Camilla Jessen
Killer who posed as deaf preyed on pensioners.
A convicted serial killer in Colombia has given an account of his crimes from prison.
The man showed no remorse as he described how and why he attacked his victims.
False disability ruse
Juan Carlos Villa Cardona murdered 11 people between March 2012 and September 2023, most of them elderly.
Investigators say he used his small stature and a fake disability to gain access to victims’ homes.
He would approach isolated houses in rural communities such as La Paloma, in Santa Rosa de Cabal, carrying a sign claiming he was deaf mute and asking for money for his sick mother.
Once inside, police said, he launched frenzied knife attacks.
Ten of the victims were pensioners. One victim was a minor.
Brutal crime scenes
In one attack, three people, Mélida González, Bernardo Giraldo and Ana Isabel Giraldo, were found dead inside their home.
Deputy Superintendent Jairo Martínez said the victims had been stabbed repeatedly in the neck, arms and legs.
Authorities linked Villa Cardona to the killings through witness accounts and forensic evidence gathered across multiple crime scenes.
He was eventually arrested and later sentenced to more than 45 years in a maximum security prison.
Chilling prison interview
Speaking on the Más Allá del Silencio podcast from prison, Villa Cardona expressed no regret. “I feel no remorse for human beings,” he said.
“To me, humans are like chickens.” He added: “Seeing blood calms me down, but at the same time it gives me peace. It gives me a sense of peace, like when you drink a glass of water when you are very thirsty.”
He also said bluntly: “I hate old people, I hate them.”
Twisted justifications
Villa Cardona claimed he prayed before and after each killing, suggesting his victims “deserved” to die or that death was a form of rest.
Psychologist Jessica Riaño has suggested his behaviour may be linked to childhood trauma.
At the age of seven, he was abandoned by his parents and left with his grandparents in Marsella, Colombia. He said this fuelled his hatred of elderly people and left him feeling “thrown away”.
Betrayal and threats
After years evading police, Villa Cardona was identified after his brothers reported him when authorities offered a 30 million peso reward. He accused them of betrayal, saying one brother “sold me for 15 million pesos”.
He vowed revenge, saying: “Trusting my brothers… is the worst thing that ever happened to me. I swear I will destroy them.”
Sources: Más Allá del Silencio podcast, Colombian police, Mirror
