Abdul Latif Sharif
An
Egyptian-born
chemist Abdul Latif Sharif (
1947-present) is the chief suspect in the
Juarez killings, a decade-long serial killing spree that began in the
Mexican city of
Ciudad Juarez in the early
1990s. Sharif emigrated to the
United States in
1970 to work as a high-paid research chemist for a series of American companies, some of whom are alleged to have shielded him from persistent accusations of rape and even murder. Jailed for twelve years for rape in
1984, Sharif was released early for good behavior in
1989, committed rape yet again, and emigrated to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to escape a deportation hearing in
El Paso, Texas. After the bodies of young women began to turn up in the desert surrounding Juarez, Sharif was arrested and imprisoned and is now serving a life sentence for murder in a maximum-security jail in
Chihuahua City.
References
- Antonio Mendoza, Killers on the Loose: Unsolved Cases of Serial Murder, (Virgin Books 2002), [ISBN 0753506815] -- Study of unsolved serial killing around the world, including Ciudad Juarez.
- Simon Whitechapel, Crossing to Kill: The True Story of the Serial-Killer Playground, (Virgin Books 2002), [ISBN 0753506866] -- Updated edition of the first detailed study of the Juarez murders.