Abdul Latif Sharif, first name also spelled Abdel (September 19, 1947 – June 2, 2006), was an Egyptian-born Mexican chemist and chief suspect in the Juárez killings, a decade-long murder spree that began in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez in the early 1990s.
He purportedly tortured animals during hunting expeditions and had sexual fetishes like collecting girls' clothes.
Despite having argued that the sex was consensual, Sharif was convicted on charges of assault, rape, and unlawful deprivation of liberty.
That same year, he moved to Midland, Texas and was hired by the transnational company, Benchmark Research and Technology.
But there were indications that suggest he was molded into the serial killer profile by the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office merely as a scapegoat.
Upon his arrival in Mexico in 1994, Sharif stayed in the luxurious and exclusive Rinconadas de San Marcos neighborhood of Ciudad Juárez, with all-expense paid for by the company he was working for.
Nineteen-year-old Blanca Estela Díaz was kidnapped and held for three days, during which time she was beaten, raped, and threatened with violence.
However, the Chihuahua government was being pressured to find the perpetrator of the Ciudad Juárez femicides in Lote Bravo.
The Chihuahua Attorney General's Office actively sought to establish him as responsible for the series of homicides.
[7] A dead woman who matched Castro's description was found buried in the desert of Lote Bravo.
Elizabeth Castro Garcia was later found alive and the body was that of Silvia Rivera Salas, who had disappeared in March 1995.
The authorities portrayed him to the media as a psychopathic rapist and killer, who remotely orchestrated the murders while in prison.
In Ciudad Juárez, Sharif was known as a rapist with a long history of assaulting women, so it wasn't that difficult to suspect that he was also responsible for the murders that were occurring in the area.
The international press focused on the fact that although Sharif did not speak Spanish, he was a foreigner with no family and a history of sexual assault charges.
It would be at this point he would reveal knowledge of the real murderers and despite his scarce Spanish, he conveyed the names of Alejandro and Melchor Máynez to the press.
Sharif purported to have met him in a bar and heard Alejandro boasting about raping and murdering girls with the help of his cousin Melchor.
Sharif also claimed that Maynez's father had paid the authorities off so they won't need to pursue the investigation further.
The judge, in a conversation with Sharif's lawyer, was alleged to have mentioned that the evidence presented in court wasn't enough for a conviction.
They claimed that these groups were hired by Sharif to commit the murders in order to cause distractions from the actual investigation.
[11] On June 2, 2006, Abdul Latif Sharif died, at the age of 59, in the Social Rehabilitation Center of Chihuahua.
The cause of death was cardiac arrest consistent with a hypovolemic shock generated by a chronic hemorrhage due to peptic ulcer disease.