Latest / NO FILTER / _10_ Echoes in San Fernando - The Mother Who Hunted a Cartel

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_10_ Echoes in San Fernando - The Mother Who Hunted a Cartel · NO FILTER

• 0:01
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  Speaker 2: Before we begin, do you have a theory about this case,
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  Speaker 2: a future episode. I'm Harper Finley, and this is Nightwatch Files.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: March 22, 2017. Ciudad Victoria, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: place where cartel insignias outnumber street signs and law enforcement
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: and lawlessness are indistinguishable from each other. In the dead
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: of night, under a sky choked by storm clouds, 29
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: men slipped through the bowels of the C.D. 's prison,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: a facility notorious for overcrowding and corruption. Inside, hidden beneath
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: a trap door, lay a tunnel, five meters deep, stretching
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: 40 meters toward freedom, roughly the length of four city buses.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Using smuggled tools, crowbars, pickaxes, even a jury-rigged ventilation system
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: made from plastic pipes, they'd chipped away at the earth.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Prison officials later claimed ignorance, but locals whispered of bribes.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: At 3.14 a.m., chaos erupted. Surveillance footage showed figures sprinting
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: into the storm. One inmate, later identified as Marcos Ortiz,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: flagged down a passing Nissan Altima. When the driver, 34-year-old
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: mechanic Javier Hernandez, refused to surrender his keys, Ortiz fired
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: a single bullet into his chest. The carjacking made headlines,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: but the true terror lay in who now rode those
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: rain-slicked roads. Miriam Rodriguez received the call at dawn. As
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: founder of Colectivo de Familias de Desaparecidos, she'd spent years
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: hunting the men who kidnapped her daughter, Karen, in 2014.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Her investigative efforts and connections led to 11 arrests. Now,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: half of them were free. In San Fernando, Miriam loaded
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: her pistol. She knew the cartel's code. Death to snitches.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Weeks prior, a note had been slipped under her door.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: You're next. Her security detail? Dismissed by the state. Her allies?
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Terrified into silence. The escaped inmates didn't just want revenge.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: They wanted a message written in her blood. In the
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: early hours of January 24, 2014, in San Fernando, a
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: city located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, 34-year-old Azalea
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Rodriguez had been awakened by the shuffling of feet and
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: a groan she immediately recognized as her father, Luis, approaching
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: her front door. Having last spoken to her younger sister,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: 20-year-old Karen, at 3.30 p.m. the previous day, Azalea had
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: grown increasingly worried when her sister failed to respond to
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: calls and messages throughout the evening. Her unease was confirmed
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: by the disheveled and frightened state of her father, from
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: whom she had been estranged for nearly two years. As
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Luis stepped inside, his phone rang, and Azalea instinctively knew
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: it concerned Karen. The caller, identifying himself as part of
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: the group holding Karen, the feared Zeta cartel, stated that
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: after much discussion, They were demanding a ransom of one
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: million pesos, around $ 75, 000, for her return. Then Karen herself
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: came on the phone, her voice sounding less than certain
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: as she urged her father to pay, claiming it was
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: solely about the money and that her release would follow.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: The call ended abruptly, leaving Azalea and her father in
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: stunned silence, grappling with the enormity of the demands. Azalea
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: then made the difficult call to her brother, Luis Hector,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: who lived in Ciudad Victoria, and immediately promised to return home. Finally,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Azalea faced the call she dreaded most, informing her mother
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: of Karen's kidnapping. Miriam Rodriguez, then working as a housekeeper
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: and nanny in McAllen, Texas, received a distressing 4 a.m.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: phone call from her daughter, Azalea. Azalea, sobbing, delivered the
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: devastating news that Karen had been kidnapped. Miriam without hesitation
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: packed her belongings, left a note for her employers, and
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: by 6 a.m. was waiting for a bus from Reynosa
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: to San Fernando, embarking on a two-hour journey through the
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: heart of Tamaulipas, the same route she had traveled with
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Karen as a toddler over 20 years prior. This return
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: trip was marked by profound grief and a growing understanding
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: of the chasm left by a kidnapped loved one. As
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: the bus traveled through the near dark, Miriam sat near
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: the back and wept silently. Others on the bus attempted
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: to offer consolation, recognizing her distress. However, Miriam, who typically
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: maintained a guarded demeanor around strangers, was consumed by her sorrow.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: It was during this journey, amidst her private anguish laid
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: bare in the shared space of public transport, that an
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: interaction occurred that would prove pivotal in her relentless pursuit
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: of justice. An elderly man seated across the aisle from
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: her extended a simple gesture of human kindness. He handed
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Miriam his handkerchief and asked, Are you okay? Despite her
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: usual reticence, Miriam received his compassion. Instinctively knowing what this
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: was about, kidnappings for ransom was a booming business at
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the time, the man shared with her that his son
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: was a Mexican Marine and provided a piece of paper
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: containing his contact information, Lieutenant Alex, assuring Miriam that he
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: would help her with what she needed. Meanwhile, Azalea and
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: her father drove to Miriam's house, where Karen had been living.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Luis recounted having already visited the house after the initial
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: call at midnight, finding Karen's truck gone but the lights
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: and television left on. Arriving again near dawn, they found
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: the front door unlocked and Karen's purse inside, its contents
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: spilled out, a detail absent from Luis's earlier visit. The
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: house was in disarray, suggesting a struggle. They sought out
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Karen's cousins, who had been with her the previous evening.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: He revealed that Karen had received a call during their meal,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: abruptly stating she needed to give a ride to a
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: friend named Ulysses, whom even the cousin did not know.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: As Luis went home to shower before heading to the
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: bank to seek a loan for the ransom, Azalea went
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: to the bus station to meet her mother. On the
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: bus nearing San Fernando, Miriam's anxiety was palpable. She asked
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: the driver to stop a few blocks before the terminal
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: and wary of potential Zeta surveillance. Embracing Azalea on the street,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Miriam's relief at seeing her daughter was short-lived as her
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: phone rang. It was the same voice that had contacted Luis,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: now brusque and demanding with Miriam. After outlining their demands,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: the caller passed the phone to Karen. Miriam's voice cracked
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: with guilt and fear as she asked about her daughter's well-being,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: but Karen, sounding rehearsed, insisted it was only about the money.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: The kidnapper hung up abruptly, leaving Miriam in tears. Luis,
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: having secured a loan, local banks had grimly begun offering
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: loans for such purposes, was finalizing the details when the
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: kidnappers called again, demanding the money earlier than agreed. Despite
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: his objections, they insisted the ransom be delivered alone to
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: the San Fernando Health Center. The family pooled their life
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: savings with the bank loan, amounting to less than $ 10, 000.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Miriam positioned herself down the street from the health center
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: to observe the handoff. Two hours late, a teenage boy arrived,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: collected the money, and tersely told Luis that Karen would
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: be at the cemetery in 20 minutes. They drove to
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: the cemetery and waited in vain until dark. Calls to
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: the kidnappers yielded assurances of bad weather delaying Karen's release.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: The following day passed with agonizing anticipation. An unspoken fear
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: began to take hold. What if Karen wasn't coming back?
