Nancy Karina Peralta

Nancy Karina Peralta

On February 1, 2002, 30 year old Nancy Karina Peralta left her home at 6am. She was going to work and then on to the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City where she was studying. She never returned home. The next day, her family began searching for her at local hospitals and police stations. When her sister went to file a missing person's report at the local police precinct, she was asked whether she was sure her sister had not run off with her boyfriend, and was informed that she would have to wait 48 hours to file the report. She provided a description of her sister and left a photograph. She also called the morgue and gave a description of her sister but was reportedly told that no young woman had been admitted. The morgue, however, had issued a death certificate a few hours earlier on behalf of an unidentified woman. The time of death was registered at 11 pm, 1 February 2002.

Two days later, the family identified Nancy Peralta at the morgue. This was after an article appeared in the local press about the discovery of the body of a young unidentified woman, wearing a white jumper. Her throat had been slashed; she had been brutally stabbed several times and left in a desolate area of Guatemala City. Despite the police having been given a description and photograph of Nancy Peralta, little, if any, effort was made to cross-reference data on a woman reported missing with that of unidentified murder victims.

Nancy Peralta’s family repeatedly insisted that the Public Ministry call potential witnesses and asked for an identikit picture to be made of the witness who had called the authorities the night she was murdered. They also insisted that the area where the body was found be inspected. Over two years later, the site had yet to be examined. To date, her case remains unresolved.