A man arrested in late February for the murders of seven women and who later escaped from a jail in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, has been captured, officials said.
Cesar Armando Librado Legorreta was arrested by authorities on Saturday, Mexico state Gov. Eruviel Avila said in a Twitter posting. “The Mexico state Attorney General’s Office has just arrested Cesar Armando Librado, alias ‘El Coqueto,’” the governor said.
Librado Legorreta, however, may have been arrested in one of the operations staged by police Saturday in Cuautitlan Izcalli and the Federal District, the Formato 21 radio station reported.
More than 200 police officers participated in the operations, which took place after authorities received tips about the possible hiding place of Librado Legorreta, who is wanted for the rapes and murders of seven women, as well as the rape of an eighth woman.
The 29-year-old Librado Legorreta used his job as a bus driver to target victims.
The suspect “acted very friendly (with his victims) and offered to take them to their destination even if it was outside his route, raping and later killing them on the microbus once he had them alone,” the Federal District Attorney’s Office said in a statement released last week.
Librado Legorreta strangled his victims using a wrestling hold, prosecutors said.
Librado Legorreta told investigators that his victims were all young women who were sexually assaulted before being killed.
One young woman survived her encounter with Librado Legorreta, officials said.
Librado Legorreta was arrested late last month and taken to a jail, from which he escaped on the night of Feb. 26-27.
He got away prior to his appearance before the judge in Tlanepantla, Mexico state, who is investigating the murders.
Librado Legorreta apparently removed his handcuffs and slipped out of the police station office where he was being guarded by three officers.
Last week, the mother of one of the victims called for the removal from office of Mexico state Attorney General Alfredo Castillo because of his officers’ negligence in letting the murderer get away.
One of the officers guarding the suspect, Luis Alberto Cañedo Chaparro, was arrested, but the other two officers are now fugitives.
