The discovery of the body of a young woman inside an abandoned cistern in the Mexican state of Nuevo León has had the country on edge since Thursday night.
It is practically assumed that it belongs to Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa, a young woman from 11 years that disappeared on April 9 in a section of the highway between Nuevo Laredo – Monterrey, a few meters from where the body appeared.
“The body has already been recovered from the cistern and taken to the forensic medical service to perform an autopsy and be able to confirm genetically if it is the body of the young Debanhi. However, they point out to us that there was a crucifix that coincides with the one he was wearing, as well as his clothes,” the Undersecretary for Security, Ricardo Mejía, reported this Friday.
However, in the absence of forensic evidence -the result of which will take between one and three days to be known-, Debanhi’s father has already confirmed that it is his daughter.
“We did not reach the result that my wife’s heart and mine wanted, requested and demanded. My daughter is dead “, said Mario Escobar, who harshly questioned the work of the State Prosecutor’s Office and categorically denied that it could have been an accident.
“Why did it take so long? How many times were you here? (…). Four times they have searched , and why does it appear on the fifth? Question: Did they or plant? Question: how did I getó?“, came to question in several appearances before local media that went to the place where the body was found.
“This is not a circus, my daughter is killed by incompetent people (…). Let whoever has to fall fall”, he criticized firmly.
Nuevo León is under the spotlight due to the wave of disappearances of young women that has been experienced in recent weeks . More of 20 have disappeared so far this year. Escobar’s case became one of the most recognized and received great attention from the population and the media.
“Both the father and myself want to know the truth: what happened. That is why I respectfully urge the Prosecutor’s Office to let us know minute by minute, the videos, the photos, the evidence, the searches, the routines, because I firmly believe that we have the right to know what is in that investigation so that the truth come to light”, requested in a video this Friday the governor of Nuevo León, Samuel García.
Given the great relevance and interest that the case aroused, including the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, offered help from the federal government to the state authorities so that what happened can be clarified as soon as possible.
“This matter would also correspond to the Attorney General’s Office, if relatives and friends consider it”, The president offered this Friday.
What is known about the case?
On the night of 8 to 9 April, Debanhi Escobar attended a party with two friends in the municipality of Escobedo.
The two friends returned to their homes and left Debanhi there. Supposedly, the friends called a “trusted contact” to pick her up.
Already at dawn, around 5: 00 am, this contact leaves the young woman alone on a road in the same municipality.
Then One of the most confusing moments of the case occurs: the parents receive a photo of the young woman alone on the road, supposedly taken by the driver, and sent by her friends.
From there the search began.
According to his father announced this Friday in Based on images that she could see, her daughter would have been sexually harassed by the driver and that made her get out of the car.
Volunteers participated in her search for the last two weeks. arias, dogs and even drones.
This Thursday a woman’s body was located in a water tank abandoned, four meters deep, and located in the facilities of the Nueva Castilla motel, just near the area where the disappearance was reported.
The discovery occurred after motel employees reported fetid odors in this area of difficult access, so Escobar ruled out that his daughter could have accessed there on her own foot or that it was an accident.
“She couldn’t have climbed the fence”, she affirmed. When asked if he could have slipped, he said: “It’s a lie, it’s totally a lie, and you have to go to the last consequences so that this does not continue to happen.”
In an interview with the Mexican media outlet Milenio, Escobar described her as a “sentimental, funny law student… a girl from home who hardly ever went out”.
Nuevo León, in the spotlight
Nuevo León, one of the richest in the country, has been under the national spotlight due to the wave of disappearances of women for several weeks.
More than 20 women, including teenagers, have disappeared so far this year. These are numbers that add to the long list of missing men and women in the nation.
Two days before on April 9, had been found dead María Fernanda Contreras Ruiz, another young woman disappeared in the entity.
At least 10 have been found alive, but the criticism continues against the authorities.
Last Wednesday, Nuevo León decreed “urgent and extraordinary actions” to search for the disappeared and pay attention to femicides.
And in a document issued on 11 April and published this week, the cre creation of a “special group” to deal with these crimes.
In addition, the installation of a Task Force made up of several security institutions was also announced, which has just begun its operations with the search for Debanhi Escobar.
Meanwhile, residents search without rest for those who do not appear, trusting that they are alive and not added to the list of fatal victims of endemic gender violence in Mexico.
In recent weeks, several demonstrations organized in the country have demanded justice for the disappearances, especially due to the wave in Nuevo León.
At a press conference on April 8, the State Secretary of Public Security, Aldo Fasci, ruled out the existence of a criminal gang dedicated to the kidnapping of women.
Since the years 90, femicides and disappearances of women increased in Mexico, a trend that worsened in the midst of the so-called war of drug trafficking. Today it is estimated that every day they are killed women in the country.
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