The following year, the family said, a group of scientists found a piece of femur belonging to her daughter. It had just returned to power, 12 years after its seven decades of consecutive rule had been broken. Zetas behead and dismember four women from the Gulf Cartel The video shows four women on their knees in a field, their hands tied behind their backs. He also said hed had good luck since childhood, which is how he explained twice winning the national lottery, pocketing $6.8million in 2008 and $3.6million the following year. Her story offers a singular account of Mexicos deterioration by 2020 into an anguished nation, beset by cartel-corrupted government institutions and haunted by thousands of killings and disappearances. Neither matched anyone in the countrys crime databases. . Luis took charge of the collective of San Fernando families with disappeared relatives that his slain mother had created. Hes still a child, no matter what he did, and I am still a mother, Mrs. Rodrguez said, according to her friend, Idalia Saldivar Villavicencio, who was with her at the interrogation. CNN and The New York Times sent reporters. But that seemed unlikely. A decrepit tractor marked the grave at the abandoned ranch, at the end of a dirt road. Now Mrs. Rodrguez was sitting down with one of them, imploring him to release Karen as his radio squawked sporadically. The Forbidden Stories investigation found that U.S. and Mexican authorities had long been investigating some subjects that Martnez had been pursuing. Keith Melvin Moses (left), 19, shot and killed Nathacha Augustin, 38, T'yonna Major, 9, and Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons (right), 24, according But Karen stayed, to finish school and help run her moms small cowboy apparel shop, Rodeo Boots. Additional charges were expected for the other shootings in Pine Hills, about five miles west of Orlando, said the Orange County sheriff, John Mina, who said at a news conference on Thursday that he was 100 percent confident the gunman would be charged with homicide for the murders of Mr. Lyons and Ms. Major. Duartes public security secretary, Arturo Bermdez, was charged with heading a death squad that disappeared at least 15 people. Police said a witness had told them he had seen two men near Martnezs house hours before she was killed. She urinated in cups and ran her car battery down listening to the radio in the dark. Mrs. Rodrguez, already separated from her husband, moved in with her older daughter, Azalea. Dec. 6, 2020. His grandfather, Luciano, ran a trucking business he started from scratch, and a prosperous cinder block factory. Sheriff Mina said his office would be conducting additional ballistic testing on the recovered gun. T'yonna was killed Wednesday when a gunman barged into her home outside Orlando and shot the third-grader and her mother, who survived the attack. At the time, the Veracruz government had set up a secret espionage unit to monitor critics, among them local journalists, according to two former officials with knowledge of the unit. Lucianos family paid two ransoms for their son, just as Mrs. Rodrguezs family had in its fruitless attempt to free Karen. Armed with a handgun, a fake ID card and disguises, Miriam Rodrguez was a one-woman detective squad, defying a system where criminal impunity often prevails. While many fled to escape the violence, others stuck it out because they had built a life in San Fernando and would not abandon it for the sins of others. A dirt road where the first ransom for Luciano was dropped. In total, reports indicate six cartel members were captured in the raid that killed her on Friday. Family members said Dawna Langford's 13-year-old son, Devin, watched his mother die and then hid his six. Miroslava Breach, 54, was shot eight times in her car while pulling out of her driveway to take one of her children to school. Eight others have disappeared. Six months after the investigation was launched, Borbolla, along with the Mexican public, learned via a television news conference that the state prosecutor had successfully cleared up the murder of Regina Martnez.. In the years after Martnezs death, the mothers of the disappeared across Mexico formed collectives to demand that authorities find the bodies of their missing loved ones. Now, after driving by the restaurant again, it dawned on her: Maybe the young woman knew something. Karens father dropped off a bag of cash near the health clinic, then waited in vain at the local cemetery for the kidnappers to free her. A suspect, whom the authorities identified as Keith Melvin Moses, 19, was in custody by Wednesday evening and was charged with one count of murder in connection with the killing of the 38-year-old, whom the police previously described as being in her 20s. But Mrs. Rodrguez fought the government on its analysis, and rightly so. She told her daughter that she would not rest until she found the people who had taken Karen. Not everyone got along with her, said Gloria Garza, an official in the state government. He added that the suspect was not speaking to the police, and said that he had acted alone. The vicious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) are considered the most dangerous and powerful criminal enterprise in Mexico. Valeria Velez worked as a news anchor during the early 1980s, and in 1981 she interviewed the famous cartel boss Pablo Escobar, forming a romantic relationship with him. "They killed the wrong woman, my . But the fight was very different this time. The details and information gathered by this woman, working all alone, were incredible., She had gone to every single level of government and they had slammed the door in her face, he recalled. She was still wearing her cast, and using crutches, on Mothers Day. The country is so torn apart by violence and