Juanita Gomez’s Crucifix Murder
Left: Public Domain; Right: Oklahoma County JailJuanita Gomez (right) stabbed her 33-year-old daughter Geneva (left) to death.
Geneva Gomez was 33 years old when her mother, Juanita Martinez Gomez, stabbed her to death in August 2016 in an especially gruesome murder.
Juanita claimed she needed to perform a real-life exorcism on Juanita. And in doing so, she used a crucifix to stab her daughter until her face was no longer recognizable, then shoved it down her throat.
On Aug. 27, 2016, Geneva’s boyfriend, Francisco Merlos, arrived at her mother’s house in Oklahoma City. There, Geneva was lying beaten and bloodied on the floor with her arms spread out in the shape of the cross. On top of her chest was a large wooden crucifix. He later told police that Juanita was standing in the room rambling about the devil.
YouTubeJuanita Gomez was sentenced to life in prison.
Juanita was placed under arrest and charged with first-degree murder. In court, she claimed that she had killed Geneva because she was possessed by the devil and she needed to perform an exorcism. She also said that her daughter had been rambling in tongues and spoke in a demonic voice not her own. She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
A psychological evaluation concluded that Juanita Gomez “was grossly feigning memory problems to appear incompetent,” and the judge rejected the insanity plea.
Meanwhile, the medical examiner who analyzed Geneva’s body uncovered a litany of gruesome injuries to the head and face and established the cause of death as being blunt force trauma.
When questioned about bruises on her own hands, Juanita Gomez told police that these resulted from fighting Geneva to “rid Satan from her daughter’s body.” With witness testimony from Merlos and Juanita Gomez’s own confession, a jury convicted the 51-year-old mother and sentenced her to life without parole.
