Gabriel Garza Hoth

Timeline

• 1991 — Soledad Valdez, Gabriel Arturo Garza Hoth’s first wife, died; doctors believed she may have been poisoned.
• 1992 — Marcela Munoz Palacios died in a Mexico City parking lot after being found dead of gunshot wounds.
• 1997 — Ana Gloria Gomezpalacio died in an assault, and Gabriel Garza Hoth was later convicted for homicide in the 1997 death of his fiancee.
• August 1997 — Ana Gloria Gomez was shot on a Mexico City street; Garza Hoth initially told police that armed assailants tried to rob the couple.
• November 1998 — Gabriel Garza Hoth was arrested in Spain.
• January — Gabriel Garza Hoth was extradited to Mexico.
• October 27, 2000 — Gabriel Garza Hoth was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Background

Gabriel Arturo Garza Hoth was born in Mexico and was also known as "The Black Widower". He was a Mexican serial killer active between 1991 and 1998 in Mexico City. He collected life insurance payments on his wife and lovers, gaining a total of 500,000 dollars.

The offence

Gabriel Garza Hoth was convicted of homicide in the 1997 death of his fiancee, Ana Gloria Gomez. He was sentenced to pay fines totaling $2,200 for shooting his fiancee, Ana Gloria Gomez, and then trying to collect on a $400,000 insurance policy. A judge concluded that he fired the shoots himself, and then tried to cover up the crime by making it look like a bungled robbery attempt.

His story began to fall apart when investigators learned that other women who had relationships with him had also met violent deaths.

Investigation

Prosecutors said that he collected on a $125,000 insurance policy when his former wife, Soledad Valdes, died of an apparent heart attack in 1991. Investigators learned that other women who had relationships with him had met violent deaths, which contributed to his story failing.

Arrest

Gabriel Garza Hoth fled Mexico after a warrant was issued for his arrest in the Gomez case. He was arrested in Spain in November, 1998 and was extradited to Mexico in January.

Trial

Gabriel Garza Hoth was convicted Friday of homicide in the 1997 death of his fiancee. A judge concluded that he fired the shots himself and then tried to cover up the crime by making it look like a bungled robbery attempt.

Sentencing

He was sentenced to 45 years in prison on October 27, 2000. He was also sentenced to pay fines totaling $2,200 for shooting his fiancee, Ana Gloria Gomez, and then trying to collect on a $400,000 insurance policy.

Outcome

Gabriel Garza Hoth received a 45-year prison sentence for the 1997 death of his fiancee, Ana Gloria Gomez.

Other details

His first victim was his first wife, named Soledad Valdez, who had a heart attack and died in 1991; doctors believed that maybe she had been poisoned. His second victim was his girlfriend named Marcela Palacios, who died in 1992 in a "violent assault". The final victim was Ana Gloria Gomezpalacio who died in other "assault". A Mexican man known as The Black Widower was described as killing off his girlfriends. The coincidences were alerted to the police. A girlfriend named Marcela Munoz Palacios was found dead of gunshot wounds in a Mexico City parking lot just a year later. Munoz Palacios had life insurance policies totaling about $400,000, but it remains unclear whether Garza Hoth collected on those. He initially told police that Gomez had been killed by armed assailants who tried to rob the couple on a Mexico City street in August 1997.