Updated List of Murders of Women in Juárez and Chihuahua City

In August 2003, Amnesty International released a report documenting over 370 murders of girls and women in the cities of Juárez and Chihuahua, Mexico, since 1993. The killings continue in what appears to be a higher rate than in previous years. According to press reports, 28 women and girls were murdered in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua City and the surrounding areas in 2004, in 2005, the number of murders increased to 32 and to 58 in 2006. From January 1 and May 2007, press reports registered 17 murders.

Murders of Women in Juárez and Chihuahua, Mexico

January 2004 through May 2007

Murders in 2007

On February 2 the body of Lea Gómez Sable, 19, was found in her home in Ciudad Juárez by her husband who was returning from work at the maquiladora. Initial investigations showed that she had been brutally beaten and stabbed in front of her three daughters.
On February 8 the PGJE reported that the unidentified body of a mentally ill woman had been found near the Papigochi River. She was found half-naked and had signs of sexual assault. It was determined that the cause of death was drowning. A 17 year old male and Ignacio Abel González Vega, 20, were detained. They had been seen at the river earlier that day with the woman and confessed they had sexually assaulted her.
On February 23 the body of an unidentified woman between 30 and 40 years of age was found in an abandoned lot near the international airport of Ciudad Juárez. She was half-naked, had signs of sexual assault, and had been strangled. The body apparently had been thrown out from a vehicle.
On March 1 Mario Chacha Roque, 22, committed a double murder in Ciudad Juárez. Nelva Niño, 31, and Jennifer Niño Valdez, 10, were killed in their home while Regina Niño, 21, was left severely wounded. The incident began when Mario went to the Niño Valdez home to look for his ex-partner Maria del Rosario Niño Valdez and his step daughter Ana Karen Niño Valdez, 3. When he was told by Nelva to leave he became aggressive and attacked the women with a kitchen knife. Nelva and Jennifer died from the wounds and Jennifer Niño's autopsy revealed that she had been sexually attacked prior to her death. Mario fled with three year old Ana Karen but was later caught and imprisoned. He said he had killed the women "out of anger".
On March 2 the body of an 18 year old woman was found in the Hotel Jovi, in San Buenaventura. She was identified as Mayra Carbajal Solorio who worked at a nearby bar. Initially sources close to the investigations commented that the women had been sexually assaulted and that her breasts had been cut. On March 3, it was officially declared that she had died due to excess fluid in her lungs.
On March 12 the body of Veronica Vega, who was around 30, was found in Chihuahua City. The body had signs of being beaten and cut with sharp objects; it is believed she may have died from these injuries.
On March 21 the body of Brenda Gutiérrez de Los Angeles, 21, was found in the interior of a home in Ciudad Juárez. The body had visible sings of violence and neighbors testified to have seen a man with blood stains on his shirts walk away from the scene. It is suspected that her boyfriend is responsible for the crime.
On March 29 the burned body of a woman between 25 and 30 years of age was found in the interior of an abandoned home in Ciudad Juárez. According to a report, the woman had been tortured and died from a cerebral hemorrhaging and a stomach contusion. It is suspected by the neighbors that she was a homeless, mentally ill woman from the area.
On April 4 the body of the teenager Angelita González Saucedo, was finally found a year after being declared as missing. The murderer, Omar Alejandro Reyes Pule, confessed that he murdered Angelita during a moment of rage and intoxication. The murder happened in April 30, 2006 in Meoqui. Omar declared that she had died from a beating and that he burned and buried part of the body in the El Rocío ranch and discarded the rest of the parts in the San Pedro River.
The body of an unidentified woman was found in Ciudad Juárez on April 4. The woman was found nude and with signs of violence all over her body. Authorities declared that she died from a drug overdose since she had many injection marks on her arms, but they also recognized that her death was violent.
On April 27 the body of Verónica Manchua Molina, 32, was found in Ciudad Juárez in Anapra. The body had stab wounds in the abdomen and thorax. Veronica's husband, Raymundo Chigo Ceba, 51, confessed to having killed her out of jealousy.
On May 3 the remains of a woman were found in Valle de Juárez near Ciudad Juárez. Age and cause of death have not been revealed.
Isabel López Unzueta, 14, died from gun shot wounds on May 22 in Ciudad Juárez. She was shot several times by gang members when she was outside of her house talking to a neighbor and two cousins.
On May 24 the bodies of Nancy Jacques Payán, 15, and Uriel Ochoa Ochoa where found in Belleza in an Explorer. It is suspected that this was a crime of passion where Uriel shot Nancy and then killed himself.
On May 26 the body of Blanca Guadalupe Sánchez Villalobos, 32, was found in Ciudad Juárez. The body was found nude with a red shirt wrapped around the neck. There were bruises on her face and it was determined that she had been sexually assaulted with a foreign object and choked to death. Fernando Ramírez Camacho, 41, the bus driver of the area, is currently being investigated for her murder.
On May 26 the body of Diana Gutíerrez Hernandez, 20 to 25 years old, was found in the bedroom of a home Ciudad Juárez. Initially, the death was declared a suicide because she had been shot in the head and a gun was found nearby. After the autopsy it was declared that she had suffered brain trauma prior to her death from the gunshot. It is now suspected that the death was a homicide not a suicide.

