Kriti Mehrotra
It was around early 2022 when Joana Esmeralda Trejo Orduna lost her life in arguably one of the worst ways imaginable at the hands of someone she once believed she could wholeheartedly trust. That’s because the 41-year-old mother of two from Ciudad de México was a victim of femicide, as carefully chronicled in Netflix’s Paula Monaco Felipe and Miguel Tovar-directed ‘The Prosecutor.’ What followed was an extensive investigation, shaped with the help of a willing confession, ultimately resulting in her getting the justice she deserved a couple of years later.
Joana Esmeralda Was Killed In Her Home Before Her Remains Were Disposed Of in a River
Born and raised in the rather “dangerous” neighborhood of Ticoman in northern Mexico City, Mexico, as the eldest of at least 4 siblings, Joana Esmeralda Trejo Orduna was a force of nature. She had essentially been a second mother to her siblings since their parents both worked full-time to provide them with a happy, stable life, and she also never hesitated to embrace her passions. However, as per loved ones, things changed after she tied the knot with a local man by the name of Juan Gomez Perez, as she soon evolved into a quiet mother of 2 daughters.
No matter what was happening in her life or in the world, though, Joana’s priorities were her 2 little girls and her tight-knit family since they gave her a sense of belonging and purpose. Therefore, it was extremely uncharacteristic when she failed to drop off her daighters at school one morning and then also didn’t get in touch with either her sisters or her mother as routine. Her family thus filed a missing person’s report within hours, only to learn someone had already turned themselves in to the police that fateful morning after claiming they had killed her.
According to the aforementioned documentary, Joana’s assailant walked into the prosecutor’s office in the Gustavo A. Madero district the morning of the crime and willingly confessed. They reportedly detailed everything they did to her in a step-by-step manner, including how they used a knife to take her life in her own home before dismembering and disposing of her remains. The murderer asserted they “dumped” not only her remains but also the weapons in Remedi os River, kickstarting an extensive search for the recovery of any possible evidence. It took some time, but authorities were eventually able to recover all of the 41-year-old from various areas along the shore.
Joana Esmeralda Was Killed by Her Husband Following Her Decision to Leave Him
Joana’s perpetrator was immediately identified as her husband, Juan, especially as the first words he said upon entering the prosecutor’s office on the fateful early 2022 day were “I killed my wife.” As per his own statements, he “made the decision” to take her life during an argument after she told him she was leaving because he believed she had stepped out of their marriage. Then, he admitted, he cleaned up the place to remove all possible visible evidence — he washed away the blood, scrubbed floors, threw away ruined clothes, and disposed of her remains.
“It was because of infidelity that I made the decision to take this person’s life,” Juan later said in court. “She wouldn’t listen. I wanted to fix things, but she flatly refused. That’s why I did it.” However, Joana’s sisters and daughters have since come forward to allege that there had been signs of emotional, physical, as well as verbal abuse from his side towards her for years. Her sister Lizbet Campos asserted in the documentary, “We had already noticed signs of violence, but she couldn’t leave him because she was afraid her daughters might be taken away from her.”
When officials arrived at the crime scene for further investigations, they noticed several documents scattered around the home, including a handwritten note from the victim herself. Within it, she expressed to her husband that it would be best if they separate because she no longer wants anything to do with him. She said she was leaving with their daughters but leaving all the assets behind, which he could later sell to accumulate money for their little girls’ future. As if that’s not enough, with blood trail tracking and luminol use, they were also able to corroborate that Joana had indeed died in her home: in her bedroom. Therefore, Juan was formally charged with a felony count of femicide.
Juan Gomez Perez is Currently Incarcerated in a State Prison
According to the documentary, Juan allegedly hoped for either leniency or the charge against him to be completely dismissed when he admitted to killing his wife over the belief of infidelity, so he chose to stand trial. However, in the end, he was convicted as the “principal offender in the commission of the act defined by law as the crime of femicide against” his wife of almost two decades and the mother of his two children, Joana. He was consequently not only sentenced to 70 years in prison but also ordered to stay away from his daughters as all his parental rights over them were taken away. Therefore, today, he remains incarcerated in a state facility, where he is expected to remain until at least he becomes eligible for parole after serving around 40-50 years behind bars, per Mexican guidelines.
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