Gay prostitute charged in murder of Mérida professor

Victim was stabbed 18 times, police say, as "death by sex servant" rolls on in the City of Peace

Mérida, Yucatán --
A 25 year old male prostitute has been arrested and charged with the murder of a local technical school professor whose body was found in his Miguel Alemán home last Saturday (Tech professor murdered in quiet Mérida neighborhood).

Moisés Alejandro Guillermo Martínez made his first appearance before the state Public Ministry yesterday. He is held without bond. Martinez has a record and has served time in prison, according to a news source.

Police believe Juan Avelino Mena Moguel, 52, was stabbed to death several days before his remains were found by concerned friends and family members. The crime occurred in a residential area not accustomed to criminal violence of any type, much less homicide. Mena Moguel, an instructor at the Mérida campus of Mexico's National College of Technical Education, lived alone. He had taught at CONALEP for more than 15 years.

Investigators say Mena Moguel was stabbed 18 times with a knife or sharp instrument. One of the wounds penetrated his back and perforated his left lung. Forensic experts say he died within minutes. Authorities told the court that after the murder, Martínez ransacked the home looking for cash and jewelry. The arrest was based in part on a tip from a homosexual acquaintance, police said.

Guillermo Martínez has been sentenced to prison on five previous occasions for crimes including firearms violations, aggravated assault and aggravated robbery.

It is unclear if victim and alleged perpetrator had an ongoing relationship, but colleagues and associates of Mena Moguel say he was openly gay and frequently went to Mérida's main plaza seeking male prostitutes 20-25 years of age.

On the day of the murder Mena Moguel picked up Guillermo Martínez and drove him to the former's house, where the two men had sex. An argument led to the stabbing. The professor's nude body was found under his bed three days later.

Mena Moguel is at least the sixth local man to be killed by a gay prostitute in the last 11 months. In May the body of U.S. citizen Robert Lee Wickard, 67, was discovered in a shallow grave in an interior garden of his rented home in Mérida. He had been stabbed by several men during a quarrel, one of whom told the court that his trade was male prostitution. That man and another remain in jail awaiting trial for robbery and homicide. Two others were released for lack of evidence. Police are still searching for a fifth suspect, said to be Wickard's Mexican lover.

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