Andrés Filomeno Mendoza Celis was born on November 29, 1947, in El Salvador but later settled in the State of Mexico. By profession, he worked as a butcher in a slaughterhouse in Tlalnepantla, where he honed dissection skills that would later facilitate his crimes. He also served as president of the neighborhood’s citizen participation council in 2015, underlining his façade of community respectability. Allegations link him to organized crime, yet he maintained daily life without raising suspicion. While some media speculated his inspiration came from The Silence of the Lambs (1991), psychologists who interviewed him say he denied such influences and claimed to watch only Mexican films

Mendoza’s criminal history came to light in May 2021, after the disappearance of Reyna González Amador. On May 15, authorities raided Mendoza’s home in Atizapán de Zaragoza and discovered her dismembered body buried within. However, the horror extended far deeper: salvage operations later revealed thousands of skeletal remains, in excess of 4,600 bones, belonging to at least 19 victims (17 women, a child, and a man). Evidence inside his house included ID cards, clothing, personal effects of women, cassette recordings, notebooks listing names, as well as preserved facial skins and hair. He reportedly buried or even consumed his victims.

The common pattern involved luring women, mostly through social media or in person, using promises of employment or romantic interest. Once in his home, Mendoza would ply them with alcohol, stab them to death, and then dismember the remains for burial or disposal. Neighbors described him as quiet but aloof toward women, perhaps fueling his contempt. After his arrest in 2021, he was charged with murder, dismemberment, and other crimes.

Following a thorough investigation, Mendoza was convicted in 2022. His guilty verdict brought some semblance of justice to the victims' families, though shock and outrage remained at how long he continued killing with impunity. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for his heinous deeds, capping off a chilling chapter in Mexican criminal history.