The Brutal Crimes and Execution of La Guera Loca

La Guera Loca translates to Crazy Blonde Girl, a nickname Yesenia Pancheo rightfully earned. Little is known about her life before she joined the Gulf Cartel, although one can only speculate the type of trauma she endured to want to be a woman known as a fierce, brutal killer.

What is the Gulf Cartel?

The Gulf Cartel is one of Mexico’s oldest and most brutal drug crime groups. It has substantial territory in the country, as well as influence over citizens and other cartel groups.

The gang dates back to 1984, although it began as a small drug crime business operated by Juan Garcia Abrego. The Gulf Cartel now operates in several factions, each pulling in millions of dollars in drug trafficking and migrant smuggling profits every year. Earning that money comes at a price. Gulf Cartel members are known for using brutal tactics to scare rivals, acquire new territory, and against those who owe them money.

The Gulf Cartel operates in the northeastern border state of Tamaulipas, with its most important operational bases in the border cities of Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, and Reynosa. Most of the gang’s violence occurs in these cities.

Yesenia Joins the Gulf Cartel

The Gulf Cartel recruited Yesneia in 2009. She started at the bottom of the gang as a hawk, someone who watched and reported on other Cartel’s activities. Her violent tendencies impressed her superiors, allowing her to quickly rank up in the organization. Well-respected by male gang members, Yesenia ranked up to the role of Sicario where she excelled.

Other cartel members described her methods of murder as “unusually cruel.”

Yesenia was entrusted to run her own group of Sicarios within the Gulf Cartel known as the Las Henas. She was the first woman ever entrusted to run her own faction of the cartel.

The group’s main goal was to annihilate as many members of Los Zetas as they could; Yesenia eagerly accepted the challenge, actually looking forward to deciphering new horrific ways to kill her opponents. Brutality was her main objective every time she killed a Los Zetas member.

Yesenia and the group of women would hunt down targets, kidnap them, and execute them with violent methods like flaying and beheading. It’s unknown how many people Yesenia and her group actually murdered, although the estimates are high. Yesenia and her group wanted to prove they were just as vicious and brutal as male gang members and never showed mercy to their victims.

Yesenia’s Murder Video Goes Viral

In one gore video that went viral online in 2011, Yesenia carried out a brutal murder and beheading of a Los Zetas cartel member. Yesenia smiled and laughed as she sawed through the man’s neck for over two minutes. When the act was done, she passed the head to another Gulf Cartel member who skinned the man’s face using a box cutter. For over 10 minutes, the man precisely flays the man's skin from the severed head. Laughter and smiles erupted from the group as they held the face to the camera for a few minutes. The camera then showed another group of men hacking away and dismembering the body.

The Murder of La Guera Loca

Along with her duties leading the Las Heyenes, Yesenia also commanded groups of drug extortionists in the Gulf Cartel. She was a big name in the narcos business, one of the only women filling that position. Of course, the notoriety also put her in the spotlight, even with the police who added her to their watch list and most wanted list. This added attention helped Los Zetas catch up to Yesenia before authorities found her.

Yesenia lived by the sword and died by the sword.

Yesenia was the number one enemy of the Las Zetas Cartel. They wanted revenge and waited for the moment Yesenia would slip up. They wanted to show the same ruthlessness to Yesenia as she'd shown their gang members over the years.

In 2013, nearly five years after Yesenia became one of the Gulf Cartel’s most brutal female killers, a threat to those around her, Los Zetas finally caught her slipping. Members of the Las Zetas cartel abducted Yesenia and three other cartel members.

Los Zetas showed no mercy to the women and wanted to make a point with the murders. The cartel brutally murdered each woman, taking special care to torture Yesenia. Further, they planned to record the murders and broadcast the incident live.

The men wanted to prolong Yesenia's death; to make it especially gruesome and painful. They wanted her to feel as much pain as possible before she took her last breath. And so, the Los Zetas gang members slit her throat with a machete, allowing her to bleed out and choke on her own blood for several minutes. Then, the men beheaded Yesenia.

Authorities found the women’s bodies scattered in parts in different locations several days later.