Juan Corona - Definition and Overview

Juan Vellejo Corona (born 1934) is an American serial killer who murdered twenty-five people in 1971.

He was originally from Mexico but moved to Yuba City, California after he left school to work on a farm. He eventually worked his way up to be a labor contractor, mostly hiring migrant workers from his home country. Although he reportedly suffered from schizophrenic episodes, Corona was regarded as a hard worker and soon married and raised a family.

On May 19, 1971, the corpse of an adult male was found in a shallow grave on a farm. The owner called the police who dug the surrounding area up in case there were more bodies. Soon enough they found a total of twenty-five corpses, all men and evidently farm laborers. They had all been hacked and slashed to death with a machete.

Corona was supplying the workers for that particular farm and furthermore several bodies had documents on them showing that Corona's firm had recruited them. Naturally, police promptly arrested Juan Corona who was soon charged with the killings. What was most horrific was that all the victims had been killed in just six-weeks, an average of one victim every forty-hours.

Corona denied the charges but was found guilty and sentenced to twenty-five life sentences. He appealed and eventually won a re-trial, blaming the crimes on his brother (who was conveniently deceased by then) but was again convicted and returned to prison.

He is currently residing in Corcoran State Prison.