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: The next morning brought a call from a neighbor. A
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: cherry red Explorer had been seen outside Miriam's house and
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: two women had entered with a key leaving with a jacket, shoes,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: and Karen's purse. The family clung to this as a
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: sign of hope. However, later that day, the kidnappers called again,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: demanding more money. Luis emotionally and financially depleted refused to respond.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Miriam's enraged exclamation of their lack of further funds was
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: met with silence. Calling the police remained out of the question,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: deemed too dangerous for Karen. With nothing else to do,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Miriam asked Azalea's husband, Ernesto, to take her to her
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: own house. Despite her apprehension, she felt a growing curiosity
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: about the kidnappers and any clues they might have left behind.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: En route, at a local diner called Las Palmas, Miriam
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: spotted the cherry red explorer the neighbor had mentioned and
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: saw two men leaving, one of whom she thought looked familiar.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Inside her house, Miriam found further signs of the kidnapping
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: and a struggle, including cut charging cords and scattered papers.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: She also discovered a work ID belonging to Karen's Venezuelan
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: boyfriend and a pair of men's boots. The scattered evidence
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: offered no clear answers. That evening, a visitor arrived at
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Azalea's house, Carlos' mother. Carlos, a family friend who had
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: gone to Miriam's house to fix Karen's truck the night
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: of the kidnapping, had also been taken, his mother revealed.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: The kidnappers had called her that morning demanding a ransom,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: and upon hearing she had no money, chillingly declared they
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: would send him back in pieces. Quick break. Ads keep
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: the show running, but if you want to skip them,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: the ad-free version's on Patreon for just three bucks a month.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Links in the show notes. And we're back. Thanks for
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: sticking through that. Let's get back to it. The following
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: day while driving, Miriam noticed the red Explorer following her.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Before she could react, the driver cut her off, and
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: two young men emerged. The taller one, asking if she
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: was Karen's mother, instructed her to meet him alone in
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: ten minutes at Restaurant El Junior. Inside, Miriam sat across
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: from the Zeta, whom she recognized from Las Palmas. He
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: was referred to as Sama on his handheld radio, and
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: he claimed to be a commander who could help get
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Karen back. Another, younger man sat beside him, eating. Sama
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: assured Miriam that Karen was alive and well, even suggesting
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: she was unusually relaxed. He stated that he wanted to
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: let her go, but needed the approval of L. Larry,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: who ran the Zeta cartel in San Fernando. Sama offered
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: his help for $ 1, 600. Despite her distrust, the overwhelming desire
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: to believe Karen was alive led Miriam to agree. Having
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: been taken to the restaurant by Azalea, Miriam had no
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: choice but to accept Sama's offer to take her home.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Being seen entering her older daughter's car after being told
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: to be there alone was too much of a risk
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: not worth taking. Sama then drove her back to Azalea's,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: revealing he already knew where she was staying. More than
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: a week passed with no word after paying Sama. Azalea's
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: living room became a makeshift operations center filled with the
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: signs of worry. Occasional calls from unknown numbers raised fleeting hopes,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: often turning out to be unrelated ransom demands. Two weeks
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: after Karen's disappearance, a call seemed genuine, with the voice
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: on the line claiming the commander had ordered Karen's return
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: for a small additional payment. Despite her suspicion, Miriam paid
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: the $ 400, the penury of love driving her to grasp
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: at any possibility. She waited in the plaza until nightfall,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: well past the designated time, before accepting it was another
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: false hope. Two weeks after Karen's disappearance, Miriam and Azalea
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: were driving, searching for the Red Explorer, when they spotted
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Karen's friend Lachapara at a roadside meat shop, acting suspiciously.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Miriam noted the restaurant's strategic location with a clear view
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: of the old municipal dump, rumored to be a Zeta camp,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: suspecting Lachapara was a lookout. Not long after, at a
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: grocery store, Miriam saw Sama with an older man she
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: assumed was his boss. Confronting Sama, she demanded to know
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Karen's whereabouts. Startled, Sama gave her a number and promised
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: to speak later before hurrying after his associate. Days turned
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: to weeks, and Miriam saw the truth before anyone else
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: dared to speak it. One night, on the one-month anniversary
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: of Karen's disappearance, a transformation occurred. She turned to Azalea
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: and said it out loud. Karen's never coming home. Her
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: voice was steel. No tears, no trembling, just cold, burning resolve.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: She picked up her purse, walked to Luis's truck, pulled
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: out the scrap of paper, and dialed. Lieutenant Alex answered
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: on the first ring. Miriam Rodriguez was born in 1960,
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: the youngest of nine children, on a ranch known as
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Rancho Loma Prieta, located about 12 miles south of San Fernando.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Her parents were ranch hands and farmers who worked a
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: modest 30-acre plot. cultivating sorghum and corn and raising animals
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: primarily for their own consumption. Being born 20 years after
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: her oldest sibling, Miriam benefited from the changing times, receiving
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: an opportunity for education in town alongside her brother Jorge,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: a privilege not afforded to her older siblings who worked
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: on the ranch with their father. San Fernando, for the
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: better part of two centuries, had been a small cattle
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: ranching town, but by the time of Miriam's birth, it
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: was undergoing significant urbanizations. Known then as Villa San Fernando,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: it was still a place where most residents knew each other. Miriam, however,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: possessed a certain sophistication and quick intellect that set her apart.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Even as a young girl, she advised her older brothers
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: on their problems and excelled in school, even teaching herself
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: to type before graduating. As a teenager, Miriam displayed a
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: strong-willed and determined personality, finding it difficult to concede a point.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: In high school, she fell in love with Luis Salinas,
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: a conceited athlete. They began dating, meeting secretly away from
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: her parents' watchful eyes. Miriam was three years younger than Luis,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: whose family owned a household goods store in town. Their
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: relationship progressed until Luis graduated and moved to the United
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: States to work in a factory, seeking opportunities beyond the
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: limited scope of agriculture and ranching in San Fernando at
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: the time. Not long after Luis's departure, At the age
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: of 17, Miriam discovered she was pregnant. In the conservative
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: social climate of 1970s Mexico, this news led her parents
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: to all but disown her. Luis was unaware of the
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: pregnancy and Miriam chose not to tell him as their
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: communication had ceased after he left for Texas without any
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: explicit promises of a future together. Rather than apologizing for
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: her situation, Miriam demonstrated her independence by packing her bags
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: and moving to the opposite end of the country to
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: live with her eldest sister, Socorro. There, she supported herself
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: by selling Avon products, displaying a knack for connecting with people,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: and a charmingly pushy sales style. Despite her initial resolve,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Miriam grew restless for home. Her foray into business was
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: driven by a singular goal, to return to San Fernando
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: and forge her own life. Three weeks after giving birth
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: to her daughter Azalea in December 1977, Miriam returned to
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: San Fernando, testing her parents' pronouncements of disownment. Seeing their
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: grandchild soften their stance, and Miriam moved back home. She
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: still maintained her stubborn nature by refusing to contact Luis,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: believing he would reach out if he wanted to see
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: her again. An eventual encounter with his sisters in town,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: who recognized Azalea as Luis's child, led to them informing him,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: and he proposed marriage a few days later. They married
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: in January 1978, altering Azalea's birth date to shield her
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: from the social stigma of being born out of wedlock.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Eager to return to work, Luis left for the United
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: States shortly after the wedding. Miriam resumed life as a
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: single mother, now with her parents' approval. She found employment
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: with the government, which was expanding its efforts to modernize
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: farming in Mexico. This job not only provided a good income,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: but also valuable benefits. allowing Miriam to build a life
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: for her family during a time of economic prosperity known
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: as the Mexican Miracle. Working in the agriculture department, Miriam
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: served as a key point of contact for local farmers
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: and ranchers, drawing on her own background as the daughter
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: of a farmhand to understand their needs. She also displayed
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: her entrepreneurial spirit by starting a side business selling cowboy boots,
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: which she sourced from Guanajuato and found a ready market
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: for in San Fernando. Their family grew with the birth
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: of a son, Luis Hector, in 1984, and later, in 1992,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: their youngest daughter, Karen, was born, marking a period of
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: relative financial ease for the family. In 1997, a significant
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: health crisis impacted Miriam's life when, at the age of 37,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: she received a diagnosis of cancer. This news came as
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: a shock, and the doctor's initial prognosis was dire, suggesting
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: she would face a difficult battle. Determined to survive for
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: her three young children, Azalea, then 19, Luis Hector, just
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: barely 13, and Karen, 4, Miriam confronted the challenge of
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: securing adequate medical care after her departure from her government position.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: The family made the decision for Luis to formalize his business,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: allowing him to hire Miriam and provide her with access
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: to the IMSS healthcare system. After the initial operations, The
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: same doctor informed Miriam that the surgery was unsuccessful and
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: the cancer was still present, suggesting a terminal situation. Miriam
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: subsequently found a highly recommended specialist who worked within the
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: IMSS system in Matamoros. She underwent long weeks of radiation
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: and chemotherapy, commuting by bus and often returning nauseated from
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: the treatment. A year into it, her doctor suggested removing
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: her uterus. Following this surgery, Miriam began a slow recovery process.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Her children, Luis Hector and Azalea, helped clean her wounds
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: to prevent infection. Miriam's return to health was complicated by
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: the treatment impacting her thyroid, causing her to gain weight rapidly.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Despite this, she remained deeply involved in her children's lives.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Years later, around 2007 when considering gastric bypass surgery, Miriam
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: referenced her past cancer diagnosis when asked by Azalea if
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: she was frightened of the procedure, saying, I feel like
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: I answered that question with the cancer diagnosis. If that
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: didn't kill me, you think this will? This newfound physical
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: freedom allowed her to more readily manage her businesses, help
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: care for Azalea's son born in 2000, and visit Luis
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Hector who returned to Ciudad Victoria in 2007 to finish
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: his studies. Up until 2013, Miriam had established herself as
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: a resilient and determined individual, navigating significant personal and health
