Written by: Sam Santiago
Juan Corona Recruited Them For Farmwork, Then Attacked And Buried His Victims In An Orchard.
Locals called them “fruit tramps,” migrant laborers who moved from orchard to orchard across California’s Central Valley, scraping together modest paychecks and sleeping wherever they could. When a few of them vanished, it barely raised an eyebrow. These were men without roots, and too often, without anyone asking questions.
That changed in 1971 when a farmer in Yuba City noticed a freshly dug patch of earth in his peach orchard. The next day, the hole had been filled in. Uneasy, he contacted the sheriff. Deputies dug into the soft soil and uncovered the body of a man who had been brutally attacked, his skull split, and his chest stabbed.
The discovery opened the floodgates. As authorities combed through nearby orchards, they uncovered more shallow graves. By the end of the search, 25 men had been found buried in the fields, killed by knives, machetes, or gunfire. Some graves contained bank deposit slips and store receipts that led investigators to one name: Juan Corona.
(Image From Wikipedia- Juan Corona, 1971)
Corona, born in Mexico, had once worked in the fields himself. He later became a licensed labor contractor, recruiting farmworkers for local growers. He also had a documented history of mental illness, including a schizophrenia diagnosis following a breakdown in the 1950s. Friends and acquaintances described a volatile temper.
When police searched his home, they found a bloodstained machete, knives, clothing, and traces of blood inside his pickup truck. They also recovered a ledger listing the names of several victims. Corona was arrested and charged with 25 counts of murder.
He insisted he was innocent. In 1972, a jury convicted him, though the case was marred by prosecutorial errors, including misplaced evidence and delayed forensic testing. The conviction was later overturned due to ineffective representation by his defense team. A retrial in 1982 featured a new strategy, with attorneys suggesting that Corona’s half brother may have been responsible.
The jury was not persuaded. Corona was convicted again and sentenced to life in prison.
Prison offered no quiet ending. Within a year of his sentence, Corona was attacked by fellow inmates and stabbed 32 times. He lost his left eye and suffered severe injuries, including a blade that remained lodged behind his right eye.
For decades, he denied responsibility. At a 2011 parole hearing, he admitted to the killings for the first time, delivering a rambling statement in which he referred to his victims as “creeps” and “winos.”
Juan Corona died in prison in 2019 at the age of 85.
0 comments