Murders in 2006

On January 3 skeletal remains were found two kilometers away from Ciudad Juárez. The remains were believed to have been dumped approximately 8 months earlier, and were presumed to belong to a woman, since the skull had long hair and women's clothing were found nearby. The municipal police, which arrived to the crime scene two days after the remains were found, explained that the teenager was murdered in a violent manner.
On January 9 the body of an unidentified woman, estimated 60 years of age, was found on the connecting highway south of Juárez between Nuevo Casas Grandes and Galeana. Authorities were uncertain whether her death was a result of a hit-and-run accident or if she was dumped in the highway after being murdered.
Perla Esmeralda García Rodríguez, 23, was strangled by her ex-husband in Chihuahua City on January 9.
María
Antonieta Andazola, 34, was shot to death by her husband Juan Carlos Martínez Gámez, 36, on January 30^th in Chihuahua City. The killer subsequently turned the gun on himself.
Alejandra Yanel Díaz Sánchez, 13, was tortured and killed on February 7 in Ciudad Juárez, while her mother was working at a "maquiladora."
The body of María Hilaria Pérez Diego, estimated 30 years old, was found in an open field in Chihuahua City on February 11, days after her death. According to the municipal police, the victim was found unclothed from the waist down. Police detained her neighbor, who allegedly confessed to the crime.
Zoraida Martínez, 22, was shot in her car after crossing the U.S. border into Mexico on the San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa international highway on February 15. After 30 minutes had passed without the ambulance arriving on the Mexican side, the family in the car approached the U.S. border authorities for help. They were transported by helicopter to a nearby hospital. Zoraida died shortly thereafter.
Juana Cueto López, 91, died on February 17, after being sexually assaulted and strangled in her Meoqui home. The assailant confessed that he entered the house with the intention of robbing it but later decided to rape and strangle the victim so there would be no witnesses. Weeks later the judge handling the case released him.
In Nuevo Casas Grandes, Dora Emilia Ríos Peña, 35 was fatally shot by her partner, Javier López Arellano, 56, on February 23. He killed himself after committing the crime.
Margarita Cardoza Carrasco, 74, and Luisa Lorena Hernández Carrasco, 27, were found dead in their Ciudad Juárez home on February 25. They were found in their bathroom with their hands and feet tied. There was blood visible in various parts of the house. Forensic exams determined that the women had been tortured before their deaths.
On February 26, a woman's decomposed body was found in the Cuauhtémoc municipality, 100 kilometers northeast of Chihuahua City. The body, which showed signs of both rape and strangulation, was later identified as Fabiola Cuevas Corral, 17.
Guadalupe Rodríguez Aguilera, 15, was fatally shot in the head by Juan Pablo Flores Delgado, 60 on March 3 in Ciudad Juárez. Flores Delgado was attracted to Guadalupe and he shot her out of jealousy when he saw her walking with two men who were going to accompany her to her job.
Two women, yet to be identified, were found murdered in Chihuahua City on March 26. The first woman, estimated to be between 20 and 27 years of age, was found in a small hill in the district of Barrio de Londres. She was naked from the waist down and had blood on her feet. Authorities argued she had committed suicide. The second victim was found inside a house in the district of Obrera. She had been stabbed and one news article reported she had been beheaded. She was half-naked when found; her dress had been torn apart.
On March 29 the burned body of an unidentified woman was found in Ciudad Juárez. The body was burned up to 70% and was found in the interior of an abandoned home. The woman is said to be a local drug addict who tended to dance half-naked on the streets.
On March 30 school children found the body of an unidentified woman between the ages of 20 to 25. She was found next to a dried up river near the Zaragoza international bridge in Ciudad Juárez. She did not show any signs of violence. She was wearing blue jeans and a gray sweatshirt. Two years before this unidentified woman was found, the burned bodies of a couple and their teenage daughter were also found in this same area.
On April 10 a 41 year old Colorado resident, identified as Emma Lucila Martinez Ramirez, was assassinated on a freeway connecting Cuauhtémoc with Chihuahua City. Her husband told authorities that they had been attacked by four people while fixing their car, and they were robbed and beaten before the woman was killed. Authorities have since detained the husband, as they have found contradictory and incriminating information in his testimony.
