David Avendaño Ballina

David Avendaño Ballina, alias "The Hamburger" (born in 1974) was the alleged leader of "Las Goteras", a gang of sex servants who poisoned their clients to steal from 1997 to 2007, who were responsible for dozens of deaths. He is linked to at least 70 murders (making him the third most prolific serial killer in Mexico). Although because of his motive he's not typically classified as a serial killer.[1]

David Avendaño Ballina
Born1974
Mexico
Other names"The Hamburger"
Details
Victims70
Span of crimes
1997–2007
CountryMexico
Date apprehended
February 12, 2008

His criminal association operated mainly in bars and restaurants around Mexico City, but were present in several states of the republic. It represented a great controversy regarding the double morality of society.

Modus operandi

Supposedly, according to detained members of the gang, David, along with his wife Claudia Castillos Maya, led the band.

Las Goteras owes its name to the use of ophthalmological drops combined with intoxicating drinks as a poison to perpetrate their crimes. Their modus operandi was simple but effective: the women belonging to the gang approached the victims and took them to motels, where they were offered an intoxicating drink of high ethyl alcohol content (tequila or vodka) combined with ophthalmological drops that had benzodiazepine or cyclopentolate in the formula. These compounds combined with the ethyl alcohol act as suppressors of the nervous systems; those intoxicated with this mixture first feel dizzy and weak, followed by loss of consciousness, finally dying of cardio-respiratory failure.

Many times the victims survived but had terrible aftermaths (from a terrible hangover, to blindness or anaphylactic shock). And for fear of the social opinion they did not reveal what had happened.

Arrest

On May 11, 2007, one of the most important cells in the gang was arrested in Mexico City; conformed by 18 people (11 men and 7 women). The detainees mentioned in their statements the existence of more cells and associated the band and referred to Avendaño as their leader.

A year later, after several investigations, David Avendaño was arrested on February 12, 2008.

The double moral

The news of the existence of such gang shocked the public, and the victims were quickly demonized. More controversial was that the long list of deaths contained the name of the brother-in-law of a former governor of Chiapas.

New cases

At the beginning of 2009, the possibility of the band's continued action was supposed, despite the affirmations of the federal government that the band was completely extinct.

On February 14, 2009, the corpses of two professional wrestlers were found inside a hotel in the Central district of Mexico City, the cause of death was defined as respiratory failure, traces of benzodiazepine were found in the bodies; a reason why it was immediately attributed to the Goteras.

This event pointed to the possibility that the band as such is still functioning and Avendaño's arrest represented a political strategy to gain credibility with respect to the armed struggle that was and still is developing (it was never fought to Avendaño's innocence, but it was believed that he was just a simple member of the gang and not the leader), or simply a judicial mistake.

In fact, this hypothesis represented a line of research to follow (it was possible that the gang was still in function, but it was a branch of descendant of the first one, according to the government). Although it was not ruled out the possibility were imitators, or simply isolated incidents.

On July 21 and August 12, 2009, María de los Ángeles Sánchez Rueda and Estela González Calva were arrested, the two sex workers who were responsible for the deaths of the two fighters. It was ruled out that they were members of "Las Goteras", it was determined that they were copycats. Both were sentenced to 47 years in prison.

References
  1. Olmos, Manuel (13 February 2008). "Cayó El Hamburguesa, líder de la banda de "Las Goteras"". Policía. OEM. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
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