Between MONTEREY, Mexico and
The body of a Mexican teenager who went missing this month in the northern state of Nuevo Leon was found sunk in a tanker at a motel near where she was last seen alive, authorities said on Friday.
Debanchi Escobar, an 18-year-old law student, went missing on April 9 amid a series of disappearances of women in the Nuevo capital, Leon Monterey, sparked protests and intensified international monitoring of gender-based violence in Mexico.
Twenty-six women and girls went missing in Nuevo Leon this year, and five others were found dead after being reported missing.
“Debanhi’s body was found and the cause of death was a deep skull injury,” Chief Prosecutor Gustavo Guerrero said in a live Facebook video. All lines of investigation are open, he said.
Guerrero’s comments came as hundreds of women blocked a highway in downtown Monterey, paralyzing traffic, demanding an end to gender-based violence.
Protesters demanded the resignation of Secretary of State for Security Aldo Fashi and carried plaques with the names and faces of Debanhi and other local women who have disappeared or been found dead recently.
“I am here for all the daughters of Nuevo Leon because we want a country that is safe and free for them,” said Adriana Flores, 45.
Debanhi was last seen alive standing next to a highway, in a photo taken by a driver determined to take her home after a party.
Her father, Mario Escobar, on Friday accused the driver of trying to touch his daughter’s breasts, citing video footage, suggesting it caused her to get out of the car. What happened after she got out of the car is not clear.
In an interview with local media, Escobar accused authorities of mismanaging the investigation.
“My daughter is dead due to incompetence (authorities) and sexual harassment,” he said.
The state prosecutor’s office told Reuters that the investigation of the case will determine whether mistakes were made, voluntary or involuntary, in the search for Debanhi.
Governor Samuel Garcia said this week that the local government had mobilized additional resources to search for Debanhi and other missing women.
The driver was not available for comment.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador expressed his condolences to the family on Friday, saying the teenager’s death could be investigated by the federal attorney general’s office at the family’s request, so there is no “doubt” about the case.
(Report by Laura Gottesdiner and Daniel Besseril in Monterey; Additional reports by Lisbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Edited by Sandra Mahler and William Mallard)
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