On April 12 a three-year-old girl identified as María de la Luz Martínez García died in a hospital in Ciudad Juárez. She had been brutally beaten and presented symptoms of malnutrition, trauma, and cranial damage. The autopsy suggested she had been raped. Her sister, who is seven years old, also showed signs of rape. Authorities have arrested the girls' stepfather.
On April 13, Romelia Longoria Torres, 41, died in Ciudad Juárez from a gun shot wound to her head. She had been shot by her husband Raúl Gabaldón Aldaco during an argument where he questioned her fidelity. Raúl Gabaldón was arrested for her murder.
On April 14 the body of a young girl was found in an uninhabited estate, close to Colonia Sahuaros in Chihuahua City. She was identified as 19-year-old Beatriz Chavez Fontes. The autopsy revealed that the girl was strangled. Her body had stab wounds in the stomach and other wounds, but according to authorities there was no sign of rape.
On April 18 there was a triple murder. The bodies of Janeth González Baca, 20, and Gustavo Vázquez Rascón, 30, were found in a trench on the outskirts of Ascención, Chihuahua. Ana Marisela Avalos Torres, 22, was found a little further away, near the town's trash dump.
A one-year-old girl identified as Gloria Ivana Berumen Robles was presumed to have died in a fire on April 25 in Ciudad Juárez. However, an autopsy revealed that the girl had been strangled before the fire erupted. Authorities are investigating the possibility that the fire was incited to cover up the evidence.
On May 1^st 2006, Aurora Aguirre Chavez, a 53-yr.-old human-rights-lawyer, was murdered in front of her house in the municipality of Balleza in state of Chihuahua. She was murdered by Rubén Aguirre, who shot her in the head 10 times, killing her instantly. Aguirre is a member of what used to be the Judicial Police of the State and had killed another woman 7 years earlier.
An unidentified woman between 20 and 21 years old was found stabbed to death in Colonia Sahuaros in Chihuahua City. She was found with stab wounds in her face, neck, chest, back and arms. Her arms also showed signs of the use of hypodermic needles.
On May 1^st, 13-yr. old Reyna Ortiz Rivera was murdered 150 kilometers west of Ciudad Juárez. She was murdered by her 14-yr.old boyfriend, Eduardo Mayor. He subsequently attempted suicide but was unsuccessful.
On May 5 two indigenous women, Ángeles Loya, 55, and Cecilia Loya, 12, were found murdered in the Sierra Tarahumara's Guachochi municipality. The bodies of the victims showed signs of being beaten and burned.
On May 7 the body of an unidentified woman, between the ages of 20 to 25, was found in Chihuahua City in Colonia Sahuaros. Her body, which was wrapped in a blanket and put inside a plastic bag, showed signs of extreme violence. She was wounded, presumably by a knife, in the back, chest and neck. Authorities have established that the woman was murdered in a different place and was then dumped in the field where she was found. Authorities are still unsure if she was sexually assaulted.
On May 12, the body of Cintia Liliana Moreno Álvarez, 14, was found in Guachochi, Chihuahua next to the car she had disappeared in ten days earlier. Her body showed signs of trauma to the head and other parts of her body. Police were unsure if she died in a car accident or was murdered.
Hilda Canela, 45, was killed in a fire in her home in Ciudad Juárez on May 12. Three men were later detained and confessed to fire bombing the home. The attack was apparently an act of revenge against Hilda Canela, because one of her sons had sexually abused two of the younger sisters of the detained men.
María Magdalena Mílan Chacón, 46, died in the hospital on June 5 of gunshot wounds sustained on the previous Friday in Cuidad Juárez. No one has been arrested in connection with her murder.
Bany Rodríguez Ortega, 42, was killed from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest by a man using an AK-47 rifle on June 11 in Ciudad Juárez. Authorities have not made any arrests.
On June 20 the body of Tomasa Herrera Franco, 73, was found in the interior of her home. She was found in the patio suspended from a white electric cord.
The body of an unidentified woman, between the ages of 30 and 35, was found shot and killed during a car chase in Colonia Granjas, Chihuahua City on June 22.
Petra Villalpando was found facedown on the living room floor of her home in Ciudad Juárez with a fatal wound to her neck on June 23. Police believe a man and a women killed Villapando and stole her Nissan automobile. Villapando worked in a local "maquiladora."
Leticia Navarrete Silva, 48, was killed by her husband on July 1 in Cuidad Juárez. A medical report showed that Silva's skull had been fractured from repeated blows. Silva's husband, Manuel Marcelo Gazca, hung himself with an electrical cord soon after killing his wife.
