Juan Corona [serial killer]

Calvin

Welcome to the podcast. Let’s start at the absolute beginning, where the public narrative hasn’t yet distorted who you were. When and where were you born, and what was your given name?

White Male Guest

I was born Juan Vallejo Corona on February 7, 1934, in Autlán, Jalisco, Mexico.

Calvin

What was your hometown and home life like as a child?

White Male Guest

I grew up in Jalisco in a big family. I had three older brothers, including my half-brother Natividad, and a sister. It was a traditional life out in Mexico, but like many folks around us, we looked toward the north for opportunities. My brothers eventually headed across the border to California to find agricultural work, and I followed them as soon as I was old enough.

Calvin

What were you like as a child, and how many years of schooling did you actually attend?

White Male Guest

I was mostly quiet, a regular boy growing up in Mexico. I didn't get a formal education like people do today; instead, I focused on hard labor early on. By the time I was sixteen, I left school behind completely to cross into the United States illegally, working the fields in the Imperial Valley picking carrots and melons.

Calvin

Was there a specific moment when you realized you were fundamentally different from everyone else?

White Male Guest

Things changed for me in the winter of 1955. There was a terrible, historic flood in the Yuba City area where I was living. The destruction completely broke something inside my mind. I had a severe mental breakdown where I genuinely believed that everyone around me had died in the flood and that I was living in a land of ghosts. It terrified me, and I spent all my free time desperately reading the Bible. By January 1956, my brother Natividad saw how bad it was and had me committed to DeWitt State Hospital. The doctors diagnosed me with paranoid schizophrenia, and I had to go through twenty-three sessions of electroconvulsive therapy before they finally released me and deported me back to Mexico.

Calvin

Let's talk about your early run-ins with the law. Before the world knew your name for your most infamous actions, what was your very first arrest or interaction with law enforcement, and what were the consequences?"

White Male Guest

For a long time, I tried to keep my head down and work. I got my green card in 1962, came back to California legally, and built a reputation as a very hard worker. I became a licensed labor contractor, responsible for hiring migrant workers for the local fruit orchards. But people noticed I had a volatile, violent temper. Around 1970, the police actually suspected me of attacking a man with a meat cleaver, though things didn't completely close in on me until a year later.

Calvin

At what moment did you realize your name would never be forgotten?

White Male Guest

That would be May of 1971. A farm owner who used my contracting services noticed a freshly dug hole in his peach orchard along the Feather River. When they dug it up, they found a body. Within days, the police found grave after grave in the orchards. The news absolutely exploded across the country. By the time they arrested me on May 26, 1971, the media was calling it the largest mass murder case in American history at that time.

Calvin

Who do you believe betrayed you first: a person, society, or your own instincts?

White Male Guest

It was my own sloppy mistakes and the paperwork I carried. When the deputies dug up those orchards, they found direct links straight back to me. In one grave, they unearthed two meat market receipts that had my actual signature on them. In two other graves, they found crumpled Bank of America deposit slips printed with my name and home address. I left my own trail right there in the dirt.

Calvin

What was your most unique habit or a random fact about you that would surprise people?

White Male Guest

People looked at me like I was a monster, but local ranches completely relied on me. I kept a very meticulous ledger book in my house. To the public, it became known as a "death list" because it contained thirty-four names and dates, including seven of the men found in the orchards. But to me, it was part of my daily routine as a contractor, tracking the transient men who housed and worked under me.

Calvin

Did you have any known rivalries that defined your career?

White Male Guest

My biggest adversaries weren't rival contractors; they were the prosecutors and the shifting legal system. I was put on trial in 1973 and found guilty, but my legal battles defined my entire existence. My lawyers fought the system, arguing I didn't get a fair trial, and an appellate court actually overturned my conviction in 1978. I had to face a massive, high-profile second trial in 1982, where they fought me down until I was convicted all over again.

Calvin

What personal battles were you fighting privately while the world was watching?

White Male Guest

While the public was looking at the gruesome details of the crimes, I was privately battling a severe relapse of my mental illness. Right before everything fell apart in 1970, I had to be institutionalized at DeWitt State Hospital for a second time because my schizophrenic episodes were returning. I was dealing with a deeply shattered mind while trying to run a business and provide for my wife and four daughters.

Calvin

What was your darkest moment, and was there ever a time you wanted to walk away from it all?

White Male Guest

My absolute darkest moment came right after my first conviction. In 1973, while I was locked up at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, I was brutally attacked in my cell. Another inmate stabbed me repeatedly. I barely survived the assault, and the wounds were so severe that I completely lost the sight in my left eye. From then on, I had to navigate the prison system half-blind and constantly targeted.

Calvin

When the law finally closed in, how exactly were you brought to justice? Walk me through the final arrest, the charges that ultimately stuck, and the legal outcome of your trials.

White Male Guest

The police came to my Yuba City home in the early morning hours of May 26, 1971, with a search warrant. They found bloodstained clothing, a pistol, a machete, and a meat cleaver. I was charged with first-degree murder. After a grueling four-month trial, the jury found me guilty of twenty-five counts of first-degree murder. I was sentenced to twenty-five concurrent life sentences, ensuring I would never see the outside of a prison cell again.

Calvin

What is the biggest misconception people have about your life?

White Male Guest

People look at the tally of the victims and think I was just a ghost hiding in the shadows, but I was a highly visible, respectable family man in the Yuba City community. I was married, raising four daughters, and regularly attended St. Isadore's Roman Catholic Church. I was an active part of the local economy, not someone hiding away from society.

Calvin

When, where, and how did you pass away?

White Male Guest

I passed away on March 4, 2019, at the age of eighty-five. I spent my final decades locked away in the Protective Housing Unit at California State Prison-Corcoran. My health finally failed me, and I died of natural causes at an outside hospital.

Calvin

Do you have any closing remarks about the interview or the stories you shared that you would like to share with the listeners before signing off?

White Male Guest

I just want people to look at the whole story. The mind can break down in ways you don't expect, and once you set down a certain path, the law and your own choices will tie you to it forever. Thank you for letting me share my side of the history.

Calvin

And that wraps up another conversation from beyond the grave. Thanks for joining us on The Headstones and Microphones Podcast. Remember—Do better with the life you have been given and choose to do good in this life. Please help spread the word by sharing and following the pod.