In a poignant article, the New York Times chronicles the hunt for a Mexican mother to find the killers of her daughter, Karen, 20.
Do justice yourself, without waiting for long years of proceedings. Starting in 2014, Miriam Rodríguez, a Mexican woman and mother, has relentlessly tracked down the murderers of her 20-year-old daughter Karen, reports a New York Times article from December 13, 2020. In San Fernando, where the two women lived, the Zetas gang, an ex-armed wing of the Gulf cartel, finances itself by kidnapping many people and demanding a ransom. Alone in her family home, Karen was kidnapped, but the unexpected arrival of a mechanic drove the kidnappers, who became frightened, to flee with their victim. Months went by without the authorities moving.
Miriam Rodríguez paid the various ransoms demanded, including from other groups of criminals posing as the kidnappers. But still no trace of his daughter. She therefore decided to cut her hair, dye it and disguise herself as an investigator, a health worker or even an election official to obtain the names and addresses of the culprits. The mother, certain that her daughter was dead, invented pretexts to meet the families of the kidnappers, who, without being suspicious, gave her details, some tiny. It is by collecting all this information and stalking several Facebook profiles that Miriam Rodríguez was able to build her investigation.
A real manhunt
In three years, Miriam Rodríguez managed to capture alive almost every member of the team that had kidnapped her daughter. In total, she contributed to the arrest of ten people, with the help of the police officers, obtained after a long struggle. Never had we seen such a fight for the truth: that of a woman and a mother ready to challenge an organized gang and to put members of the cartel in prison, recalls the NYT. Unfortunately, during this hunt, Karen's mother learned of the existence of a ranch where the abductees are buried. Bones were eventually found there and among them, a piece of femur belonging to his daughter. But this incredible story had a tragic final episode.
The tragic end of a heroine
Fearing for her life, Miriam Rodríguez asked the government for protection. But on Mother's Day in 2017, she was shot dead in front of her house. The Mexican government, a few months later, found and arrested two of the people who shot, and killed a third. However, the sponsors of Miriam Rodriguez's murder still go unpunished to this day. This heroine has since become a national symbol, and a bronze plaque has been created in her honor. This double drama is a reminder that in Mexico, gangs still kidnap children from their parents as well as young women, and that all, if they dare to rebel, have a tragic end. Violence against women and children remains a priority issue in the country.