impunity that a grieving mother had to solve the disappearance of her daughter largely on her own, and died violently because of it. They fired 13 rounds. But with each passing day, the trails grew more faint. . Luis dropped what he was doing to take a closer look. Sometimes, they organized death matches between captives for sport. The 19-year-old suspect is in custody, police said. He said they found a Glock 40 handgun that was still hot to the touch in the suspects pants. After the shooting, the deputies found Mr. Moses, who was uncooperative, the sheriff said. Forensic agents claimed that Karen was not among the dozens of bodies they had identified at the ranch. She sat down with a slender young man at El Junior, a restaurant in town. Others fell into a void of silence, muted by her assassination. He called his mother and followed him, careful not to lose him before the police arrived. The team continued her investigations of the two state governors Fidel Herrera and Javier Duarte and examined her homicide inquiry. Her team found two good prints that state police had missed. Photos of a woman who was allegedly dismembered by drug traffickers of the Elite Group of the Jalisco Nueva Generacin Cartel (CJNG) were disseminated on social networks . He outlawed crime reporting on social media an action that was quickly overturned in court. Weeks earlier, volunteers had passed the very spot and missed it. What the local press did not want to publish was published through Regina Martnez, said Jorge Carrasco, Procesos editor in chief. What I can say is that I am innocent, Bermdez said at the time. Living in San Fernando means accepting certain realities. Bermdez has pleaded not guilty, and the case is pending. But by then, the cousins were nowhere to be found. The woman had beaten and tortured Karen during the kidnapping, hanging her up like a boxing bag and punching her. insider. Her public campaign threatened more than just a few kidnappers. They traversed the vast expanses of San Fernandos arid edges, but no matter how far they searched, they could never cover it all. Authorities responded around 9:58 p.m. Saturday to the intersection of routes 130 and 32 . Anyone can read what you share. And then, by pure chance, Sama turned up. By the time the government issued an arrest warrant, Sama had already skipped town. Its really amazing, their bravery.. The woman, who started being a hit woman aged 15 said killed pregnant women. Mrs. Rodrguezs son, Luis, 36, could not help but see the parallels, and wept when he heard the news. A missing persons poster for Luciano Leal Garza on the window of a taqueria in San Fernando. They were both in critical condition on Wednesday night. The intruder probably surprised her in the bathroom, from behind, investigators believe. The lifeless body of the young woman had signs of torture and was found with gunshot wounds Sunday morning. She studied journalism in college and began her career in the early 1980s at a state-run television channel. 1 min read. The "execution" of six men and . We dont care about the rain, or anything else, Lucianos mother told local television reporters as her group sheltered under downtown awnings. The parent company of Spectrum News 13, Charter Communications, said in a statement on Wednesday night that we are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today, the TV station reported. With an official-looking ID in hand, she spent the better part of a day conducting a fake poll of the neighborhood until she got basic details on one of her daughters captors. I died the day they killed my daughter. Circumscribed by the violence, many live reduced lives. Please enable JavaScript for the best experience. 237 points 27 comments. At the time, a neighborhood resident she knew well, Elvia Yuliza Betancourt, had been seated at a table by herself, sipping a soda. Mr. Moses had walked into a brown house nearby and shot the 9-year-old girl and her mother, he said. Man being castrated alive by pit bull dogs bite. As the months passed, Mrs. Rodrguez continued to fill her bag with clues she wrung from the case files. Maria Guadalupe Lopez Esquivel, also known by her alias "La Catrina," was shot in the neck Friday as Mexico's army, National Guard and Michoacn state police raided the safe house where she stayed. Someone wanted to stop the news reports about the executions. At 17, he was convicted for two murders and sentenced to 70 years in a Texas states prison . (Miguel Tovar/LatinContent/Getty Images) RIGHT: Martnezs gravesite in Xalapa, Mexico. The extortion of 80 small-town mayors. She has lived, worked and. Martnez reported it all: The rape and homicide of a 72-year-old Indigenous woman by army soldiers. During the trial, FBI Agent Scott Lawson testified that Colorado-Cessa was established as an intermediary between Zetas leader Efran Teodoro Torres and the government of Veracruz to allow the circulation of drugs freely in the state of Veracruz and, at the same time, to help Fidel Herrera finance his campaign as governor.. International press groups consider Veracruz to be the most dangerous place in the world to report the news. She joined Proceso in 2000. She had eaten there with Azalea only two days after Karens kidnapping. The series examines the power and activities of Mexican cartels and their collusion with corrupt government officials. Her friends often wondered if she was going too far. She used to give her Karens old clothes. . It is unclear whether the gunman knew that the reporter and photographer in the vehicle were journalists. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Luis, Karens older brother, had moved away to escape the danger. Journalist Maria del Rosario Fuentes Rubio, who was killed by members of a drug cartel for threatening to expose them. Lourdes Maldonado Lpez, a highly respected veteran local reporter was shot and killed on Sunday in the Santa Fe neighborhood of the northwestern border town of Tijuana, just south of San Diego, California, the Attorney General's Office of Baja California said in a published statement. Martnez pored over state spending records, writing in 2008 that Herrera invested millions from the budget in a failing soccer team called the Red Sharks owned by a friend. After that, the woman fled to Veracruz, where she drove a taxi while raising her young son. Luciano was kidnapped in one of the familys own trucks, just like Mrs. Rodrguezs daughter had been. and he used them to keep order in some regions of the state., In 2012, after Martnezs death, Herreras name also surfaced in sworn testimony at the U.S. money-laundering trial of Veracruz oilman Francisco Colorado-Cessa in U.S. District Court in Austin. MEXICO CITY When Gildo . On Thursday, the Sheriffs Office released the names of the victims: Dylan Lyons, 24, Nathacha Augustin, 38, and Tyonna Major, 9. The suspect killed a woman near Orlando on Wednesday morning, then returned later in the day and killed a 9-year-old girl and a journalist who was covering the original shooting, the authorities said. I wont make the same mistakes as my mom, Luis said. Mrs. Rodrguez went to Aldama, his small hometown of about 13,000 people, and paid a visit to his grandmother. Mexican video confirms death of female drug cartel gun woman January 13, 2020 MEXICO CITY (AP) Videos and photos of a woman killed in a drug gang shootout appear to confirm she was "La Catrina," a female member of a cartel hit squad that massacred 13 police officers in October. (Marco Ugarte/AP) RIGHT: Posters of Espinosa and four slain women hang outside Veracruz state government offices in 2015, above posters of then-Gov. Mrs. Rodrguez, whose courage and determination to find her daughter offered a guiding light for the campaign to save Luciano years later, was also a warning of what awaited anyone who pushed too hard. (Flix Mrquez/AP). Anyone can read what you share. She is one of three people to testify in front of the Border Security and . Martnez is one of 119 journalists and media staffers killed throughout Mexico since 2000, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Then president Donald Trump had even tweeted about it, offering to send in "an army" to defeat the cartels. Mrs. Rodrguez picked through the debris left by the kidnappers: grisly stains on soiled tabletops, bones of varying sizes, some mere shards. Even before her death, Herrera was facing mounting allegations. He drove over in a truck that his family let him use to get around town, and within seconds, armed men forced their way in, shoving him to the side and driving off just as the kidnappers had done to Karen six years earlier. Mr. Moses was taken to a hospital, where Sheriff Mina said he fought with hospital staff and was restrained, before being transported to the Sheriffs Office. Recently, she has investigated Russian disinformation operations, censorship around the world, the massive national security state, CIA operations and veterans issues. Reporter Dylan Lyons and a photographer were on scene reporting sometime around 4:00 p.m. when they were shot while reporting on a homicide of a woman in her twenties, which occurred at approximately 11:00 a.m., WCJB noted. For four more years, he is known to have killed 30 people total, acting as a hitman for the Zeta cartel. She was a police officer in Veracruz, Mexico. This is another tragic reminder that journalism is a dangerous business and that criminals and those that are the subject of reporting can become violent toward reporters who are doing their jobs, the organization said. During the trial, witnesses said he had. Most officials held a grudging respect for Mrs. Rodrguez, despite complaining about her foul language and pugnacious manner. The Push for a $60K Base Teacher Salary Gains Steam as Bernie Sanders Signs On. Drivers circled town playing it over a loudspeaker. Sheriff Mina emphasized that officials did not yet know the suspects motive for shooting five people or the nature of his connections to them. She quoted people saying they knew Herrera had given the orders. His father, also Luciano, owned a thriving construction materials store. On Feb 24, the Gothika. He pleaded guilty to some charges and admitted to working with criminal elements. He was sentenced to nine years in prison but has appealed, and media reports say he could be released early. By the 2000s, the state of Veracruz, with its huge Gulf of Mexico port, oil industry and hidden trails, had become a key part of the route from South and Central America for cartels smuggling people, drugs and other contraband north to the United States. Luis said he had to sneak onto the street to give her a jump. She had been hunting him for a year, stalking him online, interrogating the criminals he worked with, even befriending unwitting relatives for tips on his whereabouts. She wrote everything down and stuffed it into her black computer bag, building her investigation and tracking them down, one by one. Herrera has not been charged with a crime, and he denied all the allegations against him. Lakhani, of the Guardian, is based in New York. Warning: This graphic requires JavaScript. The promise, then, was of a book that could not only be a rewarding read but a transcendental one, a novel that would be emblematic, even canonical. The restaurant where Mrs. Rodrguez met with a cartel member in San Fernando. Families have suffered kidnappings and cartel-imposed curfews much as big city residents endure traffic and pollution. However, the International Federation of Journalists, which also counts media workers, said that six . The risk is asymmetric. 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