Andrés Filomeno Mendoza Celis "The Cannibal of Atizapán"

Mexican television premiered the series "Caníbal, Indignación Total", a production that tells the story of the femicide case of Andrés Filomeno Mendoza Celis, a murderer who killed at least 30 women in Atizapán, a town in Mexico.

Filomeno Mendoza was the perfect neighbor and the least suspicious person in the disappearances that began in 2011 and culminated 10 years later when the 74-year-old was arrested, wrote SDP Noticias.

This series is not recommended to be watched by minors under 17 years of age and even at the beginning of each chapter, this is announced. For this reason, it was chosen as the nighttime slot for broadcast television as well as for the Justicia TV channel.

This program is a project of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) and Camila Producciones, in association with Plétora Productions. The executive producer is Javier Tejado Dondé, directed by Grau Serra, the script is by Ana Mata, and the photography is by Luis Posada.

Andres Filomeno Mendoza Celis "The Cannibal of Atizapan: A Serial Killer

The case of "El caníbal de Atizapán" or "monster of Atizapán" is remembered as a tragic criminal history of a serial killer who took the lives of at least 30 women, but was only sentenced to life imprisonment for the femicide of five victims.

Andrés Filomeno Mendoza Celis, 74, was born on November 29, 1947 in a village of San Sebastián Río Dulce, in the municipality of Zimatlán de Álvarez, Oaxaca. He is little remembered by the villagers. Mendoza Celis decided to leave his town and go to the city at an early age to work.

According to versions of his neighbors in the Lomas de San Miguel neighborhood in the municipality of Atizapán de Zaragoza, State of Mexico, where he was arrested, Mendoza Celis was a very "quiet" man. The whole community trusted the murderer because he was an elderly man and although they "noticed strange signs", in the end, they did not report anything.

Nobody suspected "The Cannibal of Atizapán"

At times, in the femicide's house "it smelled burnt, like a dead dog," according to neighbors. However, it was not enough to distrust him. On one occasion, a woman asked for help to let her friend out of Andres Filomeno's house, but he was not reported either. He was a pervert and addicted to pornography, as well as alcohol, and still, nothing aroused suspicion.

"He was unrecognizable when he was under the influence of alcohol," according to his neighbors, but nothing alerted them. He even became president of the Citizen Participation Council of the Lomas de San Miguel neighborhood, so he was a man close to his community.

He was also linked to politics, Andrés Filomeno was part of the campaign team of Pedro Rodríguez Villegas, who ran for the Va Por México coalition for the position of municipal president of Atizapán de Zaragoza. To complete his resume, the Mexican was a butcher for many years, according to Infobae. This would have given him the ability to dismember his victims.

More than 4,000 skeletal remains were found in his home, and he confessed to having killed at least 30 women, according to the official expert reports. However, so far the figure of 19 women, a child, and a man, according to the remains found, has been estimated.

"The cannibal of Atizapán" murdered his victims to eat them

The sentenced man confessed that his first victim was Norma "N", who disappeared on August 6, 2011, in the municipality of Tlalnepantla, State of Mexico, where he worked as a butcher. She worked in a local bar called "El Barrigón".

After Norma "N" the list got longer. Allegedly, upon murdering them, he skinned them and collected their faces, as well as their hair and personal items. In addition, she had video recordings of her victims at the moment of murder and it is presumed that she practiced cannibalism with the remains.

The fire captain of Atizapán, Jonathan J. González, assures that when he entered Andrés Filomeno's home, there were knives and machetes with blood, also kitchen utensils that were found together with cooked meat, meat that was presumed to be human.

Gonzalez said that the subject had a small table in the center of the house, where there was a cup with blood, even a plate with a bitten piece of meat, and a tortilla, presumed to be from one of his victims. Among the women who lost their lives at the hands of the Mexicans, only the following have been identified: Berenice "N", Alyn "N", Gardenia "N", Flor "N", Ribuicela "N", and Reyna "N".

How they found "The Cannibal of Atizapán"

Mendoza Celis' last victim was Reyna "N". Her husband was a policeman and went to look for her at the killer's home in May 2021. With the refusal to let him enter or give information about his wife, the policeman confronted Andres Filomeno and after a struggle, he entered the house, where he found the terrifying crime scene of his wife's murder.

He immediately subdued the criminal and called the authorities for his arrest, later and after several investigations, the femicide confessed to his crimes and way of operating. Mendoza deceived his victims with job offers so that he could take them to his home and murder them, and then bury their remains in a basement from which genetic material is still being investigated.

Almost a year ago, Andres Filomeno Mendoza Celis was arrested and is serving a life sentence in the Tenango del Valle prison for femicide. He was sentenced by the authorities of the Attorney General's Office of the State of Mexico (FGJEM) in March 2022.