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Lina Medina: Mom at Age Five

Lina is the world's youngest mother

By True Crime WriterPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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History of Yesterday

Warning: The following content is intended for a mature audience and may not be suitable for all readers. Discretion is advised.

On September 23, 1933, five-year-old Lina Medina gave birth to a healthy six-pound baby boy she named Gerardo after the doctor who delivered him. Lina entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest person to ever give birth. Her exact age was five years, seven months, and 21-days.

Daughter of Tiburelo Medina & Victoria Losea

Lina was the daughter of Tiburelo Medina and Victoria Losea, a humble, hard-working couple who loved their children. Lina’s parents noticed abnormal abdominal swelling when the girl turned 5 ½ years old but assumed it was a tumor. The couple scheduled an appointment with Dr. Gerardo Lozada, who announced the couple would be grandparents; the five-year-old was in fact pregnant.

Mrs. Medina & Mr. Losea; Photo: History of Yesterday.com

Pregnancy Confirmed

The parents thought Dr. Gerardo was incompetent and did not believe the pregnancy diagnosis. They took Lina to a specialist for a more thorough diagnosis. Unfortunately, the specialist confirmed the original pregnancy diagnosis. The specialist called the police who arrested Lina’s father as the initial suspect in the girl’s rape.

Police Interview Suspects

Police interrogated Mr. Tiburelo for more than one week, but without evidence that proved he impregnated his daughter, was forced to release him from custody.

Lina’s cousin was the second suspect in the rape. Because the cousin had mental incapacities, police thought he was a good suspect for rape. Again, police were wrong and released the cousin due to a lack of evidence.

Police Question Lina

Lina was scared and confused. The young child had no idea what was going on around her or what the fuss was about. Police attempted to question Lina in the presence of her mother. They wanted Lina to reveal the person or persons who had inappropriately touched her and caused the pregnancy. Lina could not tell the police anything about what happened to her.

Police interviewed Lina’s mother. They were hopeful she could shed light on how her five-year-old daughter became pregnant. She did not prove helpful with information about the incident but did tell police that her daughter began menstruating at age three. Specialists later diagnosed Lina with a condition called precocious puberty. This condition causes sexual organs to develop at a young age and secrete sex hormones.

Without any additional leads or evidence, police were forced to drop the case.

Religious Festivals in Peru

In 1955, author Louis Leon wrote an article describing “religious festivals” held in many remote villages in Peru, where Lina lived. Thesefestivalsled to group sex and sometimes rape of children as young as five years old.

Many experts theorize that a man or men raped Lina at one of these festivals.

1dunia.net

Delivering a Baby at Age Five

As you might expect, Lina was so young and underdeveloped that pregnancy was not easy for her. The baby was born via cesarean section, which put her life at risk. Luckily, Lina made it through the entire pregnancy and delivery without problems.

Gerardo was born healthy, weighing six pounds. Lina believed that Gerardo was her brother until age 10 when her parents revealed that she was his mother.

Today in History

Lina and Gerardo Today

Many agencies offered money to the family to study Lina and her condition, as well as the grandchild. The family refused, saying they wanted Lina and Gerardo to live normal lives. Very little about Lina or Gerardo is known because they chose to stay out of the spotlight.

However, she married a man and delivered another son in 1972.

BBC.com

In 2018, Lina, aged 87, was doing well. However, in those years since she delivered a baby at age 5, she has revealed no additional information that could potentially divulge details concerning the rape/molestation or the father of Gerardo. Experts suggest that even she does not know what happened to her at that delicate age.

More Information:

https://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/histoire/medica/resultats/?cote=100000x1939xartorig&p=878&do=page

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Journal_of_Medical_physical_Research.html?id=t-grAQAAMAAJ pg. 188

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About the Creator

True Crime Writer

The best of the worst true crime, history, strange and Unusual stories. Graphic material. Intended for a mature audience ONLY.

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