Felipe Espinosa

Felipe Nerio Espinosa (c. 1836-1863) was a notorious Mexican-American murderer who killed two dozen people in the Colorado Territory during the summer of 1863.

Early life

Espinosa was probably born in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Territory, although some sources cite his place of birth as Vera Cruz, Mexico. His parents were Pedro Ignacio Espinosa, who was born in Abiquiu, New Mexico, and Gertrudis Chavez. The Mexican Census of 1845 from El Rito, New Mexico lists several members of the Espinosa family, while the 1860 US Census lists a Felipe Nerio Espinosa living in Conejos, San Fernando Valley, Taos, New Mexico with his wife and two children, a girl of five and a son of two.

Reasons

Since 1822, American colonization begins in New Mexico. For the 1830 `s, even though the U.S. population was still minority, and had strong influence in the region. In 1847, following the independence of Texas (1836) and the subsequent political and economic instability that existed in Mexico, the result of war and discontent with the regime of Santa Anna, - and breaks what was seen coming invasion United States and war. Explains Robert Ressler, serial murderers all agree having a history of violence in infacia, these individuals grow as individuals neurotic (pathologically unable to deal with stress) unstable and prone to aggression and perversions, as product its inability to correlate in a healthy way, starts projecting his frustration to third, so begins to devise sadistic fantasies where repressed impetus download their projection in its object, the first murder is the result of a stressful event, the event is known as a trigger, - the individual to be unable to deal with this stress, explodes and inhibitions, unleashing their previous fantansías, - then it creates an addiction, due to discharge of neurotransmitters that takes place during the catharsis representing asesinato.5 At some point between 1848 (the year the war ended EE. UU.) And 1863, Felipe Espinosa lived his trigger. His house was attacked by the Americans, - in the attack six family members (quite possibly including his wife or daughter, or perhaps both) died. Two versions thereof, as the first, Espinosa's house was bombed by the U.S. Navy accidentalmaente, on the other hand, the second version handles the house was attacked by a group of U.S. military or paramilitary, who raped and asesinaro to women. As it was it was, this naturally aroused in him a visceral hatred of Americans. Based on the description, cited above, of Ressler on serial murderers, comes out that Felipe Espinosa was an atypical serial murderer to a certain extent, because the trigger does not have to be a traumatic event. Besides the perspective gained the second version, I will have the possibility that crimes not describe Espinosa serial character, but rather were a response to war (a possible insurgency).

Crimes

During his reign of terror, Espinosa sent a letter to Territorial Governor John Evans stating his intention to murder 600 "Gringos".

Aided by his brother Vivian and later a cousin or nephew, Espinosa began his murder spree in the thinly populated area of what is now Fremont County, Colorado. The trios' first victim was found in May 1863, his corpse mutilated and the heart hacked out of his chest. During that summer, twenty-five more people were attacked and killed in similar fashion. Espinosas' letter to Governor Evans demanded full pardons for himself and his followers, along with 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land in Conejos County and appointments in the Colorado Volunteers. The letter also threatened that an additional 574 Anglos, including the Governor himself, would be killed if the demands were not met.

Lawmen, including Conejos County Sheriff Emmett Harding and Colorado Volunteer Commander S. B. Tappan, were dispatched to find Espinosa, but they met with little success. Finally, legendary tracker Tom Tobin was enlisted to join in the search. Tobin was offered a full company of militiamen to help in his quest, but he declined the offer and set about tracking the murderers with a party of three soldiers. In a manner of days, Tobin and his men found the outlaws' camp and in a brief gunfight managed to kill Espinosa and his cousins.

References

• "Felipe Espinosa: The Real Story". Wordpress.com. 14 December 2010.

See also

• Tom Tobin