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: challenges while raising her family and running successful businesses in
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: San Fernando. As her children transitioned into young adulthood, the
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: town itself was experiencing a shift with the growing presence
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: and influence of drug cartels, unknowingly setting the stage for
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: the tragic events that would soon befall her family. The
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: war between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas arrived in
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: San Fernando in the early morning hours of March 31st, 2010.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: marked by what initially appeared to be a routine call
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: to the police. A fisherman's truck had reportedly overturned along
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: the highway south of San Fernando, a few miles before
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: the Y Junction that separated the entrance to town from
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: a freeway. A small crew of local policemen and paramedics,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: including Captain Angel's firefighter squad which served as first responders,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: raced out of San Fernando to the site at kilometer
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: marker 153, nestled in the foothills of the Loma Prieta mountain.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: For months, rumors of a brewing war between the Gulf
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: Cartel and the Zetas had circulated. Following their split, anonymous
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: social media posts had even warned of an imminent assault
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: on San Fernando by the Zetas, who had been run
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: out of town by the Gulf Cartel in January 2010.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: While the border town of Reynosa and other areas in
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Tamaulipas had already experienced violence as the two groups battled
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: for territorial control, San Fernando had remained relatively quiet. By
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: March 2010, the vigilance of the local police, who took
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: their orders from the Gulf cartel, had waned, with some
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: even dismissing the warnings of a Zeta assault as mere bluster.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Instead of positioning lookouts along the highway leading to Ciudad Victoria,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: a Zeta stronghold about 15 police units were stationed within
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: San Fernando's town limits, near a local trade school, not
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: far from Miriam Rodriguez's house. When the call about the
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: overturned truck came in around 4 a.m., 10 of the
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: police units were dispatched to the crash site, approximately six
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: miles south of town. The remaining units stayed behind, stationed
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: outside the school. The scene at kilometer marker 153 appeared unremarkable.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: a single driver who refused medical attention, and a rolled truck.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: The paramedics, local cops, and federal highway officers stood in
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: the quiet stupor often associated with early morning traffic incidents,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: awaiting further instructions. Angel, the captain of the firefighter squad,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: felt uneasy as he scanned the area around the crash site.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: The highway undulated before abruptly swerving south toward the state capitol,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: the bend concealed by a large mountain. Angel had been
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: hearing increasing reports of shootings along the highways. Just the
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: day before, two federal highway cops had been killed in
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Las Norias, south of their current location. He instructed his
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: men to pack up, not wanting them to linger on
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: the road unnecessarily. Some of his crew demurred, wanting to
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: finish smoking, but Angel reminded them of the recent killings
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: in Las Norias, stating, Well, those people are still out there.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: As they began to gather their equipment, the officers heard
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: movement along the edges of the highway, a low rumble. Suddenly,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: a cascade of lights pierced the darkness of the scrubland,
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: tearing along the dirt roads that ran parallel to the highway,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: accompanied by the growing sound of engines and tires on sand.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: For a moment, the police froze, mesmerized and terrified by
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: the unexpected light show. The sight of dozens of trucks
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: snapped them out of their paralysis. Someone was coming. having
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: waited in the dark for the opportune moment. A parade
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: of heavy-duty vehicles then spilled onto the highway, a chaotic
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: display of trucks, trailers, SUVs, and gun-mounted rigs spray-painted with
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: the letter Z. The convoy sped toward San Fernando like
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: unhinged fighters heading into their first battle. The police, with
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: a brief head start, fled, bellowing into their radios,' They' re
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: shooting at us! They're shooting at us! These bastards are
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: coming from all sides!' Near the entrance to town, the
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Zeta convoy split, with some vehicles diverting to the highway bypass,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: looping east toward the town center, while others drove directly
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: toward the fleeing police convoy on the south side. This
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: second group chased the police vehicles, firing wildly at the
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: patrol cars, which nearly crashed into their parked colleagues outside
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: the trade school. The officers at the checkpoint, having abandoned
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: their posts, cowered in a nearby construction site, as their
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: vehicles were riddled with gunfire for nearly 10 minutes, turning
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: the squad cars into burning wreckage. The panicked cries on
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: the police radio frequencies went unanswered. Angel, the emergency responder,
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: heard the frantic calls as he and his men drove
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: back toward town. He decided to pull his vehicle to
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: the side of the bypass. His boss called, warning him
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: that the city was no longer safe. The Zeta convoy
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: had broken through the police blockade and was wreaking havoc
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: attacking every government building with automatic gunfire. The deep explosions of.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: 50 caliber rounds echoed through town. In his rearview mirror,
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Angel saw another convoy speeding toward him. Accepting his imminent death,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: he reclined in his seat. However, as the vehicles passed,
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: they weren't shooting. They were honking their horns, mocking him,
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: and calling for him to join them. He counted 49
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: vehicles in all. The Zeta takeover of San Fernando had
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: begun with a brazen display of force, targeting the symbols
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: of government authority. Quick break. Ads keep the show running,
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: but if you want to skip them, the ad-free version's
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: on Patreon for just three bucks a month. Links in
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: the show notes. And we're back. Thanks for sticking through that.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Let's get back to it. Having encountered Sama and others
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: involved in the ransom demands, Miriam came to understand that
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: her initial belief that Karen might still be alive eventually
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: gave way to the assumption she was dead. By late February,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: she had lifted herself out of despair and had pronounced
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Karen dead. It was at this point she pondered how
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: to track down the people responsible. Miriam had a history
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: of taking action herself. Back in 1989, she had found
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: culprits and recovered stolen goods after thieves emptied her husband's safe.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: And in 2012, she had insisted on paying the ransom
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: herself when kidnappers threatened her daughter Azalea's husband. This fearless
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: and relentless nature, though sometimes making others uneasy, served her
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: mission now. Miriam made Sama her target number one, setting
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: her sights on finding him. Miriam quickly realized that while
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: the Mexican Marines she began working with from her connection
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: to Lieutenant Alex could conduct lethal operations, they could not
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: build a legal case against the responsible individuals or bring closure.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: She came to the unwelcome conclusion that she needed to
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: work with the police and leverage state investigators who had
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: the authority to detain suspects and raid homes. To mobilize
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: the system, however, she needed specific information. She was certain
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: she could recognize Sama, but she needed his identity. Without
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: his proper name, the police could not issue a warrant,
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: and as far as the legal system was concerned, he
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: was no one, an alter ego floating over the criminal landscape,
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: a ghost. The system mattered to Miriam because it meant
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: resources and the legal authority to seek justice, but it
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: was dysfunctional and required connections and patience. Getting things done
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: often meant working the rusted gears of the bureaucracy, with
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: a deep familiarity with its Baroque language and an inexhaustible
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: well of patience and energy. Determined to get Sama's real name,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: Miriam understood there was no magic to investigation, just the
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: need to put in the work, be methodical about your process.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Fueled by this understanding and her desperate resolve, Miriam began
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: searching for Sama through available means. For months, she had
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: been searching the name Sama on social media, specifically Facebook,
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: hoping he might make a mistake and reveal his identity
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: or post a photograph. It was through this sustained effort
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: that Miriam experienced a breakthrough. While scrolling through Facebook on
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: her cell phone one day in early July, she let
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: out a shriek. She had found a photograph that, despite
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: being a poor image, was definitively him. She recognized his
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: lanky frame, thin face, and curly hair. Beside Sama in
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: the photograph was a young woman wearing a distinctive uniform,
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: that of a local ice cream chain, Helado Sultana. Miriam
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: realized that this seemingly minor detail was a crucial lead.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: The Helado Sultana chain, however, had dozens of locations spread
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: across the state. Miriam mentally prepared herself for the monumental
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: task of visiting every single one to find the woman
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: from the photo. Sama had previously told Miriam he had
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: been living in Ciudad Victoria. and this seemed like a
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: logical place to begin her search, as the state capital
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: had only four branches of Helados Sultana. The journey to
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Ciudad Victoria was fraught with danger, involving travel on a
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: single-lane road known to be trafficked by Zetas, but Miriam
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: made the trip repeatedly on her mission. For weeks, she
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: endured long hours sitting outside the entrances of the Helados
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Sultana locations in Ciudad Victoria, patiently surveilling for the face
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: of the girl she had seen in the Facebook photograph.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: After weeks of painstaking surveillance, Miriam's perseverance paid off. She
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: finally spotted Sama's girlfriend emerging from one of the Helado
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: Sultana stores. Miriam continued to observe the situation, waiting until
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: Sama himself eventually arrived. Now knowing where he was frequenting,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Miriam's next objective was to obtain his real name. To
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: facilitate this, she adopted a disguise. She cut her hair
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: short and dyed it a bright red, a color she
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: believed was attention-grabbing that distracted from one's face. She retrieved
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: an old uniform and her expired government ID card from
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: her previous employment with the state health department, intending to
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: play the part of a state worker. Dressed in her disguise,
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Miriam returned to the neighborhood in Ciudad Victoria, where she
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: had followed Sama and his girlfriend. With her expired identification
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: card displayed around her neck, she began a systematic process,
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: starting with the first house on the street. Going door
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: to door, Miriam conducted a mock survey of every home
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: on the block. She asked residents questions, such as the
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: number of children, adults, and elderly people living there, ensuring
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: her questions were convincing enough to maintain her cover. Crucially,
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: she also asked for the names and birthdates of all residents,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: recording this information in an official-looking notebook. By the conclusion
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: of that day, Miriam had successfully gathered the details of
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: everyone on the block. Among this acquired information was the
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: specific piece she had desperately sought, Sama's real name, along
