Mexico is experiencing a time of unimaginable violence, says activist 3:38
(CNN Spanish) --
On the night of April 22, the Attorney General's Office of Nuevo León, in Mexico, confirmed in a video released on social networks that the "body found" corresponds to that of Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa, 18 years old , "the cause of death being a deep contusion of the skull," according to scientific evidence cited by the entity.
A day earlier, the state authorities had reported the location of "a lifeless body" on the land near the place of Debanhi's disappearance.
And on April 24, the Nuevo León Specialized Femicide Prosecutor's Office announced in a statement that Debanhi's death will be investigated under the femicide protocol.
The decision comes after her family and friends gave her the last goodbye over the weekend, between calls for justice.
Debanhi Escobar: one of the many disappeared in Mexico
The young Mexican was last seen on April 8 at night on the Laredo highway, at the height of the Nuevo Castilla neighborhood, in the municipality of Escobedo, Nuevo León.
Why femicide or femicide is considered a specific criminal offense different from homicide
The undersecretary of Public Security, Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, assured that the body was rescued from the cistern and was taken to the Forensic Medical Service to perform the autopsy and genetically determine if it is the Debanhi body.
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Nuevo León prosecutor confirms that body found is Debanhi Escobar 4:44
Debanhi Escobar joins the list of disappearances of women in Nuevo León, Mexico.
The governor of the state, Samuel García, said in a press conference that from the beginning of the year to April 17, 327 reports of missing women had been filed, of which 289 were found alive, 33 are still unaccounted for and five were found dead.
García pointed out that between 7 pm on April 17 and the same time on April 18, the authorities had located seven other women, whose identities he projected on a screen but without clarifying whether they were found alive or dead.
During the search for Debanhi, the Local Commission for the Search of Persons of Nuevo León located five women alive.
Debanhi case: Another dream extinguished, another family destroyed 1:28
In a recent report, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances described disappearances in Mexico as an alarming phenomenon and called on the government to take action.
The Committee points out that the main responsible for these crimes are the federal, state and municipal authorities, as well as organized crime.
Here is a timeline of what we know about the Debanhi Escobar case:
April 8: Debanhi's disappearance
Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa disappeared on Friday night in the Nueva Castilla neighborhood in Escobedo, Nuevo León.
According to the version of the authorities, Debanhi came from a party and got out of an Uber on the Nuevo Laredo highway.
According to information from the Nuevo León Attorney General's Office, the private transport driver stated that the 18-year-old girl "got out of the vehicle at Carrera Vía Numancia and Carretera Vía Laredo at approximately 4:24 a.m.
The 18-year-old girl was last seen through a video recording on the side of a transport company.
The State Prosecutor's Office indicates that at approximately 4:30 am she went to the transport company to try to communicate with someone "without being able to be attended by employees of the place, without having any subsequent record of the whereabouts of she".
From that location, an image was taken that is the one that circulated on social networks, said Ricardo Mejía, Undersecretary of Public Security.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Debanhi Escobar (@debanhi.escobar)
According to an Instagram account allegedly managed by Debanhi's relatives, the young woman went to a party with her friends who called "a trusted contact" to pick her up from the place.
However, this contact performed the work "off the shelf".
April 15: a reward of 100,000 Mexican pesos is offered
The Local Search Commission of Nuevo León publishes a reward of 100,000 Mexican pesos (just under US$5,000) for information that helps find Debanhi.
April 21 - Body located near Debanhi's last location
The Nuevo León Attorney General's Office reported Thursday night that they located a lifeless body "inside an abandoned water tank" on land near the place where Debanhi had disappeared.
In a press release published after 10 p.m. on Thursday, the Prosecutor's Office said that it was working on "the recovery of the body with the support of the State Civil Protection" and that the place "due to the conditions of abandonment of the site, the presence of water and the depth presents difficulties for field experts".
The report also stated that at that time it was not "possible to establish the characteristics of the person without life" and asked "to wait for the official news regarding these facts, which will be supported by the relevant scientific evidence."
