Mexico City, Mexico-
A bus driver confessed today to raping and nearly killing a teenage girl. That intensified an investigation into dozens of grisly murders over the last six years in Juarez, Mexico, a city across the border from El Paso.
Jesus Manuel Guardado Marquez, who listened to the 14 year old victim testify in a Juarez court, also has confessed to killing four women, according to Juarez police.
During informal questioning, Guardado also named eight men he said had killed women who worked in Juarez's many maquiladora factories. Some of the men, like Guardado, worked as bus drivers and ferried female factory workers to and from work.
Police are investigating the eight men. One appeared on a Mexican television station Wednesday night to declare his innocence, said Astrid Gonzalez, a Chihuahua state employee who counsels crime victims.
Gonzalez said Guardado previously was convicted of rape and received a "light sentence". She didn't have any other details.
Guardado allegedly assaulted the 14 year old victim March 18th, choking her and leaving her for dead, according to Mexican press reports.
Gonzalez said people in Juarez hope Guardado's arrest will help solve some of the murders that have haunted the city.
About 40 percent of the 180 killings have not been solved, according to Gonzalez. The victims were raped or sexually brutalized in 54 of those cases.
"The impunity in this city is so great that anybody can come and kill," said Esther Chavez, a Juarez women's activist who has criticized authorities for not doing more to stop the murders.
She said "we are very happy that this individual (Guardado) was detained, but it was circumstancial," she said. "It wasn't because of police investigation."
Guardado was arrested in Durango state after he severely beat his wife and her family contacted police. The 14 year old girl Guardado allegedly assaulted identified him.
In another development, Gonzalez said Juarez authorities have heard that FBI agents are investigating whether there is a connection between a couple arrested this week in New Mexico, and the killings in Juarez.
The couple are David Ray Parker and Cindy Lea Hendy, who were arrested Tuesday after a woman alleged she had been abducted and sexually tortured by the couple.
Parker and Hendy live near Truth or Consequences, NM, only a few hours from Juarez. FBI agents are investigating possible links to crimes in neighboring states.
Lt. Richard Newman of the New Mexico State Police declinded to confirm or deny if authorities are looking into a Juarez conenction.
Robert Ressler, a retired FBI criminal profiler who was a consultant to Juarez police, suspects that many of the Juarez killings might be the work of "people close to the factories", such as supervisors or bus drivers.
"The girls themselves should have been told to get off the bus and have their families meet them," Ressler said. "I observed them jumping off the buses and just disappearing, alone."
Copyright 1999 Cox News Service
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