In October 2019, a quiet neighborhood in Toluca, Mexico, became the epicenter of a national nightmare. It wasn't just the crimes themselves that rattled the public. It was the ego. Oscar García Guzmán, the man the media quickly dubbed the Monster of Toluca, didn't hide in the shadows like a traditional predator. He taunted. He posted on Facebook. He dared the authorities to catch him while casually listing his victims as if he were checking off a grocery list.
The case of the Monster of Toluca remains a chilling study in how digital narcissism meets old-school psychopathy.
Why the Villas Santín Case Still Haunts Mexico
Most people first heard about García Guzmán when the bodies of three young women were discovered at his home in the Villas Santín neighborhood. But the story started much earlier. It started with the disappearance of Jessica Guadalupe Jaramillo, a 23-year-old psychology student. Her family knew exactly where she was. They told the police. They literally stood outside García Guzmán’s house, begging for a search warrant.
Bureaucracy is a slow beast. By the time the police finally entered the residence on October 30, it was too late for Jessica. She was found strangled in the bathroom.
Then the yard gave up its secrets.
Investigators began digging. They found Martha Patricia Nava Arzaluz and Adriana González Hernández buried under the dirt and cement. It was a gruesome scene that exposed a massive failure in the judicial system. If the authorities had acted on the family’s initial reports, Jessica might be alive. That's the part that hurts the most for the local community. It wasn't a mystery; it was a tragedy of delays.
The Digital Taunts of a Killer
What separates García Guzmán from your "run-of-the-mill" serial killer was his obsession with his own image. He was a practitioner of Krav Maga. He was a student of law. He viewed himself as intellectually superior to everyone, especially the police.
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While he was on the run, he didn't go dark. He went viral.
Using various Facebook profiles, he started posting "Missing" posters of the very women he had murdered. It was sick. He even mocked the state's bounty, claiming his "work" was worth much more than the 300,000 pesos offered for his capture. He threatened to kill more women—specifically one every two weeks—until his pets (three dogs and a cat) were safely returned to him and cared for.
He was basically treating the entire investigation like a sick game of chess.
His ego eventually became his undoing. On December 6, 2019, he was arrested in Mexico City while eating a taco. Just a guy at a street stand. The "intellectual giant" who thought he could outrun the world was caught because he couldn't stop using public Wi-Fi to check his social media engagement.
A History of Violence Before Toluca
It turns out, the Monster of Toluca didn't start in 2019. During his interrogation and subsequent psychological evaluations, he confessed to killing his own father when he was just a teenager. He also claimed responsibility for the deaths of a man and another woman in different parts of the State of Mexico.
The numbers are terrifying. While he was officially convicted for the deaths of Jessica, Martha Patricia, and Adriana, his own "count" was much higher. He took pride in it.
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- He was sentenced to over 300 years in total across multiple trials.
- The charges included feminicide, kidnapping, and the murder of his father.
- He is currently serving his time in the Tenango del Valle prison.
Psychologists who interviewed him, like those from the Fiscalía General de Justicia del Estado de México (FGJEM), noted his total lack of empathy. He wasn't "crazy" in the sense of being out of touch with reality. He knew exactly what he was doing. He just didn't care. To him, people were objects.
Understanding the "Feminicide" Crisis in Mexico
You can't talk about the Monster of Toluca without talking about the broader context of feminicide in Mexico. The term isn't just a fancy word for murder. It refers specifically to the killing of women because of their gender, often involving sexual violence or the dumping of bodies in public spaces.
Toluca, and the State of Mexico in general, has some of the highest rates of these crimes in the country.
The case of García Guzmán became a flashpoint for activists. It highlighted how the "machismo" culture and a lethargic legal system create a playground for predators. When women go missing, the initial reaction from officials is often to suggest they "ran away with a boyfriend." That dismissive attitude gives killers the time they need to hide evidence or, in the case of García Guzmán, bury bodies in their backyard while the police wait for paperwork to clear.
What We Get Wrong About Serial Killers Like Him
We often want to believe serial killers are these hooded monsters hiding in alleys.
García Guzmán was a neighbor. He went to school. He trained in martial arts. He was "normal" enough to interact with his victims without raising immediate alarms. This is the "banality of evil" that Hannah Arendt talked about, though applied to a much more personal, visceral scale.
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He didn't have a "type" in the traditional sense, other than his victims being vulnerable women he could overpower or manipulate. His true motivation seemed to be the power he felt during the act and the fame he achieved afterward. He enjoyed the "Monster" nickname. He leaned into it.
Practical Safety and Awareness
While the Monster of Toluca is behind bars, the systemic issues that allowed him to operate remain. For those living in high-risk areas or anyone concerned about personal safety, there are specific, actionable steps to take.
- Digital Footprints: Be extremely wary of people you meet on social media who seem to have "perfect" or overly curated lives but no real-world mutual connections. García Guzmán used his "normalcy" as a lure.
- The "24-Hour" Myth: In Mexico and many other regions, there is a persistent myth that you must wait 24 or 48 hours to report a missing person. This is false. Every minute counts. Demand a report be filed immediately.
- Community Networks: Neighborhood watch groups and WhatsApp chains have actually proven more effective in some parts of Toluca than official patrols. Knowing your neighbors and their habits can be a literal lifesaver.
- Legal Pressure: If a loved one goes missing and you have a lead (like Jessica's family did), involve human rights organizations or local media immediately. Sometimes, the only way to get a search warrant signed in time is to make the "slow" bureaucracy more afraid of bad PR than they are of doing their jobs.
The legacy of the Monster of Toluca isn't just the horror of what happened in that house in Villas Santín. It’s a reminder that the digital age has given a new, dangerous megaphone to predators. He wanted to be a legend. Instead, he’s a cautionary tale about the need for better policing, faster justice, and a society that stops dismissing women’s lives as "missing person" statistics until it’s too late.
The convictions handed down to García Guzmán are a start, but for the families of Jessica, Martha Patricia, and Adriana, "justice" is a word that feels very thin compared to the empty seats at their dinner tables. We have to do better at listening when families scream for help.
Moving Forward: Resources and Support
If you are in Mexico or a similar region and feel unsafe or are dealing with a disappearance, contact local collectives like Vivas Nos Queremos or the National Network of Shelters. These organizations often have more experience navigating the legal hurdles than the average citizen and can provide the necessary pressure to ensure cases are actually investigated. Knowledge of your local "Alerta Amber" and "Alerta Alba" protocols is also essential for immediate action.
Stay vigilant. Trust your gut. And never let a slow system dictate the safety of your community.