The body of an unidentified woman, approximately 20-30 years of age, was found in the city of Cuahtémoc on July 4. The victim was found with multiple wounds and broken bones, and it was believed that her lifeless body was thrown from a moving car. Apparently she had been run over.
On July 8, Elsa Agláe Jurado Torres, 23, was burned with gasoline in Ciudad Juárez. She died from her injures on July 11. Months later, authorities had not made any arrests in the case.
In an apparent murder-suicide on July 17, Rosalba Salinas Segura was found shot to death next to Jesús Gonzáles Hernández in colonia Anapra, Ciudad Juárez.
On July 24, the partial remains of a woman were found wrapped in industrial adhesive tape and inside a plastic bag in Cuidad Juárez. The rest of the remains were found in small packets, similar to those in which drugs are stored, at another nearby location. Police believe the remains had been there for three months.
On July 26, Claudia Rodríguez López, 30, was shot and killed while getting into her car in Cuidad Juárez. It is believed that she was gunned down by a group of four men, but police had no other leads and no witnesses could provide any more details.
The semi-nude body of Abigail Rodríguez Rincón, 29, was found on the morning of July 31 with severe trauma to the head. Investigators received an anonymous call informing them of the location of the body and believe the attack may have been a sexual assault. Rincon was the mother of three children in Ciudad Juárez.
On August 8, the semi naked body of Cinthia Judith Zamora Zamora, between the ages of 25 and 30 was found in Ciudad Juárez. The victim was sexually and physically abused, and then thrown from a moving car.
On August 18, the body of Barbara Jazari Batalla Alvarado, a three-year-old girl, was found four days after she disappeared, in Parrel, Chihuahua. She was found on a patio. A few days later, police found her arms and legs on a street in Ciudad de Hildalgo del Parrel.
Clarivel Ochoa Sánchez, 13, died on August 20 from injuries sustained on July 23, when she was shot by a man outside of her home in Ciudad Juárez.
Police found the semi-nude and unconscious body of Alejandra Azucena Orozco Carrasco in "El Reliz" park in Chihuahua, and she died from her injuries on August 20. The victim, a mother of two, had multiple broken bones, sever cuts and a fractured skull.
On August 21, an unidentified woman was murdered and found in an empty lot, south of the city center of Cuidad Juárez.
The body of Emilia Molina Rodríguez, 22, was found on August 25 in Jiménez, Chihuahua. She was found with fractured bones and lacerations, as well as internal injuries.
Alicia Nava Barajas, 46, was strangled by her 23-year-old son in Ciudad Juárez. On August 31 the body was found with the arms and legs cut off, as the son intended to destroy the evidence.
16-year-old María Magdalena Valenzuela Santillana was found strangled to death in Cuidad Juárez on September 1. Investigators found a foreign object inside her body, and the victim is believed to have been sexually assaulted.
On September 10, María Guadalupe Casas Olivas, 45, was stabbed in the stomach by her partner, Alfredo César Sepúlveda in Ciudad Juárez. He had stabbed María Guadalup out of jealousy when she told him there was a better man than him.
In Ciudad Juárez, a young girl, Cecilia Lagarda Amapa, 8, was raped and died of her injuries 7 days later, on October 22. Cecilia had not told her parents about what had happened and they stated that the only thing that seemed wrong with her was that had a fever and seemed sad. There are no suspects.
On November 14 the body of an unidentified woman between 40 and 45 years old was found in Ciudad Juárez. The body was swollen from all the wounds on the body and there was cotton inside the mouth. It was determined that the woman had been beaten and then strangled.
On November 29 the skeleton of a woman was found in a common grave and i
t is suspected to belong to a young woman who was murdered in 2001. DNA testing will be done to try to identify the remains.
On December 5, Dolores Jasso Arias, 65, was killed by her son, Luis Alberto Valenzuela Jasso, 39, in her home in Ciudad Juárez. She was killed with a hammer and had signs of external violence all over her body.
On December 14, the body of Rosa Velia Cordero, 23, was found in a common grave after having been missing for seven years. She disappeared on May 23, 1999. Her body was presumably sent to the common grave by officials from the State Prosecutor's local office.
The body of Maria de la Luz Pérez González, 28, was found under a bridge on a road from Cuauhtémoc to Chihuahua City on December 17. It was determined that she had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death.

