cannibalism and multiple murders.

Timeline

• December 11, 2007 — Jose Luis Calva Zepeda was found hanging from his belt in his Mexico City jail cell.
• October 8, 2007 — Police discovered Alejandra Galeana’s rotting, mutilated torso stuffed into a closet, a leg in a freezer, and bits of arm meat on a fork and plate, and Calva made his first public appearance since his arrest.
• Monday (week of the discovery of the apartment contents) — Mexico City police arrested Jose Luis Calva Zepeda and held him for “probable” homicide while investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend.
• 2004 — Veronica Martinez was found dismembered.
• April (2007) — A female acquaintance’s chopped-up remains were found in a suitcase earlier this year; prosecutors also referenced another female acquaintance whose chopped-up remains were found in a suitcase earlier this year.
• 2005 — The prior cannibalism case near Cancun involved Gumaro de Dios Arias.

Background

Jose Luis Calva Zepeda was described as a poet and writer of horror tales. He sold his poetry at the city’s informal markets and was also reported to have unsuccessfully tried to sell scripts for horror movies.

Calva was described as an aspiring horror novelist who supported his cocaine and alcohol habits by forcing another girlfriend to sell handmade copies of his novels and poems for about a dollar a piece on city streets. Prosecutors said Calva focused on drugstores to find working women who were relatively poor, vulnerable, or easier to impress and dominate.

In interviews before his death, Calva acknowledged killing girlfriend Alejandra Galeana, 32, and cutting up her body after a violent drug-and-alcohol-fueled argument, but denied he ate her flesh. He claimed he cooked the flesh to feed it to dogs as a means of getting rid of the corpse, while authorities doubted his story and said he carefully cleaned, cooked, and seasoned the flesh.

Calva also described a traumatic childhood. He told prosecutors after his arrest that he was practically abandoned by his mother, his father died when he was 2, and at about age 7 he was raped by a male friend of his brother. Calva included “cannibal” in the title of his apparently autobiographical book, which was tentatively titled “The Cannibal Poet.”

In interviews before his death, Calva expressed remorse for the death of Alejandra Galeana.

Soledad Garavito, Alejandra’s mother, described Calva as “a very vain person ... everything was me, me, me.”

“I am going to imagine myself as a balloon the size of the sun, and I'm going to roll around in the cosmos that is me,” he wrote in one a short work, “The Night Before,” a strange mix of introspection and self-help exhortations.

A witness whose name was withheld told prosecutors that Calva was fascinated by animal porn, witchcraft, and the explicit and sadistic novel “120 Days of Sodom.”

Experts said Calva may have courted drugstore workers, including Veronica Martinez, to get access to clonazepam, an anti-seizure medication also used to treat anxiety.

An acquaintance who co-signed Calva’s apartment lease described his relationship as dominant-submissive and said he would say things like:

“Who told you you could talk?”

Mexican news media referred to Calva as “Mexico City’s ‘cannibal’” and “The Cannibal.”

The offence

Alejandra Galeana

Police investigators made discoveries in Calva’s apartment after investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend, Alejandra Galeana.

Police said Calva’s apartment contained mutilated and dismembered remains of Galeana, including an unfinished manuscript entitled “Cannibal Instincts,” and food-preparation items where flesh was allegedly cooked and served.

Forensics experts said flesh found on a plate, fork, and frying pan in Calva’s apartment was human, and that DNA tests were planned to confirm whether it came from Alejandra Galeana.

Dr. Rodolfo Rojo, chief medical examiner for Mexico City’s prosecutor’s office, said muscle found on the plate and frying pan corresponded to parts missing from the corpse of Galeana. Police found Galeana’s body in a closet in Calva’s apartment after her family led police to the building.

Authorities found pieces of lime beside chunks of flesh in the apartment and believed Calva seasoned Galeana’s forearm with the fruit after he allegedly strangled, hacked, and then fried up parts of her body.

Two or three days passed between Galeana’s death and her grisly discovery, which Salas said was too much time to test Calva’s digestive system for traces of her flesh.

Police found the lower part of a leg presumed to be Galeana in the refrigerator of the apartment. Prosecutors said knives, a box cutter, blood stains, and a pair of shoelaces that may have been used to strangle her were found in the apartment. The search uncovered an unfinished novel by Calva entitled “Cannibalistic Instincts.”