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: with his date of birth, which was December 23, 1994.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: This hard-earned information, obtained through her own relentless investigative work,
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: finally provided Miriam with the necessary details to formalize a
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: complaint and apply pressure on the police to issue an
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: arrest warrant for Sama. On the afternoon of July 31, 2014,
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: she called the Special Unit for the Investigation and Prosecution
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: of Kidnapping in Tamaulipas, the group responsible for Karen's case.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: After asking her usual, often futile, question about new developments,
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: Miriam relayed the new details she had discovered through her
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: own investigation. She identified the Zeta, known as Sama, and
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: demanded that the state authorities issue an arrest warrant for him.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: She shared his name, date of birth, the name of
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: his common-law partner, and their shared address, which the agents
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: recorded for the growing case file. She ended the call
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: with her typical promise to continue investigating. Believing she had
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: done their job for them, Miriam expected the authorities to
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: act swiftly. However, a week passed with no action, so
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Miriam tried another approach. sending them a formal request to
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: launch an investigation into Sama. She later requested that Sama's
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: home be raided, starting with asking officials to confirm his address.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Months after Miriam filed the complaint and began applying pressure,
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Fortune intervened. Luis Hector kept several photos of Sama on
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: his cell phone and reviewed them regularly. He had a
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: store selling boots and hats in Ciudad Victoria, located near
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: downtown in the historic center where state government buildings were situated.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: One evening, Luis Hector planned to close his store early
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: to go to the plaza, but he was delayed because
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: his neighbor asked him to watch her store. He sat
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: on a chair in front of his store, observing dozens
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: of people heading towards the plaza. While waiting, he noticed
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: a shopper trying on hats near the entrance of his store.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: This young man was tall, skinny, with slightly curly hair,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: and was wearing jeans and a light blue shirt. Luis
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: Hector felt the individual looked vaguely familiar. The young man
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: commented to someone with him about how cool a hat
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: was and said he would return to buy it tomorrow.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Luis Hector then saw the young man with a group
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: that included a mother, a father, and what appeared to
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: be a girlfriend. It was at this moment that it
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: struck him that the young man admiring hats was Sama.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: Recognizing him, Luis Hector's heart began racing. He immediately jumped
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: up and quickly started closing his store, yanking down the
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: metal curtain and closing the register. He kept his eye
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: on Sama, who was already moving into the crowd with
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: his arm around his girlfriend. Luis Hector fumbled with the
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: locks to the gate as his neighbor returned, waved her off,
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: and raced down the steps into the crowd, not stopping
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: to clear the till or turn off the lights. On
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: the street, Luis Hector followed Sama, maintaining a short distance,
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: and being careful not to lose him in the crowds
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: heading towards Plaza 15. He called his mother, who was
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: in her store with Azalea, and asked what he should do.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Miriam instructed him, don't let him out of your sight,
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: and said she would make a call, telling him to
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: stay with Sama and not let him see him. Miriam
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: then called a federal police officer she had met at
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Restaurant El Junior, who answered right away. She explained the situation.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: stating her son was following the man responsible for taking
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: her daughter and emphasizing it was a chance to apprehend
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: the bad guy. Miriam passed the officer's phone number to
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Luis Hector. The officer asked where Luis Hector was and
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: he whispered his location, in the Centro, heading toward Plaza 15.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: The officer confirmed he was on his way and told him,
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: don't lose him and don't lose faith. Police checkpoints were
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: already set up at the plaza entrances, requiring everyone, including Sama,
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: to pass through metal detectors. Miriam called Luis Hector repeatedly
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: to check in, but he eventually asked her to stop
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: to avoid potentially making Sama suspicious, as Sama had no
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: idea who Luis Hector was or that he even existed.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: Luis Hector felt afraid, seeing Sama as the devil himself,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: and worried about losing him. After about 30 minutes, which
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: felt like an eternity, Luis Hector called the officer again.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: The officer seemed relaxed and confirmed he was close, heading
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: toward the plaza on foot. Miriam had previously advised the
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: federal police officer not to arrive with a convoy of vehicles,
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: blaring sirens and flashing lights, calling it making a scandal,
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: as it would cause Sama to flee. Luis Hector angled
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: himself towards the main church. The three officers arrived and
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: he walked them to within 30 feet of Sama. Sama
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: still had his arm around his girlfriend when the commanding
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: officer grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Luis Hector watched from a distance, finding everything too calm.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: Through the phone, when Luis Hector called the officer again
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: to ask what was happening, he could hear Sama yelling
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: about a heart condition and claiming he couldn't be a
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: criminal because he was too unhealthy. Luis Hector felt it
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: seemed too friendly and began to fret. calling the officer
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: again and begging him to arrest Sama. The officer laughed, said,
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: We have him, and told Luis Hector to get his
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: mother there as fast as she could. Sama was not handcuffed,
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: as he was too frightened to run. Officers escorted him
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: out past the barrier fences along the plaza, and Luis
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: Hector lost sight of him. The family later converged at
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: the special unit for kidnapping at the state attorney general's
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: office where Sama had been taken. Luis Hector waited outside
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: for over an hour, his heart still racing, wanting to
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: confront Sama face to face. However, Miriam stopped him at
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: the door, telling him, no, not you, and adding, they
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: don't know you exist. You are our secret weapon. After
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: a long night of interrogation, Sama began to talk. He
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: offered some lies, claiming to be only a lookout and
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: hearing secondhand about Karen. However, he could not lie entirely
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: because Miriam was present during the questionings. able to testify
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: that he had personally demanded and received bribes for Karen's rescue.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Sama attempted to push the blame onto others, a tactic
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: that ironically gave Miriam an advantage by providing her with
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: more names to investigate. As Miriam jotted down notes, she
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: also fed questions to the investigators. Sama, prompted by questioning
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: influenced by Miriam's knowledge, implicated others, including Cristiano, stating that
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: Cristiano had told him, Karen had been killed at a
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: ranch near Paso Real, close to the exit for Ciudad
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: Victoria and the federal police barracks. Sama also corroborated that
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: the ransom payment had been received in San Fernando, handed
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: off by Karen's father nearby the health center. Officials took
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: a photo of Sama shirtless, his face showing fear, his
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: eyes red and appearing to brim with tears. With Sama
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: in custody and talking, Miriam had achieved a critical breakthrough
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: in her relentless quest for justice for Karen. Quick break.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: Ads keep the show running, but if you want to
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: skip them, the ad-free version's on Patreon for just three
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: bucks a month. Links in the show notes. And we're back.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: Thanks for sticking through that. Let's get back to it.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: Miriam focused her efforts on the next key individual revealed
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: by the unfolding investigation, Cristiano. Miriam had already known Cristiano's name,
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: having heard it months earlier from Carlos, the family friend
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: who had been kidnapped the same night as Karen. Carlos,
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: though traumatized and initially reluctant to speak beyond Facebook messages,
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: had eventually shared more names he overheard while blindfolded, El Chepo,
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: El Flaco de la Ribereña, and Commander Cherokee. Sama's account
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: corroborated Cristiano's involvement and linked him directly to the alleged
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: killing site and the ransom exchange. With El Chepo already
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: in prison for an unrelated kidnapping and C. Can, another
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: name mentioned by Sama, reported dead, Cristiano emerged as a
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: primary target. Sama had placed Cristiano in a position of
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: authority in his own testimony, potentially to divert blame. But
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: Miriam reasoned that Cristiano, with his childish frame and teenage hunger,
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: might be more forthcoming than Sama if apprehended. Eventually, based
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: on the intelligence Miriam gathered, a federal police officer was
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: able to locate Cristiano. He was found more or less
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: where Sama had suggested he would be, peddling dime bags
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: of pot on the street. The officer spotted the young man,
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: who was wearing jeans and a red t-shirt and carrying
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: a backpack. As the officer followed him, Cristiano picked up
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: his pace and began looking left and right, as if
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: preparing to flee down a side street. Before he could
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: make a break for it, the policeman jumped out of
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: his vehicle and arrested him. Cristiano was taken without a
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: fuss and admitted his identity almost immediately. The officers drove
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Cristiano to the special unit for kidnapping where Sama had
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: been taken they waited for Miriam to arrive. Miriam was
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: granted access to the interviews, a testament to her critical
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: role in the investigation. As author Azam Ahmed in Fear
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: is Just a Word notes, she knew more than any
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: of the police, and without her they would not know
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: what questions to ask, how to frame them, or what
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: evidence Miriam had already collected that might implicate Cristiano. Cristiano
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: was clearly shaken during the interrogation, his voice quivering when
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: he spoke. At one point, during a break from the questioning,
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: he asked for his mother and said he was hungry.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: Hearing him ask for his mother evoked a pang of
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: sympathy in Miriam, a feeling described as more primal than rage.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: She went into the room where the young man was
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: seated and offered him a piece of wrapped chicken she
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: had brought for herself, in case the interrogation ran long.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: An officer present was visibly angry and confused by Miriam's
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: act of kindness, noting what Cristiano had done. Miriam, however,
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: calmly shrugged, explaining that it was possible to hold two
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: truths at once, the hatred of a murderer and sympathy
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: for a scared boy. She saw him as a child,
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: regardless of his actions, and hearing him ask for his
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: mother reminded her of her own child. Cristiano, speaking as
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: if unburdening himself, began to share details that Sama had
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: only alluded to or omitted entirely. He provided new names
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: to the investigators. including names Miriam had previously heard from
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: Carlos and through her own investigation, but he gave them
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: context and specific actions tied to each individual. He confirmed,
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: for instance, that a man named Cuitol had been involved
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: in the kidnapping and had been killed by the Marines
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: in their raid on the Basorero Ranch alongside Cican, Margarita,
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: and Jessica. Cristiano's testimony confirmed the site of a mass grave.