Murders in 2005

Josefina Contreras Solís was found on in a dumpster in Ciudad Juárez on January 3. She had been beaten badly and left for dead. She died in the hospital the following day. A man reported to be her boyfriend was arrested and charged with the murder.
Claudia Guillén Hinojosa, 25, was killed by her boyfriend, Jesús Rentería Vargas, on January 11 in Ciudad Juárez. She was shot in front of her two children and was pregnant with a third. She died on the way to the hospital but doctors were able to save her baby. The killer fled the scene of the crime and was found dead the following day after committing suicide. A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office said the young woman was presumably killed "because she was seeing another man and not respecting her pregnancy."
María Liliana Acosta, 19, was killed in Ciudad Juárez on January 15. She had been shot in the throat. The alleged killer, 21-year-old Carlos Herrera Bustos, was detained the next day in flagrancia and confessed to the crime.
The body of Alejandra Medrano Chavarría was found in the street early on the morning of January 24 in Ciudad Juárez. She had been strangled to death.
Manuela Cano Luna, 40, was shot to death in Ciudad Juárez on February 9 while she was teaching an aerobics class.
Patricia Montelongo de la O, 33, was found March 12 in Ciudad Juárez. She had been stabbed multiple times, and her body was wrapped in a blanket, tied up, and left in an empty lot. The suspect fled to El Paso, Texas but was deported to Mexico a few days later for prosecution.
Coral Arrieta Medina, 17, was found on March 14 in an area of Ciudad Juárez known as Lote Bravo, where 18 other victims had been found in previous years. Her body was partially clothed, and she had been raped and strangled. She was a student and worked in a maquila.
Sonia Jacquieline Díaz Romero, one-and-a-half years old, was killed on March 15 in Chihuahua City by her step-father, who is believed to have fled to El Paso, Texas.
The body of maquiladora worker Rocío Paola Marin, 19, was found on March 26 in an irrigation ditch in Ciudad Juárez. She had been raped, tortured and stabbed more than 15 times in the back, stomach, and neck. Her family had reported her missing on March 18.
On May 4, Tomasa Echeverría, 54, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in Ciudad Juárez.
The body of María Estrella Cuevas Cuevas, 20, a single mother of two small children, was found in Ciudad Juárez on May 5. She had been raped and stabbed to death.
On May 16 the body of Airis Estrella Enríquez, 7, was found in a cement-filled drum on a highway on the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez. She had been missing since May 2. Airis had been brutally raped and killed. Luis García Villalbazo was arrested on June 24 for the crime. Although he confessed to raping three other girls that identified him as their aggressor, he denies killing Airis.
Anhai Orozco Lerman, 10, was raped and strangled to death in her home in Ciudad Juárez on May 16. The authorities detained Antonio Ibáñez Durán, who confessed to the killing.
The body of Estela Berenice Gómez Amézquita, 19, was found in her home in Ciudad Juárez on May 23. She had been strangled and beaten to death. Her husband is suspected of the murder.
Marta Alicia Meraz Ramírez, 40, was killed on May 24 in Ciudad Juárez. According to authorities, she was shot twice by gang members while talking to a friend.