Salas said that on the cover page, a masked image of “Silence of the Lambs” killer Hannibal Lecter had been altered to resemble Calva’s face.

Calva told police he cooked the flesh to feed it to neighborhood dogs as a way to get rid of the body. Prosecutor Octavio Romulo Salas said:

“That is the assumption that exists.”

Calva told prosecutors after his arrest that he was practically abandoned by his mother, his father died when he was 2, and that at about age 7 he was raped by a male friend of his brother.

Additional suspected victims

Investigators believed Calva killed and mutilated at least two other women since 2004.

Prosecutors said Calva may have killed two other women whose dismembered bodies were found crammed in cardboard boxes and suitcases in Mexico City in 2004 and 2007. Prosecutors said both victims, like Galeana, were strangled.

Police said one of those cadavers found in April was missing its hands and feet. Prosecutors said the other body found in 2004 was Calva’s former girlfriend, Veronica Martinez.

Prosecutors also said there was evidence linking Calva to the death of another female acquaintance whose chopped-up remains were found in a suitcase earlier this year.

Police statements about eating

“He killed her because he was high on cocaine,” said defense attorney Humberto Guerrero Plata.

Defense attorney Humberto Guerrero Plata said:

“He didn't eat her, he just cut her body up.”

Calva acknowledged killing Alejandra Galeana and cutting up her body but denied he ate her. Prosecutors and the medical examiner described how the flesh had been cooked and seasoned, and authorities said they doubted Calva’s story about feeding it to dogs.

Investigation

Mexico City police made the discoveries in Calva’s apartment as they arrested him while investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend.

Authorities testing the limbs and flesh found in Calva’s apartment aimed to determine whether they were human.

The initial discoveries included a frying pan with chunks of flesh and items on a plate and fork. Authorities found bones stuffed into a cereal box. Police said they found a leg and part of an arm in the refrigerator and that the bones were stuffed into a cereal box.

Police also found pieces of lime beside chunks of flesh.

Forensics experts said flesh on a plate, fork, and frying pan was human and that DNA tests were planned to confirm it came from Galeana.

Authorities said there were two or three days between Galeana’s death and her discovery, making it too late to test Calva’s digestive system for traces of flesh.

Investigators said they found the mutilated body of Alejandra Galeana in Calva’s closet.

Arrest and custody

Mexico City police arrested Jose Luis Calva Zepeda and held him for “probable” homicide after investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend.

Calva was sent to the hospital after his arrest. Police said he fell from his apartment balcony while trying to flee when police arrived. At the same time, prosecutors said Calva was being treated at a local hospital for head injuries he suffered while trying to escape police by swinging down balconies from his upper-floor apartment.

Calva made his first public appearance since his arrest on Oct. 8, when police discovered Galeana’s rotting, mutilated torso stuffed into a closet, a leg in the freezer, and bits of arm meat on a fork and plate.

Trial

Arraignment and plea refusal

Jose Luis Calva Zepeda was arraigned on Thursday on charges of murder and desecrating a corpse. He refused to make a formal plea, saying:

“I can't get my thoughts together right now.”

Police said he had previously acknowledged killing 32-year-old girlfriend Alejandra Galeana, and prosecutors believed he killed and dismembered two other girlfriends, but prosecutors had not charged him for those crimes.

Sentencing

No sentencing information was stated.

Appeals

No appeals information was stated.

Outcome

Death in custody

Two months after police found cooked and seasoned bits of his girlfriend’s corpse on a fork and plate in his apartment, Calva was found dead in his prison cell of an apparent suicide.

Calva was found hanging from his belt in his Mexico City jail cell on December 11, 2007. The city department of corrections issued a statement.

Juan Garcia Ochoa, the city’s assistant interior secretary whose agency oversaw prisons, said:

“Everything indicates it was suicide, but it is better to conduct a good investigation,”

Lawyer Moises Humberto Guerrero Calderon, a member of Calva’s defense team, said:

“He didn't seem to have suicidal tendencies,” and: “He was very enthused about (the book) idea. That was sort of what gave him a reason to live.”

