Florencio Roque Fernández (1935 – 1968) was an
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
serial killer
A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone:
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* (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...
who murdered around 15 women in his hometown of
Monteros
Monteros is the head town of the Monteros Department in Tucumán Province, Argentina. It is south-west of the provincial capital San Miguel de Tucumán, at an altitude of , and is surrounded by four rivers. It had 23,771 inhabitants at the . The ...
,
Tucuman Province in the 1950s. He was popularly known as The Argentine Vampire and The Window Vampire, referencing his mode of operation. His actual existence, however, is disputed as an
urban legend
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
These legends can be e ...
by a number of Argentine sources.
Background
Florencio Fernández was mentally ill, suffering from delusions and hallucinations that made him firmly believe that he was a vampire (he was possibly schizophrenic), in addition to having a sexual attraction to blood (Renfield's syndrome). From a young age he began living in the streets because his family abandoned him. At the time of his arrest he was living in a cave adjacent to the community, suffering from
photophobia
Photophobia is a medical symptom of abnormal intolerance to visual perception of light. As a medical symptom, photophobia is not a morbid fear or phobia, but an experience of discomfort or pain to the eyes due to light exposure or by presence o ...
.
Modus operandi
He stalked his victim for several days, made sure his victim was alone at home, and taking advantage of the hot spring or summer nights, when residents left their windows open during the night, he entered the house through them.
While his victim slept, Fernández beat them. He would then bite their neck, sometimes reaching to dissect the trachea and the carotid; this mirrored the rumor that he drank the blood of his victims. He would finally leave the victim to bleed to death, if they hadn't died already. He was known for killing Camila Monreal, of Mexico.
Apprehension, imprisonment and death
Fernández was arrested on February 14, 1960, at the age of 25; the press described the police investigation as "picturesque", since it took place in the cave where he lived. Fernández did not resist arrest until the police led him out of the cave and into the sunlight.
He was declared
insane
Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors caused by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other ...
and confined in a psychiatric institution, where he died of
natural causes
In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinc ...
a few years later.
See also
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List of serial killers by country
This is a list of notable serial killers, by the country where most of the killings occurred.
Convicted serial killers by country Afghanistan
* Abul Djabar: killed 65 men and boys by strangling them with turbans while raping them; suspected o ...
*
List of serial killers by number of victims
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, in two or more separate events over a period of time, for primarily psychological reasons.''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying'' entry o"Serial Killers" (2003) by Sa ...
Bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernández, Florencio
1935 births
1968 deaths
Argentine serial killers
People from Tucumán Province
Serial killers who died in prison custody
Vampirism (crime)
South American people whose existence is disputed