Juan Vallejo Corona

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Juan Vallejo Corona (born: 1934) is an American serial killer. He was convicted of murdering twenty-five men in 1971. A book, entitled The Road to Yuba City, details Corona's crimes.

Corona was born in Mexico, but after leaving school, he moved to Yuba City, California to work on a farm. He soon married and raised a family. Although he reportedly suffered from schizophrenic episodes, Corona was regarded as a hard worker. Corona eventually became a labor contractor in Yuba City. In this position, he was in charge of hiring migrant workers for local farms. Most of the workers hired by Corona were from Mexico.

On May 19, 1971, the corpse of an adult male was found in a shallow grave on a Yuba City farm, prompting the property owner to call the Sutter County Sheriff's Department. Homicide detectives ordered that the area surrounding the grave be dug up. This unearthed a total of twenty-four other male corpses, all of whom were farm laborers. The coroner established that each of the victims had been hacked to death with a machete.

Corona came under suspicion for the murders because he was supplying workers to the farm where the victims were found. Furthermore, several bodies had documents on them showing that Corona's firm had retained their services. This provided a concrete link between Corona and the victims. Corona was arrested by authorities and indicted for the murders. As it turned out, all of the victims had been killed in just six weeks. This meant that Corona was slaying an average of one victim every forty hours.

Corona denied culpability for the crimes, but was found guilty and given twenty-five life sentences. After an exhaustive appeals process, Corona eventually won a retrial. In his second trial, the defense posited that Corona's brother (who was deceased by then) was the real killer. Nevertheless, Corona was convicted again and returned to prison.

It is theorized that Corona's murders were sexually motivated. Corona was known to have a very effeminate affect, and was believed to be a closet homosexual. At the time of the murders, homosexuality was a major taboo in the Mexican-American community. Therefore, many people believe that Corona was having trysts with his victims, and that the murders were committed to keep Corona's male partners from blowing the whistle on his predeliction for gay sex.

Juan Corona is currently incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison.