Young woman is murdered in Xochimilco; aggressor remains free for lack of expertise

María de Lourdes Cerrillo was murdered in Xochimilco. According to the young woman’s family, her partner is responsible for the crime, but the authorities have not carried out the corresponding expert report so that the arrest warrant is issued.
The last time her family saw the 28-year-old alive was on June 7, when Lourdes went to spend a few days at her family’s home, located in the Benito Juárez mayor’s office in Mexico City, because she had quarreled with Saúl, her partner.
The young woman told her sister and her mother that she intended to separate from him, but that afternoon Saul came to ask for forgiveness with a bouquet of flowers in his hand and they reconciled.

“Supposedly he came for his things, but he brought flowers to my sister and even gave me money he owed my mom. After this they went to a bar. That afternoon I still marked my sister to see if we would go to exercise together, but she said no, don’t wait for her,” recalled Valeria Cerillo, the victim’s sister.
Later, Valeria learned that her sister was still at the bar with Saul. They held a phone call and Maria de Lourdes warned him that he would not go that night to his family’s house; he would stay with his partner in Xochimilco because there was a strong storm.
Murder
Hours later, during the early morning of June 8, Valeria and her mother received a call from Saul, who warned them that Mary of Lourdes had died, according to him, from a “bronchoaspiration.”

“It was about 5:30 in the morning when this gentleman dialed on the phone. My mom answered; I was asleep and woke up to the noise. As soon as I heard her say very alarmed: “What did they do to my daughter?”; at that moment I snatched the headset. On the other side of the line was Saúl, who told me that they were asleep and my sister began to drown, that he did not realize it and that is why he could not do anything,” Valeria said in an interview with Animal Político.
According to Saul’s version, when he realized that his partner was unconscious, he called a doctor, who went to the home and informed them that he was no longer alive.
It took more than an hour for the victim’s family to move from the Narvarte neighborhood to the Caltongo neighborhood in Xochimilco. When they arrived, they found Maria de Lourdes lying on a mattress with a sheet on top. Saul was kneeling at his feet crying.
“At that moment my soul went away. I didn’t know what to do and I yelled at this gentleman about everything, my dad came in and got very angry, he immediately wanted to hit the guy, but they stopped him. My mom was the last one to enter the room my sister was in, she came over and discovered her,” Valeria said.
It was not until that moment that they notified the authorities about the death of Lourdes. Valeria called 911 and in less than twenty minutes paramedics went to the scene, who corroborated that the young woman was lifeless. Then the experts from the Attorney General’s Office of Mexico City (FGJCDMX) arrived to start the investigations.
Valeria asked that Saul be arrested, who was transferred to a Public Ministry agency to give his statement. The authorities released him because there was not enough evidence to impute any responsibility because the body of the young woman did not show apparent signs of blows or any injury.
Femicides in the country continue to rise.
Murder in Xochimilco: It was a blow to the head
On June 12, Valeria contacted the Prosecutor’s Office to learn about the progress of the case; they told him that the mechanics of facts still needed to be performed, but that they already had the results of the necropsy, which revealed that the cause of death was due to head trauma.
“They told me that they still could not arrest this man because the mechanics of facts are missing and until that is issued an arrest warrant can be issued; however, to date, this expert report is not yet carried out and there is no time for when,” Valeria claimed.
Animal Político consulted the Prosecutor’s Office about the investigation, but until the time of publication there was no response.
Valeria remembers that on more than one occasion, she and her family spoke with María de Lourdes to ask her if she wanted to continue her relationship with Saúl, who exercised psychological violence against her. The victim even dropped out of her bachelor’s degree and left her job. In addition, he constantly disqualified her for not knowing how to cook.
According to Valeria, her mother questioned her sister about why she was still with “that man” if he spoke to her ugly, jealous and possessive.
Currently, Valeria and her family are waiting to know in detail the progress in the case. So far, they accuse that they have not been given a copy of the investigation folder, and they are still waiting for the mechanics of facts so that the authorities issue an arrest warrant against Saul, who remains free.
Although they don’t know her whereabouts, Valeria says her sister’s alleged assailant hasn’t stopped texting them to tell them he loved her. He holds the version of tried to help her, but could not.
According to data from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), in the first five months of 2022, 385 investigation folders have been opened for the crime of femicide in Mexico. 
Of these, 22 were started in Mexico City. In three cases, femicide was committed with a firearm, in two, a knife was used and in 17 more the element that caused the death was not specified.
Feminicide in Xochimilco
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Original source in Spanish

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