The mass killing of Jonathan Meléndez—keyboardist for the band Camilo Séptimo—along with his pregnant wife, three-year-old daughter, and a domestic worker, which took place on September 1 in the Grand Viure residential complex, has once again placed Atizapán de Zaragoza at the center of national attention.
Although the municipality is known for its exclusive residential developments in the State of Mexico’s “Zona Esmeralda,” in recent years it has also been the scene of high-profile crimes: femicides, executions, mass killings, and cases linked to organized crime that have garnered national and international attention.
The case of musician Jonathan Meléndez joins this timeline of violence. From the 2023 femicide of an 18-year-old woman to the 2025 execution of a drug trafficker wanted by Europol, these are some of the events that have shaped Atizapán’s recent history.
The earliest case in this timeline—and perhaps the one that received the most media coverage—involves Andrés Filomeno Mendoza Celis. He was arrested on May 15, 2021, in the Lomas de San Miguel neighborhood following the disappearance of Reyna González Amador, a 34-year-old merchant and mother of two daughters.
Municipal police officers went to his home to inquire about the woman’s whereabouts and, with his permission, entered the house. Inside, officers discovered González’s body. This discovery led to a search of the premises, revealing more than 4,300 bone fragments hidden in an underground space within the property. The State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office determined that the remains belonged to multiple victims, including women and at least one minor.
Genetic testing enabled investigators to identify six of the victims. Among the names that emerged in various media reports are Norma Jiménez Carreón, who disappeared in 2011 in Tlalnepantla; Flor Ninive Vizcaíno Mejía, who disappeared in 2016; and Rubicela Gallegos Castillo, a delivery worker who disappeared in 2019.
A judge handed down the first sentence against Mendoza Celis on March 18, 2022: life imprisonment for the femicide of González. That conviction was followed by seven others, issued between October 2022 and February 2024; these included a 92-year sentence for the femicide of a woman and a minor, as well as six additional sentences of 55 years each.
The last of these sentences concerns a victim identified only by the initials B.S.O., who had disappeared in 2012 in the municipality of Coacalco. The State of Mexico Prosecutor’s Office has stated that the investigation remains open to identify the remaining victims.
Mendoza Celis is serving his sentences at the Tenango del Valle prison. In August 2025, he was rushed to a hospital in Toluca due to respiratory complications and returned to the correctional facility in October of that year.