Relatives told local news media that Calva had reported receiving threats from other inmates who were allegedly attempting to extort money from him. The corrections department denied Calva had been threatened or beaten by other inmates and said it could not have been murder because he had reinforced his locked cell door with wire and shoelaces tied from the inside.

Mexico City officials said they investigated how Calva got hold of the belt and apparently was able to commit suicide when he was supposed to be under round-the-clock observation.

Statement by Alejandra Galeana’s mother

Soledad Garavito, the mother of Galeana, described Calva’s death as divine retribution and told The Associated Press:

“I don't wish death on anybody, but I feel this was divine justice,” and: “I do not take pleasure in this man's death, but I have seen there is a God and that He is with me.”

Other details

People named

• Alejandra Galeana, 32 — Calva’s girlfriend; her mutilated body was found in his closet, with a leg presumed to be hers found in a refrigerator, and other remains tied to cooked flesh on a plate and frying pan.
• Veronica Martinez, 40 — named in interviews as a drugstore employee who asked that her full last name not be used; she was described as a drugstore employee and recalled Calva reading his poetry to her when they dated in August; she was also named as Calva’s former girlfriend whose dismembered body was found in 2004.
• Veronica Consuelo Martinez Casarrubias — described as Calva’s former girlfriend who was found dismembered in 2004.
• Veronica R., 40 — a drugstore employee who recalled Calva reading his poetry; her full last name was not used to protect her family.
• La Jarocha — a prostitute known only as La Jarocha, whom police said was killed in April.

Named investigators and officials

• Cutberto Enriquez — curator of an exhibition on serial killers and the death penalty at Mexico City’s Police Cultural Center; he said: “I don't know of another case like this in Mexico,” and “This case is exceptional. (Calva's) profile is much more European and American than Mexican.”
• Dr. Rodolfo Rojo — chief medical examiner for Mexico City’s prosecutor’s office; described correspondence between muscle found in Calva’s apartment and parts missing from Galeana’s corpse and commented on pieces of lime beside chunks of flesh.
• Octavio Romulo Salas — prosecutor; said: “That is the assumption that exists.”
• Humberto Guerrero Plata — defense attorney; said: “He killed her because he was high on cocaine,” and “He didn't eat her, he just cut her body up.”
• Moises Humberto Guerrero Calderon — lawyer on Calva’s defense team; said: and:
• Juan Garcia Ochoa — Mexico City assistant interior secretary; said:
• Juan Carlos Monroy — described as Calva’s alleged accomplice in the Martinez killing; he described their relationship after he was arrested.
• Soledad Garavito — Alejandra Galeana’s mother; described Calva as vain and described his death as divine retribution.

Quoted material from named individuals

• Cutberto Enriquez:

  “I don't know of another case like this in Mexico,” “This case is exceptional. (Calva's) profile is much more European and American than Mexican.”

• Humberto Guerrero Plata:

  “He killed her because he was high on cocaine,”

• Octavio Romulo Salas:
• Calva:
• Soledad Garavito:
• Juan Garcia Ochoa:
• Moises Humberto Guerrero Calderon:

Neighbours and acquaintances

A pizza shop manager told El Universal newspaper:

“He gave the impression of being a hypocrite, someone very concerned with being accepted.”

A surviving girlfriend, whose name was withheld for her protection, told police that Calva was initially charming and won her trust with poetry, but later became jealous, controlling, and obsessive and once attempted suicide.

An acquaintance who co-signed Calva’s apartment lease described his behavior as dominant and said:

An additional witness whose name was withheld told prosecutors Calva was fascinated by animal porn, witchcraft, and the explicit and sadistic novel “120 Days of Sodom.”

Other Mexico cannibalism and serial killings mentioned

Authorities referenced a prior cannibalism case near Cancun in 2005 involving Gumaro de Dios Arias, who gutted and ate another man who refused his sexual advances. Arias cooked his victim’s heart on a grill and told interrogators his victim tasted like barbacoa, a slow-roasted Mexican meat dish.

The text also referenced other high-profile serial killers in recent years, including:

• Juana Barraza, accused of murdering at least 30 elderly women over nearly a decade, and
• Raul Osiel Marroquin, arrested and accused of killing four gay men.