Authorities discovered the bodies of a man and a woman in a home in Ciudad Juárez on May 24. They suspect the woman was killed by her partner, who then committed suicide.
On July 25 two women were killed in Ciudad Juárez. One victim, Nohemí Díaz Moctezuma, 15, was shot to death. Police detained several gang members suspected in the shooting. The other victim, Olga Brisa Acosta Díaz, 35, was knifed to death, allegedly by her boyfriend's adolescent sons.
On August 4 the body of an unidentified woman, estimated to be 26 to 28 years old, was found shot to death in Ciudad Juárez.
An unidentified woman, estimated to be about 30 years old, was found dead in a motel in Ciudad Juárez on August 15. She had checked in with a masked man. One suspect was detained.
A week after Adriana Iveth González Zavala, 15, went missing from Chihuahua City, her body – with hands and feet bound – was found on August 15 in a nearby village. Adriana's cousin, Erika Ivón Ruiz Zavala, had been murdered in 2001; that crime remains unpunished.
On August 30 the semi-naked body of a young woman was found on a dirt road on the outskirts of Nuevo Casas Grandes, about 280 km southeast of Ciudad Juárez. The victim was identified as Angélica Isabel Pedroza Hernández, 23. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled and beaten to death. Police detained her boyfriend they following day.
On September 15, an elementary school teacher and her 21-year-old daughter were found murdered in different parts of Ciudad Juárez. The victims, Alma Delia Moreno Cadena, 41, and Diana Belem Ortega Moreno, were allegedly killed by two private security guards in the neighborhood where they lived.
On September 16 the body of Alejandra Díaz Sánchez, 13, was found inside her home in Ciudad Juárez. She had been raped and beheaded.
On September 27 police recovered the partially clad body of a woman who had been dumped on a soccer field in Ciudad Juárez, close to the offices of the state special prosecutor for women's homicides. The unidentified victim was between 40 and 50 years old. She had been beaten and raped.
In late September an unidentified 16-year-old girl was found murdered in Chihuahua City. Her body, found in the front seat of a car, showed signs of rape and strangulation.
Martha Granados Villegas, 37, was killed in Ciudad Juárez by her husband Leonel León Arenas Arenívar on October 21.
Homicide detectives reported finding the body of a woman inside an alleged drug storefront in downtown Ciudad Juárez on October 24.
On November 9, Ingrid Dayana Jiménez, 2 months old, was sexually assaulted and murdered in Ciudad Juárez. The person responsible was her father, Eduardo Daniel Jiménez Gastón, 20, who confessed to the crime explaining that Ingrid cried too much at night and did not let him sleep.
An unidentified woman, estimated to be about 35 years old, was found dead, semi-naked, with a strap around her neck in downtown Ciudad Juárez on December 21.
On December 24, the body of Claudia Flores Javier, 17, was found in her home in Ciudad Juárez. Three men have been arrested in connection to the crime. According to the state attorney general's office, the three men were drinking with Flores in her home when one of them proposed having sex with her. After Flores refused, the three raped her and one man hit her several times on the head with a blunt object, which has not been found. Officials had previously said Flores might have been shot to death and that she had not been raped.