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: This information was invaluable because spoke enough of the truth
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: to make the lies feel more plausible. Cristiano's account helped
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: locate where Karen had been killed. The names he shared
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: required validation, a way to connect them to physical characteristics,
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: birth dates, or property, as Miriam had done with Sama.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: While Miriam did not doubt that the people he named
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: were involved, she needed to understand how and how to
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: find them. Cristiano's detailed testimony combined with Sama's information provided
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: essential pieces that began to assemble the complex puzzle of
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: Karen's disappearance and murder. According to the intel gathered by
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: Miriam and the investigators, mainly from the interrogations of Sama
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: and Cristiano, Karen was believed to have been killed at
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: a ranch in the El Lodo area near Paso Real,
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: a location also known as El Basurero. This was a
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: remote area used by the Zetas. In the early hours
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: of March 10, 2014, Mexican Marines conducted a raid on
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: this ranch, resulting in the deaths of several individuals. Chalo,
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: who operated Funerales La Paz, was called to the scene
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: that morning to collect the bodies of six people killed
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: in the raid. At the site of the raid, Miriam,
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: who was present in disguise, discovered items belonging to Karen,
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: including a scarf and a seat cushion, offering a devastating
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: confirmation that her daughter had been held there. The six
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: bodies collected by Chalo on March 10, 2014, which included
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: three young men and three young women, were identified as
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: individuals involved in Karen's murder, though only one of the
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: six was later claimed from the funeral home. Months after
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: this initial raid, in July 2014, forensic specialists conducted a
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: search at the Basurero Ranch and discovered three ribs in
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: the silty earth in front of an old red tractor.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: Miriam was present during this search. Suspecting that these bones
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: might belong to Karen, she formally requested that the government
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: assign a forensic analyst to the case. The process of
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: officially designating an expert took months, occurring on September 27, 2014,
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: despite the request being made the same day the remains
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: were collected, July 17, 2014. On January 7, 2015, the
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: state laboratory reported a positive DNA match between the genetic
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: profiles of Miriam and Luis, Karen's father, and the three
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: ribs collected in July 2014. The laboratory confirmed that these
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: ribs were Karen's. Despite this official confirmation, Miriam remained skeptical
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: of the state lab's findings, influenced by a lack of
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: trust in government processes which she perceived as often unreliable
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: due to incompetence or a desire to obscure the truth.
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: She felt the need to be absolutely certain. Miriam was
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: determined to find more of Karen's remains, knowing that a
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: human body contains 206 bones and only three had been located.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: She pursued an avenue for corroboration by arranging for Karen's
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: alleged remains, the three ribs, to be sent to a
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: genetics lab near Washington, D.C. for independent DNA testings. a
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: process that required a lengthy petition to the government. She
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: also knew there had been searches at the ranch dating
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: back to March 2014, noting that the area where the
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: ribs were found in July had already been dug up,
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: indicating someone had collected evidence there previously, perhaps incompletely. To
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: find out if other remains had been collected, she sent
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: formal letters, including GPS coordinates, to numerous state and federal agencies.
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: inquiring about searches conducted at the Basarero in early 2014.
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: Miriam's persistent inquiries led the state forensics offices to provide
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: a list of every search conducted at the Basarero, including
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: one that had taken place on May 14, 2014, a
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: date Miriam had not been aware of. On that day,
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: Marines had contacted forensic services to come to the Basarero
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: around 9.45 p.m. to collect a male corpse found partially buried.
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: While at the site, authorities also recovered additional remains from
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: another location on the property, described as a mass grave,
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: where bone fragments were mixed in the mud near an
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: old tractor. The medical examiner was able to distinguish two
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: genetic profiles from these remains collected on May 14, 2014.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: The autopsy report meticulously documented the steps taken that day,
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: including the collection and packaging of samples for legal effects.
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: A little over a month later, on June 18, 2014,
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: the State Forensics Lab concluded their DNA tests on the
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: remains collected on May 14. Later, in April 2016, a
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: confrontation of the genetic profiles obtained from Miriam and Luis
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: confirmed that two of the femurs collected from the Basurero
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: on May 14, 2014, belonged to Karen. These specific femurs
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: had been buried in a common grave on the northwest
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: side of town. The government granted Chalo permission to exhume
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: these remains from the common grave for further testing. On
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: May 5, 2016, other remains of Karen were formally delivered
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: to Miriam and Luis in Ciudad Victoria. Miriam took possession
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: of these remains and placed them in a silk-lined casket
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: within Chalo's hearse. For this occasion, Miriam dressed formally, and Chalo,
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: who was present, was also formally dressed. providing a sense
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: of continuity amidst the grim circumstances. This second set of
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: remains delivered included the two femurs identified from the May 14, 2014 collection.
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: Upon receiving them, Miriam described them as, what they left
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: me of my daughter. The first set of Karen's remains,
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: the three ribs identified in 2015, had been shipped to
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: Chalo and buried by him in a common grave in
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: October 2014 after authorization from the state. The process of
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: recovering Karen, or at least the first part of it,
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: concluded on February 10, 2016, when the family buried her
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: in a plot within the San Fernando Cemetery. The burial
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: involved her ribs interred in a child-sized box, among other
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: pieces of her remains that could be found. For Luis Hector,
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: the burial provided an unwelcome final conclusion that Karen was
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: indeed dead, dispelling any lingering hope that she might still
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: be alive. While Miriam learned through Cristiano's later testimony that
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: individuals like C. Can, Margarita, Jessica, and Cuido were among
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: those killed at the Basareiro ranch, these deaths also meant
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: a half-dozen potential witnesses to Karen's fate were gone. Miriam
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: recognized she needed to work with state investigators to leverage
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: their authority to detain suspects and gather formal testimony. One
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: critical source of information was Carlos, the family friend who
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: was kidnapped the night Karen was taken when he came
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: to fix her car. Carlos, who miraculously survived and was released,
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: initially communicated with Miriam through sporadic Facebook messages, offering limited
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: details as he was traumatized and scared. Miriam pursued the
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: names given by Carlos, El Chepo, El Flaco de la Ribereña,
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: Commander Cherokee, and others connected to the Zeta cell. She
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: used her innate investigative skills, which included tracking down families, friends,
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: and former associates of the Zetas. She meticulously built profiles
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: of each target, utilizing handwritten notes, telephone numbers, and addresses.
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: Miriam also exploited the Zetas' own online presence. Many of
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: the young men and women involved in Karen's murder had
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: made tracking them easier by boasting about their exploits on
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: social media platforms like Facebook, posting photos with weapons, drugs,
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: and fellow Zetas. It was in this digital realm that
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: Miriam located a photograph depicting El Flaco standing alongside Sama
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: and Cristiano, their faces displaying youthful bravado. From this image
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: and her other inquiries, Miriam began to construct a profile
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: of El Flaco. The sources describe him as being 21
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: years old at the time of Karen's kidnapping and murder.
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: He was raised in San Fernando and was slight in build,
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: weighing just under 130 pounds, with a slender frame. a
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: sharp nose, and a narrow face. He was also known
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: to authorities and his associates by the nickname El Flaco
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: de la Ribereña. Miriam's investigative method involved meticulously gathering information
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: on each suspect, compiling handwritten notes detailing names, telephone numbers,
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: and addresses. She understood that those who had left the
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: criminal underworld and were living ostensibly normal lives would be
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: harder to find. as the vastness of the civilian population
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: offered greater anonymity than the comparatively smaller network of active criminals.
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: She needed to find ways to penetrate this civilian world
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: to locate El Flaco. Miriam cultivated a network of contacts
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: across various sectors, including government offices, demonstrating a gift for
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: eliciting cooperation. She befriended a secretary working in the state
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: offices of IMSS, Mexico's National Health Institute. This individual, who
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: had also experienced the loss of a child to violence,
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: became an invaluable ally in Miriam's quest. The secretary took
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: it upon herself to use her access to institutional records
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: to help Miriam locate El Flaco. Through the secretary's efforts,
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: Miriam received crucial intelligence about El Flaco's whereabouts and activities.
