FACEBOOK BUTCHER: ‘Serial Killer’ Snared Women Through Online Ads

Story By:  Ana MarjanovicSub-EditorMichael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

A suspected serial killer believed to have murdered and butchered women after snaring them with Facebook ads has been seized by police.

The suspect – named by police in Mexico as 38-year-old Greek Roman – is believed to have killed up to seven victims.

Investigators say he made contact with his victims through adverts he posted on Facebook offering jobs.

Viridiana Moreno, 31, one of the victims of Greek Roman, alleged serial femicide on which the suspicion of at least seven murders of women, arrested in San Juan del Rio, Mexico, on 1st June. (Newsflash)

One victim’s remains – found abandoned in plastic bags on a vacant lot – were so badly mutilated forensic scientists had to establish her identity.

Roman was arrested in the municipality of San Juan del Rio, in the central Mexican state of Queretaro, on Wednesday, 1st June.

The case of his last alleged victim, Viridiana Moreno Vasquez, 31 – the married mother of a 10-year-old boy – reportedly led police to finding him.

Evelyn Afiune, one of the victims of Greek Roman, alleged serial femicide on which the suspicion of at least seven murders of women, arrested in San Juan del Rio, Mexico, on 1st June. (Newsflash)

Her remains were found in plastic bags after she reportedly met with the suspect after seeing one of his adverts on Facebook offering a lucrative job as a hotel receptionist.

She had been looking for a second source of income so that she could finish her degree in physical education.

The advert reportedly said: “Receptionist required for the Cardel area. Activities: Answer calls and schedule appointments. Salary: 1,800 pesos per week plus punctuality bonus.”

Evelyn Afiune , one of the victims of Greek Roman, alleged serial femicide on which the suspicion of at least seven murders of women, arrested in San Juan del Rio, Mexico, on 1st June. (Newsflash)

The weekly salary advertised in the Facebook ad, of MXN 1,800 is about GBP 75, or USD 92.

She left her home on 18th May to go to the job interview at a hotel and was never seen again.

Investigators found her remains in plastic bags five days later in a derelict lot.

Viridiana Moreno, 31, one of the victims of Greek Roman, alleged serial femicide on which the suspicion of at least seven murders of women, arrested in San Juan del Rio, Mexico, on 1st June. (Newsflash)

Roman – arrested with his partner, who has not been named, – was reportedly seen on the morning when his last alleged victim disappeared getting onto a scooter with her, according to Undersecretary of Public Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), Ricardo Mejia Berdejo.

Mejia said last Thursday (2nd June) during a press conference that the man is known as Greek Roman, but also went by other names, such as Juan Carlos Gasperin.

He is also thought to have used other names including Ricardo Dereck and Ricardo Crivelli.

Greek Roman, 38, alleged serial femicide on which the suspicion of at least seven murders of women, arrested in San Juan del Rio, Mexico, on 1st June. (@fiscaliaqro/Newsflash)

Mejia said that the suspect and his partner were arrested in Queretaro, some 480 kilometres (300 miles) from where Moreno Vasquez was found dead days after having met with the suspected serial killer, in the city of Cardel, in Mexico’s south-eastern coastal state of Veracruz.

The suspect is believed to have murdered other women in the states of Morelos and Puebla, with the authorities investigating seven murders so far.

Mejia said that investigators had found Moreno Vasquez’s clothes at his home.

The alleged female accomplice of Greek Roman, 38, alleged serial femicide on which the suspicion of at least seven murders of women, arrested in San Juan del Rio, Mexico, on 1st June. (@fiscaliaqro/Newsflash)

The authorities had reportedly been attempting to track down the suspect since at least April, after the murder of Evelyn Afiune, 22, whose death had similarities with that of Moreno Vasquez.

Her body was found three days after she went missing on 24th March, according to the local prosecutor’s office, who added that she was reportedly contacted by her aggressor on social media.

She reportedly got into a taxi with the alleged serial killer after meeting at a cafeteria in the city of Cuautla, in the state of Morelos.

Greek Roman, 38, alleged serial femicide on which the suspicion of at least seven murders of women, arrested in San Juan del Rio, Mexico, on 1st June. (FGE/Newsflash)

Her body was found three days later and the prosecutor’s office said that an investigation revealed that she had been sexually abused, beaten and suffocated.

The suspect reportedly has a history of rape accusations filed against him since 2012 in Veracruz and will reportedly have to answer for the murders of at least Moreno Vasquez and Evelyn Afiune, according to local media.

Roman reportedly spent time in prison after being convicted of raping a minor under the age of 13.

Greek Roman, 38, alleged serial femicide on which the suspicion of at least seven murders of women, arrested in San Juan del Rio, Mexico, on 1st June. (FGE/Newsflash)

The investigation is ongoing, with police looking into possible connections with at least five other murdered women.