Murders in 2004

Rebeca Contreras, 23, was found on March 10 in a part of Juárez where several victims have been found in the last decade. She had been tortured, raped, and strangled to death. The authorities immediately rejected the idea that her murder was related to the approximately 100 other killings involving rape and torture because she was not slender like the other victims and was suspected of using drugs. The federal authorities took over the investigation because of links to drug trafficking (a federal crime), but the state authorities continue to be responsible for the murder investigation. Four suspects were charged with drug trafficking and organized crime; no one has yet been charged with the murder. Rebeca was the mother of 3 children, the youngest of which was six months old.
Cristina Escobar González, 25, was beaten to death in Juárez on March 13. Initial police reports were contradictory, reporting first that they found her body in a room in a hotel, and then that they arrested Francisco Javier Martínez Lira, 19, when he was trying to put her body in a car trunk. Cristina was a dancer; the suspected assassin worked in the Lear factory.
The body of Lorenza Veronica Calderon, 32, was discovered on April 2, buried in the backyard of her Juárez home. She had been strangled to death by her husband, Martín Lascano, who was charged with the murder.
Verónica Ruiz, 32, was found in the village of Ascensión (on the outskirts of Juárez) on April 8. She had been raped and brutally beaten. She was found lying face down in a puddle.
Teresa Torbellin, a 33-year-old factory worker, was found on April 26 in Chihuahua City. She had gone missing on April 22, but state law does not allow families to file missing persons reports until 72 hours have passed since the disappearance, so her family could not report her missing until April 25. She had been beaten to death, and her bloody body had been dragged through bushes and dumped in an isolated area. Authorities initially claimed that she was a homeless woman who had died of natural causes.
Guadalupe Santos Gómez, 36 years old, was found murdered in Juárez on May 24. She had been strangled, partially stripped, and dumped on wasteland on the outskirts of town.
Luísa Rocío Chávez Chávez, 14 years old, was found murdered in Chihuahua City on May 28. She had disappeared the previous morning on her way home from the store. She had been raped and strangled to death. Her body was found partially clothed. Two suspects were immediately arrested.
Lorenza Clara Mavie Torres, 26 years old, was found on July 7 in Juárez. She had been killed, burned, and buried. Two suspects were charged in the murder, including her domestic partner, Reymundo Díaz Escárcega.
Alma Brisa Molina, a 34-year-old factory worker, was found murdered in Juárez on July 26. She had been raped and strangled to death. Her body, partially clothed in a bra and panties, was found by passers-by behind a shopping center not far from the offices of the state judicial and municipal police. Jorge Ramos was arrested and charged with the murder. (Authorities did not charge him with rape because they claimed the victim tried to charge him for having intercourse with her.)
The body of an unidentified woman was found on August 7 on the outskirts of Chihuahua City. The body was badly decomposed; authorities estimated that the woman's body had been exposed to the elements for anywhere from four to twelve months before being discovered.
The body of Lidia Elías Granados, 52 years old, was found on August 15 in Juárez. She had been strangled and dumped in a garbage can. According to the state prosecutor for women's homicides, there was no evidence of rape.
Ana Maria Reyes Valverde, 35, was killed by her domestic partner on September 16 in Juárez. He later committed suicide.
On October 6 an unidentified young woman, estimated to be about 25 years old, was found in Ciudad Juárez. There were reports that she had been raped and strangled to death. After news of the discovery aired on television, many families went to the authorities to see if the victim might be their missing daughter.
Sandra Ríos Salmón, 15, was found dead on October 23 in Chihuahua City. The autopsy revealed that she had been raped, beaten to death, and her neck had been broken; her body was found in a construction site in the south of the city. One suspect, Ramón Martínez Morales, was arrested in relation to the case. He and six other men were allegedly seen by neighbors forcing the young woman into an abandoned house.Martínez has denied the charges against him.
Martha Lizbeth Hernández Moreno, a 16-year-old student, was raped and strangled to death in Ciudad Juárez on November 2. Her body was found in a parking lot. Authorities received a call from neighbors, and police arrested José Luis Montes as he was fleeing the scene of the crime. He confessed to the murder, saying he had been using cocaine prior to the killing.
The body of Marta Cecilia Vázquez Jiménez, a young woman missing since July, was found in a field on November 25, 2004 (International Day Against Violence Against Women) in Ciudad Juárez. She was a business student.
The body of Cynthia Irasema Ramos, 21 years old, was found in Ciudad Juárez on December 3, 2004. She had
been raped and strangled to death minutes before her body was found on a sidewalk near a busy intersection in downtown Juárez. She worked as a waitress in a bar downtown, a few blocks from where she was found dead. Cynthia's sister, Rocío Lizeth Sepúlveda, has reported receiving threatening phone calls warning her not to investigate Cynthia's death. Family members believe her boyfriend may have been involved in the murder; however, the authorities were investigating the alleged involvement of a gang member whose description was given by witnesses.
Flor Fabiola Ferrer Rivera, 20 years old, was found in her apartment in Ciudad Juárez on December 9, 2004. She had been stabbed and strangled to death. The decomposed condition of the body suggested she had been dead for several days before she was found by co-workers at the restaurant where she worked, who were worried because she had not been to work in several days. Authorities suspect her boyfriend of the murder.

Information compiled by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) from reports by Mexican and U.S. press and NGOs, as well as from documents published by the Special Prosecutor for Attention to Crimes Related to the Homicides of Women in the Municipality of Juárez, Chihuahua and the Special Commissioner to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women in Juárez.

This list does not include homicides during robbery attempts (Margarita Juárez Torres, February 2, 2004) or drug-related shoot-outs (Irma Leticia Muller Ledezma, May 18, 2004; Rosina Solís Corral, April 22, 2004), nor one case where an entire family was killed by another family member (Alma Delia and Laura Ivete Chávez).

For more information, contact Maureen Meyer at (202) 797-2171

Updated List of Murders of Women in Juárez and Chihuahua City

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