Andrés Filomeno Mendoza Celis, known as the “Cannibal of Atizapán,” passed away this Thursday inside the Tenango del Valle prison, where he had been held since 2021, serving eight sentences for femicide and forced disappearance.
According to authorities, his death was due to natural causes; he had been suffering from hypertension and diabetes for several months, necessitating frequent transfers to a hospital in Toluca for medical examinations.
Andrés Filomeno Mendoza Celis, 78, was arrested in May 2021 in connection with the disappearance and death of Reyna González Amador, who had gone missing weeks earlier in Atizapán de Zaragoza.
The victim was the wife of a police officer, who—following his own personal investigation—tracked her to Mendoza Celis’s home, where he discovered his spouse’s dismembered body.
The state prosecutor’s office obtained a search warrant for the property, where they uncovered a clandestine burial site in the backyard containing more than 4,000 human remains. Forensic analysis confirmed that the remains belonged to 19 individuals (17 women, one man, and one minor), all of whom had been reported missing.
Authorities also discovered a logbook at the residence in which Mendoza Celis recorded details about his victims, along with personal belongings of the women he murdered and even recordings of his crimes.
Human flesh was found in his refrigerator—which Mendoza Celis consumed regularly—a detail that gave rise to the nickname by which he became known following his capture. Neighbors of Andrés Filomeno Mendoza Celis described him as a quiet person; he even served as president of the Citizen Participation Council in the Lomas de San Miguel neighborhood, a role in which he facilitated support for his community.
His case gained such notoriety that the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation produced a television series—broadcast by Televisa—during the period when Arturo Zaldívar headed the federal judiciary.
The first sentence handed down to Andrés Filomeno Mendoza Celis came on March 18, 2022, when a judge from the State of Mexico judiciary sentenced him to life imprisonment for the femicide of Reyna González Amador, which had occurred a year earlier.
That same year, he received a second sentence—55 years—for the femicide and disappearance of another woman, and in January 2023, he was sentenced to 92 years for the death and disappearance of a woman and a child.
That same year, he received four additional sentences, and the eighth and final conviction—a 55-year term—was handed down on February 11, 2024, also for the femicide and disappearance of a woman.