The State Prosecutor's Office indicated that the victim's relatives had been notified and were being cared for by an interdisciplinary team.
April 22: authorities confirm that the body found is that of Debanhi Escobar
During the daily conference of the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Undersecretary of Public Security, Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, offered details of the Debanhi Escobar case.
Mejía Berdeja indicated that the previous day "a body of a lifeless female was located within the facilities of the Nueva Castilla Motel, in Escobedo, Nuevo León, a short distance from where the young Debanhi was located on the last occasion."
According to the undersecretary of Public Security, the body was found inside a water tank, at a depth of four meters and indicated that the alert was given by motel employees "before fetid odors that were beginning to be released from that place."
Ricardo Mejía Berdeja showed satellite images of the Nueva Castilla motel where the body of a woman was located.
Source: Mexican government morning conference.
Mejía said on Friday morning that the body had already been rescued from the cistern and taken to the Forensic Medical Service to perform the autopsy and genetically determine if it is the body of the young Debanhi.
On Friday night, the Nuevo León Attorney General's Office confirmed in a video released on social networks that the "body found" corresponds to that of Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa, "the cause of death being a deep contusion of the skull," according to scientific evidence cited by the entity.
CNN contacted Mario Escobar, Debanhi's father, who said he will wait to give a direct statement when he is informed of the results of the autopsy.
The Governor of Nuevo León published a video on social networks and asked the State Prosecutor's Office to make known a "minute by minute" of the case.
"I respectfully ask the Prosecutor's Office to create an open Prosecutor's Office, with glass doors and walls that let us know everything that comes out in the autopsy, in the evidence. One, for the certainty of the family; two , for peace of mind and clarification for society about what happened in this case and three, to understand the case and be able to act accordingly and try to avoid other cases like this one from Debanhi in the future," he added.
Outrage over the case of Debanhi Escobar 3:38
April 23: "Because it was a murder"
"Because it was a murder... whoever falls, whoever bumps, I'm not going to stop to clarify this..." said Mario Escobar, Debanhi's father, outside the wake that took place in the Capillas del Carmen in Monterrey .
April 24: Debanhi's death will be investigated as a femicide
The Nuevo León Specialized Femicide Prosecutor's Office announced that Debanhi's death will be investigated with the femicide protocol.
April 27: authorities present videos about the day of the disappearance
In a video from a security camera, Debanhi is seen in front of the transport company.
Source: Nuevo León Attorney General's Office.
The attorney general of the Mexican state of Nuevo León, Gustavo Adolfo Guerrero Gutiérrez, reported at a press conference that "responsibility procedures" have been initiated against those who participated in the search for the young Debanhi Escobar.
"We detected some deficiencies," Guerrero said, saying that "due to the omissions and errors" in the search for Debanhi, he made the decision to remove the prosecutor specializing in missing persons, Rodolfo Salinas de la Peña, and the specialized prosecutor in anti-kidnapping, Javier Caballero García.
The official also said that "this does not mean that we are going to wait for the procedure, that the administrative procedures of responsibility conclude, if someone else was omitted or made mistakes that affected the investigation, they will be sanctioned."
The Prosecutor's Office also presented to the press videos of security cameras from the vicinity of the place where Debanhi's body was found in which, according to the entity, the young woman is seen alive before her disappearance during the early hours of April 9 .
"The last known image of Debanhi is the one in which he is seen walking towards the area where the cistern is located [of the Motel Nueva Castilla motel]," said the deputy prosecutor of the Public Ministry, Luis Enrique Orozco Suárez.
Griselda Núñez Espinoza, prosecutor specialized in femicides and crimes against women of the Attorney General of the State of Nuevo León, said that the investigation has two aspects.
"The first one, as I tell you, is to clarify the facts for which Debanhi lost his life."
The second line of investigation, according to the prosecutor, is focused on determining if there was an omission on the part of the authorities.
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