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: The secretary discovered that he was working at a factory
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: located in an industrial park approximately 35 miles east of
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: Ciudad Victoria. the state capital. The factory manufactured cables and
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: computer components. The secretary was also able to provide details
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: about his life, such as the fact that he lived
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: in Ciudad Victoria, paid his electricity bills, and was a
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: registered voter. Leveraging this connection, Miriam also managed to obtain
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: copies of official documents pertaining to El Flaco, including his
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: birth certificate, an electric company bill, and a copy of
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: his voter registration card. This type of Extrajudicial information gathering
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: was a hallmark of Miriam's investigative work. She meticulously compiled
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: all the gathered materials into a file. Miriam then transmitted
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: this comprehensive file, including El Flaco's address, to the authorities
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: responsible for investigating Karen's case. To ensure her findings were
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: officially documented and could be acted upon, she followed up
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: by detailing everything in a formal written statement submitted to
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: investigators in January 2015. Her persistence yielded results. By February 2015,
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: based on the information Miriam had provided, an arrest warrant
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: was issued for El Flaco. The physical apprehension of El
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: Flaco occurred in the late afternoon of March 24, 2015.
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: Police officers arrived at the industrial park where he was working.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: An arrest information report was subsequently filed regarding the detention
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: of El Flaco de la Ribereña in Ciudad Victoria. During
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: his preliminary statement, El Flaco confirmed details about his identity,
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: including his age and physical characteristics. El Flaco was the
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: third individual Miriam had successfully tracked down and facilitated the
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: capture of, following Sama and Cristiano, representing another tangible step
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: in her unwavering pursuit of justice for Karen. Quick break.
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: Ads keep the show running, but if you want to
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: skip them, The ad-free version's on Patreon for just three
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: bucks a month. Links in the show notes. And we're back.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: Thanks for sticking through that. Let's get back to it.
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: The individual known as the florist was a member of
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: the Zeta cell that had kidnapped Karen. Unlike some of
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: the others involved, The florist was harder to find on
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: social media and barely appeared in the online profiles of
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: his associates. This lack of an online footprint helped him
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: evade Miriam for a longer period. He remained one of
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: Miriam's targets. She continued to pursue every lead, tracking down
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: anyone who might have information about the Zetas responsible. Through
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: her network of sources, she even befriended the widow of
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: a fellow Zeta who was close to the florist. It
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: was from this woman that Miriam received a crucial piece
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: of intelligence. The florist was back living in Matamoros, his hometown.
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: Armed with this tip, Miriam acted swiftly. In the early
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: morning hours of Sunday, March 27, 2016, she traveled to Matamoros,
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: a city located two hours north. Her husband, Luis, drove
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: her to the International Bridge and parked the truck out
• 56:48
  Speaker 2: of the way, as he often did when Miriam was
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: on her hunts. Miriam was dressed in a trench coat
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: over her pajamas, a baseball cap pulled low to cover
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: her bright red hair. In her coat pocket, she carried
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: a loaded. 38 pistol. Miriam scanned the crowds of street
• 57:06
  Speaker 2: vendors along the concrete esplanade leading up to the bridge,
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: studying the faces of everyone she passed. She paused periodically
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: to show locals a photo of the florist, hoping someone
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: might have seen him. She walked along the footpaths and sidewalks,
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: even the narrow entrance to the bridge itself, searching in vain.
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: The triangular plaza with benches and a large tree near
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: the toll plaza was filled with people, but not the florist.
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: As she continued her search along the footpath, Miriam glanced
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: up and noticed a young man selling compact discs. He
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: was roughly 5'8 and slender. Despite the low odds, she
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: moved closer and became certain. It was the florist. Miriam
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: slipped her hand into her pocket, gripping her pistol. She
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: was acutely aware that everyone in his old group likely
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: recognized her by now. Even with her hat, her bright
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: red hair was difficult to conceal. She watched him from
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: a distance, frustrated by the circumstances, and decided to call
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: a source in law enforcement to summon the police to
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: the bridge. She knew the police would take time to
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: arrive due to traffic, giving the florist an advantage. However,
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: she also knew he couldn't easily flee into Texas. If
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: he ran, he would have to pass her first. Miriam
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: tried to remain inconspicuous along the narrow footpath, but the
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: density of the crowd meant vendors were pitching wares directly
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: to passersby. This also meant the florist quickly noticed the
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: woman lurking nearby, watching him with her hands tucked suspiciously
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: in her overcoat. Abandoning his goods on the walkway, the
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: florist took off running. Miriam immediately pulled out her gun.
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: As told by Azam Ahmed in Fear is Just a Word,
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: Pedestrians scattered as she grabbed the florist by his shirt
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: and jammed the pistol into his lower back. If you move,
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: I'll fucking shoot you, she said. She held him there
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: until the police arrived. Miriam also called her police commander friend, Mariano,
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: who had been promoted to statewide operations commander. and he
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: promised to have men available in Matamoros to assist. The
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: police arrived and took the florist into custody. Miriam beamed
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: as the arrest was made. The florist was the fourth
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: person Miriam had successfully tracked down and led authorities to,
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: following Sama, Cristiano, and El Flaco. His capture was another
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: significant step in Miriam's unwavering pursuit of justice for Karen.
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: By March 27, 2016, Miriam had already been instrumental in
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: the arrests of several key figures connected to her daughter
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: Karen's case. But her work was far from over. Among
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: those still at large were El Mario, La Chaparra, El Quique,
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: La Guerra Soto, and La Machora. El Mario, an older
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: leader within the Zeta cartel, had been present at the
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: ranch where Karen was held. Miriam had once attempted to
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: detain him herself, pinning him against a wall while awaiting
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: police assistance that never arrived. Undeterred, she continued to gather intelligence,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: eventually providing law enforcement with a detailed, hand-drawn map indicating
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: his exact location. This led to his arrest without incident.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 2: La Chaparra, a young woman affiliated with the Zetas, had
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 2: been tasked with monitoring the road leading to the basurero,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: a site significant in Karen's case. Miriam's investigation, which included
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: analyzing GPS data from ransom calls, confirmed La Chaparra's involvement
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: and her connection to her grandmother's home, where some of
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: the calls originated. Despite a previous attempt to apprehend her
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: in Ciudad Victoria, which resulted in a physical struggle and
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: her escape, La Chaparra was eventually arrested there on August 4, 2016.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: El Quique was identified as the individual who had pulled
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: the rope used to strangle Karen. Miriam discovered that he
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 2: was attempting to distance himself from his past, living as
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: a born-again Christian in Ciudad Victoria. On November 14, 2016,
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: she located him at an evangelical church and confirmed his identity.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: Law enforcement was alerted and El Quique was apprehended at
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: the church. La Machora, known for subjecting Karen to repeated beatings,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: became another focus of Miriam's investigation. She compiled an extensive
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: dossier on La Machora, including photographs, social media posts, and
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: personal details. Miriam tracked her to Veracruz, where she was
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: working as a taxi driver. She also located La Machora's son,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: confirming his school by posing as a family friend. When
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: confronted with evidence of her involvement, La Machora denied it,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: claiming to be a different person with the same nickname. Nevertheless,
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: she was subsequently arrested. As the year 2016 drew to
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: a close, Miriam Rodriguez remained fully immersed in her relentless
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: pursuit of those responsible for her daughter Karen's death. Her
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: daily life was a detailed investigation, meticulously gathering information on
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 2: the remaining members of the Zeta cell, compiling handwritten notes
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: with names, telephone numbers, and addresses. Her methodical approach, honed
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 2: over years of tracking, allowed her to uncover the whereabouts
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: of the individuals who believed they had escaped their past.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: Miriam's success in bringing these Zetas to justice meant that
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: many of the perpetrators involved in Karen's murder, or those
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: connected to the same cell, were now incarcerated. Nearly everyone
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: that Miriam had helped put in prison for Karen's murder
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: was housed in the penitentiary in Sudad Victoria. This concentration
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: of individuals who had reason to resent Miriam, now held
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 2: together in a correctional facility, struggling with overcrowding and corruption,
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: created a volatile environment. This situation dramatically escalated on the
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: night of March 22, 2017. Twenty-nine inmates orchestrated a mass
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 2: escape from the Ciudad Victoria penitentiary. The convicts dug a
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 2: tunnel from the north side of the complex. burrowing under
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: the outer security wall to reach a field nearly 120
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: feet away. The penal system in Mexico, often characterized as
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: a blight on the nation's efforts towards justice, was overcrowded, underfunded,
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: and rife with corruption, where officials often took payoffs to
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: ignore the activities within. Upon hearing the news of the
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: prison break, Miriam frantically searched for information on what had happened,
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 2: and critically, who had escaped. Prison officials initially had difficulty
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 2: identifying all the fugitives. However, several hours later, an interim
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: list of escapees, accompanied by mugshots, was released to the media.
