Norma Patricia Esparza from psychologist to murderer

Norma Patricia Esparza

Norma Patricia Esparza is a former psychology professor who has been sentenced to time in prison for the murder of a man she claims, raped her.



According to reports Norma Patricia Esparza killed her rapist back in 1995. At the time of the alleged rape, she was a Pomona college student in California.

Her former boyfriend Gianni Van is serving life in prison for the murder of her rapist. The case went unsolved for years until 2012 when during a trip to the U.S. she was arrested.

She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter two years ago in a deal with prosecutors. A Twitter and Facebook accounts were set up in order to support Dr. Patricia Esparza saying she had been wrongfully charged with murder.

The Mexico native was raised in California. She holds a doctorate in psychology. Norma Patricia Esparza had been living in France and teaching in Switzerland. She worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization and as a professor in Switzerland.

Back in 1995 Norma Patricia Esparza went inside a bar ‘dragged, pressured, bullied, intimidated’ by her then boyfriend, Gianni Van. She trusted him about the rape and then he allegedly took matter into his hands.

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While at the bar, that nigh weeks after she had been attacked and raped, she showed Gianni who her rapist was, a man by the name of Gonzalo Ramirez. Gianni Van then kidnapped Ramirez with the help of others and killed him. Ramirez’s bloodied body was found by the side of a road in Irvine, California.

 

Esparza said during an interview with the Today show: “It just hurts me so much that I had been raped, and here he (Van) is, instead of consoling me, he destroyed the rest of my life,” “You know, the abuse was difficult, the rape was difficult, but dragging me through that night, it haunts me.”

Esparza told her boyfriend she had been raped by Ramirez after she met him at a bar, Gianni blamed her saying she didn’t prevent the rape. In order to keep her quiet about the murder, Gianni forced her into marrying him. Van was sentenced last year.

41-year-old Norma Patricia Esparza was sentenced today to six years in prison for the 1995 killing. The professor is now married to Jorge Mancillas. The couple has a five-year-old daughter together.