the capital of serial killers

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MEXICO CITY. Relatives and sympathizers of a missing woman, who is presumed to be one of the victims of an alleged serial killer, protested on Friday in a place in the Mexican capital where bones and belongings of half a dozen women were located last week.

Protesters covered the facade of the apartment building with banners after investigators found bones, cell phones, a saw and identification documents of several women dating back to 2012 at the scene.

Doubts, years and suspicions in Mexico

Most of the banners posted Friday on the apartment building in an eastern part of the city posed variants of a single question: Why did prosecutors take 12 years to investigate the disappearance of Amairany Roblero, who was 18 at the time?

The high school student disappeared in 2012 and her parents never heard from her, nor from investigators, until last week. That’s an all-too-familiar pattern in missing persons cases in Mexico where prosecutors often leave the investigation in the hands of family members.

From the outskirts of the building where the alleged serial killer lived, who was captured ten days ago, was Cecilia González, Roblero’s mother, who told local media that her daughter disappeared when she went to pick up some photos at the place where she was in high school. accompanied by the alleged serial killer, but later did not arrive home.

“The Prosecutor’s Office had the file and everything, but they didn’t give any results to the parents,” said Alejandra Jiménez, a family friend who accompanied Roblero’s parents in the search and in the protest on Friday.

In fact, prosecutors never caught the killer. It was neighbors and police who arrested him last week after he allegedly broke into a neighbor’s apartment to kill his seventh victim and was interrupted and left a surviving witness.

The suspect — who was only identified by his first name Miguel in accordance with Mexican law — allegedly waited for a woman to leave her apartment last week and then ran in and sexually abused and strangled her 17-year-old daughter. .

The mother returned and saw the man leave, but he stabbed her in the neck and fled, according to authorities. The mother survived, but her daughter did not.

The suspect lived near the crime scene and was quickly identified and arrested. He has been ordered detained pending trial on charges of murder and attempted murder, both related to the most recent victims.

When referring to the case, the city prosecutor, Ulises Lara, stated on Thursday that the murderer was basically unstoppable because “he had not shown violent or aggressive behavior in his daily actions.”

Although the Mexico City authorities tried on Thursday to downplay the case, the protesters did not buy those excuses.

“They (the authorities) have all the means to locate missing people,” Jiménez said. “Instead of focusing on their political campaigns. Help all the mothers who are looking for their children.”

This week prosecutors finally called Roblero’s parents to tell them they had found unspecified “evidence” related to their daughter in a room rented by the suspect.

Previously, investigators said they found blood stains, bones, a saw, mobile phones and identity documents of the missing woman, as well as other “biological material” in the rooms. They also found notebooks that could narrate what the aggressor would have done to his victims, authorities reported.

“But they have not shown the parents any belongings, clothes, photos, anything,” Jiménez commented. “It is both physical and mental exhaustion for the parents.”

Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, a lawyer representing the family of another alleged victim, questioned why authorities did not investigate his disappearance sooner and only acted when evidence linked to his case appeared in the suspect’s apartment.

Without adequate funding, training or professionalism, prosecutors in Mexico’s capital have consistently failed to apprehend serial killers until the number of victims reaches a point that cannot be ignored.

Other serial killers in Mexico

In 2021, a serial killer in a Mexico City suburb was only captured after years of alleged crimes—19 dismembered bodies were found buried in his home—because his latest victim was the wife of a police commander. The commander burst into the suspect’s house with a group of other police officers, only to find a scene of horror.

In 2018, a Mexico City serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least 10 women was captured only when he was found pushing a dismembered body down the street in a baby stroller. He had dumped most of his victims’ bodies in vacant lots.