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 2: During this period, Miriam's stress became increasingly evident. Her family
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: observed her growing more upset than usual, particularly obsessing over
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 2: El Quique's escape and the notion of other escapees, like
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: La Guerra Soto, a Zeta associate believed to be Sama's
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 2: cousin and involved in Karen's killing, who was working as
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: a nanny, potentially planning revenge. her children and friends grew
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: increasingly fearful for her safety, and their own, with her
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: sister-in-law distancing herself and her brother requesting a gun. Despite
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: these palpable fears and entreaties from her loved ones to stop,
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: Miriam remained resolute. She told a journalist friend after the
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: prison break that she suspected she might die for her efforts,
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 2: but that she could not stop. Her response to the
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 2: looming threat, as recounted to the journalist, was stark. She
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 2: hoped the bastards would give her a chance to shoot
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: back when they came for her. Miriam understood that her
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: activism challenged the primacy of organized crime and set a
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: dangerous example for others, making her a target. She knew
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 2: that if someone wanted to kill her, they could, and
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 2: she had learned to countenance fear and, to some extent,
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 2: death itself. However, her requests for protection were largely denied.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: Authorities across various agencies used what Azam Ahmed describes in
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: his book as flimsy interpretations of the law and narrow
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: definitions of their responsibility to decline her pleas. While the
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: police in San Fernando were eventually tasked with conducting vehicular
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: patrols of her home and workplace, these patrols were inconsistent
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: and inadequate. A commission on human rights investigation later found
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 2: that the state police agency responsible performed such a poor
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: and erratic job that they initially refused to provide timesheets
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: and later submitted falsified ones to prove they had conducted
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 2: the patrols. Miriam herself highlighted the lack of effective protection,
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 2: stating in public that the police officer assigned to her
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: detail barely answered the phone. Following the prison break, Miriam's
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: network of sources conveyed disturbing rumors. An order had been
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 2: given from inside the prison, described as a nerve center
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: for Zeta commanders, to have her killed. This order was
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: linked to the recent escape, and sources indicated that some
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 2: of the remaining fugitives had been tasked with carrying out
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: the assassination. On the night of May 10, 2017, a
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: Mother's Day in Mexico, Miriam Rodriguez finished work and stepped
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: out into the warm air of San Fernando, Tamaulipas. It
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: was just past 10.20 p.m. She made her way to
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: the car parked out front, climbed in, and began the
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 2: familiar drive home. By 10.30, she had reached her street.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 2: The road was unpaved and dark, the kind of street
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 2: where the gravel crunched loud beneath tires and headlights were
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: often the only source of light. She parked near the
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: house and opened the door. reaching for her crutches. She
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 2: had injured her foot when tackling La Guerra Soto during
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 2: one of her many assistances in catching the Zetas' main figures.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: A hundred feet away, tucked into the shadows near a
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 2: neighbor's yard, a white Nissan truck sat with its engine off. Inside,
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: several men waited. Two of them got out. They moved quickly, quietly,
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 2: both armed with 9mm pistols. The noise of the street,
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 2: the chirp of insects, the distant sound of televisions from
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 2: nearby houses was shattered by the gunfire. Thirteen shots rang
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 2: out in rapid succession. Eight of them struck Miriam. Inside
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 2: the house, her husband Luis was watching television when he
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: heard the sound. He leapt from bed and ran to
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: the front window. Miriam's car was there, parked on the road.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: He shouted her name and bolted outside, pushing through the
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 2: garage and front gate. She was lying on the ground,
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 2: face down, just a few steps from her car. One
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 2: hand was tucked inside her purse, gripping the pistol she
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 2: always carried. Luis knelt beside her and turned her over.
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 2: Her eyes were open, her chest was rising, but her
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 2: breathing was ragged. He couldn't find the wounds. There was
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 2: no blood, just the sound of her breath and the
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: unmistakable sense that something was very wrong. He pulled out
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 2: his phone and called Ernesto, Miriam's son-in-law. His voice trembled
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 2: as he tried to explain what had happened. When he
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: hung up, he called the police. Ernesto then called Azalea.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: She was still at the taqueria where she worked, the
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 2: rush of the evening shift behind her. The tension in
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 2: his voice was unmistakable. It was the same tone she'd
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 2: heard years earlier when they fled to Texas after Ernesto's
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 2: attempted kidnapping. She asked what was wrong. Your mother, he said.
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 2: She's been hurt. She pressed him, but he didn't offer more.
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 2: By the time he picked her up outside the restaurant,
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 2: she could feel the panic simmering beneath the silence. Their
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: son sat quietly in the back seat. Azalea asked again
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 2: what had happened. Ernesto avoided the question. They drove quickly, wordlessly,
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 2: through the streets of San Fernando. As they pulled on
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: to Calla Margarita, just a few houses away from Miriam's,
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 2: he finally spoke. She's been shot. Luis was waiting outside,
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 2: standing under the amber glow of the streetlight Miriam had
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: spent years fighting to have installed. Azalea jumped out of
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 2: the truck and ran to her mother's side. She dropped
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 2: to her knees and tried to rouse her, clutching her arms,
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: calling her name. Miriam's lips parted slightly. A breath came out, slow, low,
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 2: but not quite a word. Azalea searched her body for
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 2: a wound, anything to explain the state she was in,
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 2: but like her father, she found nothing. She tried to
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 2: sound calm when she called her brother, Luis Hector. She
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 2: told him Miriam had been shot in the leg, but
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 2: that she was stable. There was no need to rush,
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 2: she said. Just be careful on the drive from Monterey.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: Minutes passed. No ambulance came. When officers from the Ministerio
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: Pubblico finally arrived, they walked up to Miriam, checked her pulse,
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: then exchanged a look that said more than words could.
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 2: Azalea pleaded with them to take her to the hospital,
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 2: but they refused. They said they had to wait for
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 2: the ambulance. They said it was procedure, but eventually they relented.
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 2: Ernesto backed the family truck up close, and together they
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 2: lifted Miriam into the bed. Azalea ran into the house
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: to grab a blanket to cover her. As they drove,
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: she sat beside her mother, watching her chest rise and fall,
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 2: hoping that the shallow rhythm meant there was still time.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: At the hospital, staff moved quickly. Nurses wheeled her down
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 2: the hallway, donning gloves and calling for surgeons. The urgency
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 2: gave Azalea hope. No one moved like that unless there
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 2: was still a chance. She was given a sedative to
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 2: calm her down, but the sense of unease only deepened.
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 2: After a while, she noticed something had changed. The hallways
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: had quieted. Staff no longer rushed. The tones had softened.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 2: There were fewer voices now, fewer footsteps, fewer doors opening
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 2: and closing. A doctor, an old friend, entered the waiting
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 2: room and took a seat beside her. She placed a
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 2: hand on Azalea's arm and rubbed gently, trying to comfort her.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 2: Azalea pulled away. Why aren't you with her? she asked.
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 2: Why aren't you inside? On the road to San Fernando,
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: Luis Hector had managed to arrange a police escort. The
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: drive took two hours. When he called Azalia again, she
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 2: told him to come straight to the house, not the hospital.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: As Azam Ahmed details in Fear is Just a Word,
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 2: the police vehicle turned onto Calle Margarita, and Luis Hector
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 2: saw the van parked in front of the house. It
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 2: belonged to Forensic Services. They don't show up unless someone
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 2: has died. Inside the operating room, the lights had been dimmed.
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 2: The only sounds came from the far end of the hallway.
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 2: Miriam lay on a steel table, her body covered in
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 2: a white sheet. Azalea stepped in alone. She pulled the
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 2: sheet back, searching for some sign that her mother was
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 2: still there. That the shallow breath she'd clung to on
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: the ride to the hospital hadn't been the last. But
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 2: the room was still. The chest no longer moved. There
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 2: was no sound. Now the wounds were easier to see.
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 2: gunpowder burns ringed the entry points mostly clustered around her
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 2: legs one bullet had passed beneath her arm and torn
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 2: through her ribs azalea touched the edges her fingers tracing
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 2: the clean black circles still trying to make sense of
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 2: it she stayed there for a while unable to leave
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 2: it didn't feel real not yet the hospital staff eventually
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 2: returned and told her gently that they needed to move
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 2: the body it was time to take her to chalo's
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 2: funeral home her brother was waiting Her father, last she saw,
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 2: had been wandering the hospital parking lot, dazed and silent.
