The unresolved questions of the case of Debanhi Escobar, the young woman found dead in Nuevo León

Debanhi Escobar's case will be classified as femicide 1:16

(CNN Spanish) --

 More than a week after the discovery of the body of Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa in an abandoned cistern inside a motel in the municipality of Escobedo, Nuevo León, the Attorney General's Office of this state has yet to clarify some of the great uncertainties about the disappearance and death of the 18-year-old girl.

"This is a process that is beginning, unfortunately my daughter is no longer here, but here what we are asking, my wife and I, society, you, the community and everyone, is that this case be clarified," he said Wednesday at a conference release Mario Escobar, Debanhi's father.

• What we know about the Debanhi Escobar case, the 18-year-old girl who disappeared and was later found dead in Nuevo León

In the most recent update of the Prosecutor's Office, the authorities indicated that they were "busy" in the case and that to date "all lines of investigation remain open."

And although the Prosecutor's Office said that the cause of Debanhi's death was due to "a deep contusion of the skull," according to scientific evidence cited by the entity, Escobar said that an expert hired by him performed an autopsy that will be compared with the one performed by authorities once the results are available.

"There are many hypotheses. How could my daughter have been alive, how could she have been kidnapped... she fell without seeing, how could she have been planted, so you understand: we do not rule out any line of investigation," said the father. of Debanhi.

Mexico is experiencing a time of unimaginable violence, says activist 3:38

These are some of the questions that the Nuevo León authorities have not been able to answer so far:

advertising

Why is Debanhi's death being investigated as a femicide?

Nuevo León prosecutor Gustavo Adolfo Guerrero Gutiérrez said Wednesday that from the moment Debanhi's body was found on April 21, her death was considered a femicide.

Any violent death of a woman in Nuevo León is considered a femicide at the moment that the authorities open an investigation folder of the fact.

Later, it is ruled out whether the death "is within the hypotheses established in the law," Guerrero said.

What happened to Debanhi's phone?

Deputy Prosecutor Luis Enrique Orozco Suárez said that a bag and a mobile phone were found in the same cistern in which Debanhi's body was found.

However, the cell phone was found in a different deposit.

"The cistern has three pits, Debanhi's body was found in a pit, the bag was found in a middle part of the pit, there is an intermediate duct between the two chambers of the pit, the black bag was found in that part and Other personal belongings of Debanhi, such as his cell phone, were found at the bottom of the other grave," Orozco said Tuesday at a press conference.

Why was the motel searched four times without the body being detected?

Until this Friday, the Prosecutor's Office has not offered details.

Griselda Núñez Espinoza, prosecutor specialized in femicides and crimes against women of the Nuevo León Prosecutor's Office, said that they are investigating whether there was an omission during the verification or review of the interior of these graves.

• Nuevo León Prosecutor's Office initiates "responsibility procedures" against those involved in the search for Debanhi Escobar

For his part, the prosecutor said that a multidisciplinary group worked on the search and that this unit defined the areas to search, so they are verifying "if that area was really reviewed and, if it was, who did it or if (the multidisciplinary group) failed" to do so.

Given what happened, the Prosecutor's Office announced that "responsibility procedures" were initiated against those who participated in the search efforts and the decision was made to remove from their positions the prosecutor specializing in missing persons, Rodolfo Salinas de la Peña, and the specialized prosecutor in anti-kidnapping, Javier Caballero García.

Was Debanhi sexually assaulted?

Núñez indicated that within the necropsy "the series of injuries that the body had could be observed. However, it is important to specify that a sexual assault does not necessarily leave a trace on the body. Therefore, the issue of sexual assault must be built in an interdisciplinary way".

The prosecutor said that authorities could determine in the future, based on videos, interviews and testimony, if Debanhi suffered any sexual assault.

In the same way, the Prosecutor's Office has not concluded how the injuries to Debanhi's body were caused, so it is not known whether the "deep skull contusion", the cause of death pronounced by the authorities, occurred before or after that the young woman fell into the cistern.

Was Debanhi running from someone?

Prosecutor's Office shows new videos of the Debanhi case, missing and found dead in a motel 1:12

The Prosecutor's Office presented to the Nuevo León media videos of security cameras from the vicinity of the place where the body was found in which, according to the agency, the young woman is seen alive before her disappearance during the early hours of April 9 .

"The videos that you saw ... do not reveal that she had been followed, stalked, accompanied, persecuted in the moments that we have records up to this moment," Orozco said.

However, the deputy prosecutor indicated that new elements were found that are being analyzed and that could help clarify what happened.

Security videos show the young woman running into the motel on April 9, according to a security camera located inside a restaurant that is out of order.

Cameras last caught Debanhi at 4:56 a.m. walking toward the cistern area.