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 2: Miriam Rodriguez had spent years seeking justice for the murdered
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 2: and disappeared. She had never stopped, even when others told
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 2: her it was too dangerous. Now, someone had decided she
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: needed to be silenced. Quick break. Ads keep the show running,
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 2: but if you want to skip them, the ad-free version's
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 2: on Patreon for just three bucks a month. Links in
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 2: the show notes. And we're back. Thanks for sticking through that.
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 2: Let's get back to it. In the weeks following the
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 2: murder of Miriam Rodriguez, the investigation into her killers expanded
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 2: beyond the streets of San Fernando. One name began to
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 2: surface again and again. A man known by the nickname
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 2: Pata de Queso, Cheese Foot. He was 56 years old.
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 2: In cartel years, that made him ancient. His given name
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 2: was never used. Among associates, he was simply Pata. The
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 2: story behind the name was well known. Years earlier, a
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 2: female assassin had shot him in the foot. The nickname stuck.
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 2: He was a regional boss for the Zetas, operating primarily
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 2: out of Las Norias, a remote zone south of San Fernando.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 2: For years, he kept a low profile. He rarely entered
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 2: the towns under his control, relying instead on lieutenants and
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 2: foot soldiers to carry out orders. He avoided phones and
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 2: stayed in the background, careful not to leave a trail.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 2: But when the Zetas lost control of San Fernando, after
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 2: Miriam Rodriguez's campaign led to the arrest of their local leader,
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 2: Pada de Queso stepped in. From that point forward, he
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 2: began issuing commands that reached deep into San Fernando's criminal network.
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 2: According to a dying Zeta named Rocco, it was Pata
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 2: de Queso who gave the order to kill Miriam. The
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 2: payment for the hit came from another figure in the group,
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 2: a man known as El Hugo. At the time, authorities
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 2: were already monitoring the phones of several cartel members. With
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 2: help from Miriam's son, Luis Hector, Investigators began piecing together connections,
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 2: tracing phone activity, identifying voices. Every step pulled them closer
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 2: to the top. In early November 2017, federal officer Paisa
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 2: received a tip. Pada de Queso was sick, badly. He
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 2: had been transported in an ambulance to the General Hospital
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 2: in Ciudad Victoria. The condition was serious, liver failure. He
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 2: was undergoing dialysis. Paisa and another officer found the ambulance
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 2: driver and confirmed the location. Then without backup, Paisa entered
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 2: the hospital, posing as a Zeta. He found the room
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 2: and walked in alone. Pata de Queso was lying in bed.
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 2: His face was drawn, body slack, hair white. To Paisa,
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 2: he looked less like a drug lord and more like
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 2: a man from a nursing home. Fragile, already slipping away.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 2: The arrest happened without resistance. He was placed in custody
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 2: and transferred to Mexico City to face a growing list
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 2: of charges. But he wouldn't make it that far. Three
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 2: days later, Pata de Queijo was dead. The death occurred
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 2: during the transfer to the capital. Paisa was on board
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 2: the plane with him. At one point during the flight,
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 2: he leaned in and asked a question that had haunted
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 2: investigators for months. Why was Miriam Rodriguez killed? Pata de
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 2: Queijo gave an answer, whether clear-minded or delirious, no one
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 2: could say for sure. She was bringing the law down
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 2: on us too much, he said. She was causing trouble.
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 2: With Pata de Queijo dead, Leadership of the region passed
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 2: to El Hugo, the man who had paid for Miriam's murder.
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 2: The chain of command remained intact, but the man who
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 2: had given the order was gone. Her death, on Mother's Day,
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 2: was an act that organized crime likely intended as a
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 2: degenerate yet ingenious piece of criminal marketing, demonstrating their power,
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 2: excising an enemy, and warning others against challenging them. Those
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 2: who knew Miriam sometimes expressed surprise at her newfound boldness
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 2: when she decided to go after her daughter's killers, while
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 2: others recognized an inherent determination she had always possessed, citing
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 2: past instances where she had located thieves or insisted on
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 2: personally handling a ransom payment. According to her friend Chalo,
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 2: the funeral director, Miriam was uniquely unafraid in San Fernando's
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 2: climate of terror, once telling him that fear was merely
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 2: a word. Engaging with the formal justice system proved to
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 2: be a persistent challenge. Miriam frequently encountered officials who were
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 2: either unwilling or unable to assist her. She learned to
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 2: navigate the system's complex, often intentionally obfuscating language, which she
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 2: felt was designed to make understanding difficult. To force action,
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 2: she discovered she needed an inexhaustible well of patience and
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 2: energy and a deep understanding of the archaic bureaucratic processes.
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 2: Miriam became adept at using victims' rights laws, understanding her entitlements,
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 2: and how to strategically pressure specific bureaucrats. She filed numerous requests, complaints,
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 2: and detailed declarations, building voluminous case files to compel the
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 2: bureaucracy to respond to her demands. This ability to inflict
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 2: bureaucracy on the bureaucracy became a key method for making
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 2: the state apparatus function on her behalf. Beyond her singular quest,
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 2: Miriam extended her efforts to support and mobilize other families
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 2: of the disappeared in San Fernando. Recognizing that individual despair
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 2: was often ineffective against the system's indifference, she advocated for
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 2: families to channel that desperation with purpose and to be
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 2: entrepreneurial in one's grief. She established a collective organizing meetings,
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 2: searches for clandestine graves, and providing a space for shared
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 2: sorrow and action. She generously shared her detailed knowledge of
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 2: victims' rights and bureaucratic procedures, empowering families, many of whom
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 2: were paralyzed by fear or distrust of the government, to
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 2: file complaints and advocate for themselves. As Maria Ines Vera Hernandez,
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 2: a mother who lost her son, recounted, Miriam's fierce support
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 2: brought a measure of comfort and made her feel significantly
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 2: less alone. Miriam's activism, while achieving concrete results including the
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 2: identification and capture of several individuals involved in her daughter's case,
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 2: came at a considerable and ultimately fatal personal risk. She
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 2: was acutely aware that her actions had created enemies, not
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 2: only among the cartel remnants she hunted, but also among
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 2: resentful government officials who saw her as a nuisance or
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 2: an obstacle. Her death sent shockwaves, becoming a significant media
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 2: event and drawing widespread condemnation. The government quickly issued statements
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 2: condemning the murder and vowing justice. However, questions immediately arose
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: regarding the state's responsibilities. Officials claimed Miriam had been provided
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 2: protection through patrols. Yet this was contradicted by statements from others,
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 2: including Gloria Garza from the State Human Rights Commission, who
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 2: claimed Miriam refused protection due to distrust, and a video
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 2: posted by Guillermo Riestra showing Miriam publicly requesting protection and
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 2: complaining that her assigned police contact didn't answer his phone.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 2: An investigation by the Human Rights Commission later found that
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 2: the state police tasked with her patrols had performed erratically
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 2: and submitted falsified documentation when asked to prove they had
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 2: carried out their duties. In the wake of her murder,
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 2: the government made arrests. One individual, Misael, was detained after
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 2: the white Nissan truck used in the killing was identified.
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 2: He was reportedly wanted on another kidnapping charge, but was
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 2: questioned about Miriam's murder while in custody. He was later
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 2: sentenced to 15 years, a term Miriam's family privately felt
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 2: was insufficient for murder. Another alleged perpetrator, Ella Luch, was
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 2: killed in a confrontation with authorities later that year. Following
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 2: Miriam's death, an anonymous note was taped to the entrance
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 2: of the Ministerio Publico, providing names and details of men
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 2: involved in her murder, a document the government highlighted as
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 2: key evidence. Miriam's legacy is multifaceted. relentless pursuit brought some
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 2: of her daughter's killers to justice and recovered Karen's remains,
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 2: providing a measure of closure. She transformed her grief into
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 2: a powerful engine for change, becoming a symbol of resistance
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 2: against fear and state indifference. She empowered countless other families
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 2: of the disappeared, providing them with knowledge, support, and a
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 2: collective voice in a society often numb to their suffering. Yet,
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 2: her murder reinforced the ongoing, profound danger faced by activists
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 2: and the persistent failure of the Mexican state to protect
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 2: its citizens, particularly those challenging organized crime. The violence in
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 2: San Fernando did not end with Miriam. Sources indicate the
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 2: return of cartels and the perpetual cycle of conflict continued
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 2: even after her death. Miriam's work brought out the state's
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 2: shortcomings in forensic analysis, victim support, and providing security. Her
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 2: story leaves behind unresolved questions about the depth of state
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 2: complicity or incompetence, the true extent of the disappeared crisis.
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 2: As Miriam herself noted, not even the government knows how
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 2: many of us there are, and whether true justice and
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 2: security can ever be achieved in places like San Fernando.
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 2: Her son, Luis Hector, attempted to carry on her work,
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 2: but the void left by his mother, described as the
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 2: literal killing of a symbol of resistance, was immense. reflecting
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 2: the difficulty of filling the space left by such a singular,
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 2: powerful force.
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you.