Book Review And Analysis: The Daughters Of FIR, By Teresa Rodriguez
“These daughters of Juárez never had the opportunity to speak out. Their cries were brutally silenced. Now those voices ring out from these pages. Perhaps this time someone will listen.”
– Teresa Rodriguez
“The Daughters of Juárez”: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border by Teresa Rodriguez
True Crime Book Review & Analysis
By Monica Kieffer
SOCIO 562
March 2, 2014
Honor Code: On my honor, as a student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work.
Abstract
“The Daughters of Juárez” by Teresa Rodriguez is an in-depth look at the murders of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Rodriguez exposes the mass murders that have been committed in the border town across the bridge from El Paso, Texas since 1993. She tells the story of the victims who met a deadly end and provides insight into the …show more content…
aftermath of murder and its impact on the family of the victims. Rodriguez pulls back the curtain on a crooked government and municipal system. The socio-economic plight of many in this border town and the cultural norms can be more closely examined to bring a killer or killers more into focus. Research conducted exposes the people who have little resources to fight for the victims or themselves, and a government so infested with corruption and lawlessness that it can do little to stop them.
Table of Contents
Cover Page………………………………………………………………………………………...1
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………2
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….3
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..4
Review of Book and Case…………………………………………………………………………5
Theoretical Analysis………………………………………………………………………………9
Conclusion and Closing Comments……………………………………………………………...12
References………………………………………………………………………………………..13
Introduction One bridge away from the United States is the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez. Commonly referred to as simply Juárez, it is far removed from the American way of life. Beginning in 1993, the numerous bodies of girls and young women were found dead in and around Juárez. The Daughters of Juárez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border is Teresa Rodriguez’s telling of the stories of some of the women who were found dead. Rodriguez is a reporter for Univision, a major network for Spanish speaking populations in the United States and Mexico, traveled to Juárez and shares the story of the victim’s families and what they have endured, some for the last twenty years. Rodriguez also pulls the curtain back for a glimpse into the corruption and injustice that thrives inside the government of Juárez and created a barrier to the investigations and prosecutions. Throughout the stories told, the socio-economic status of the citizens of Juárez, the rise of power of the drug cartels, and the fear instilled by authority figures are revealed to be an integral part of the killings. It may also be why so many of the killings remain unsolved and families have lingering questions that may never be answered. My goal will be to first summarize the book written by Rodriguez and provide an overview of the serial murders in Juárez. I will include an evaluation of the serial killer theory in relationship to the hundreds of murders. I will also provide evidence that provides more detail and analysis of the murders that enhances the ground work laid out by Rodriguez in her book. At the end, I will provide my own opinion as to why the story of the victims of Juárez are so important to Americans.
Review of Book and Case
The Daughters of Juárez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border by Teresa Rodriguez is a series of stories told through the eyes of the victims, families, human rights activists, and government officials involved with the mass serial murders of over 400 women and young girls in Ciudad Juárez since 1993. Hundreds of female bodies were found deserts in and around Juárez. These young women were snatched from the streets and next found dead in the desert. Some were students, others were workers in maquiladoras, local factories in Juárez. Some were mothers were married, others were employed in Juárez’s red light district as dancers or waitresses. By all appearance, they were being targeted as potential victims and easy prey. Most died by strangulation after having been the victims of torture, strangulation, mutilation, and rape. Rodriguez also brings to light the stories of the families left behind. Several interviews show how they struggled, not just with the loss of a family member, but also with police officials who did not offer any help and turned them away. They were left to return home and pray that their loved ones would return. Some chose to fight back and keep the memory of the victims alive and on the forefront of people’s minds in Juárez.
The rampant corruption within the government structure in Juárez is a common thread throughout Rodriguez’s book.
The police and prison officials were most often mentioned as drowning in deceit and hidden motives. Mario Escobedo, Jr. is one of the best examples of how far the state police would go. Escobedo was a defense attorney for bus driver Gustavo González Meza, one of the bus drivers arrested and charged with crimes related to eight women found killed in a cotton field after being kidnapped and raped. Meza had been arrested along with another bus driver, Javier “Víctor” García Uribe, and police stated that both had confessed to the crimes. Escobedo had taken Meza on as a client after much thought and consideration for his own safety. After receiving anonymous threats over the phone, Escobedo was shot and killed while driving home from work. Mario Escobedo Sr. worked tirelessly to prove the state police were behind his son’s death. Escobedo Sr. said, “I still didn’t know then that my son’s own executioners were the agents and comandante of the judicial police of the state.” (Rodriguez, Montané, and Pulitzer, 2007, p.
215)
She exposes the influence drug cartels, long considered one of the potential suspects, had over the police, prisons and judges. Drug violence spills into the streets and is occurs in broad daylight. Julia E. Monárrez Fragoso, a professor and researcher at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Ciudad Juárez, states “Beginning in 2008, when President Felipe Calderón…decided to implement Operativo Conjunto Chihuahua, which is a military confrontation against drug cartels, the assassination of women increased, but above all the disappearances of young women [increased].” (Paley, 2013)
Businessmen, potentially even Americans, running the maquiladoras are also found to be breaking the laws set forth regarding underage labor and may have played a role in the victim’s being vulnerable to their fates. Rodriguez stated in a radio interview, “…the bodies began to appear in ’93, shortly after the factories began to operate in Ciudad Juárez. So there is a correlation there (Women of Juarez, 2007).
Rodriguez also adds devil worshippers in the mix as being possible killers. She provides stories of shacks filled with demonic images involving women that could be a potential explanation for the killings. However throughout all of the stories told and angles presented, Rodriguez shies away from providing her opinion on who the killer is or who the killers are. For whatever reason, she does not offer her own conclusion. Perhaps it is journalistic integrity or to protect herself against retaliation and the safety of her own family. More than twenty years has passed since the first murders in 1993 occurred. Today, many of the same issues facing victims and their families still exist in Juárez. According to a New York Times article, “Criminal conviction rates are still abysmal. Extortion is still a problem…and many poor neighborhoods are still deadly.” (Cave, 2013). There are still families who had family members go missing who are still looking for answers. Despite all of the commissions and investigators, hundreds, maybe thousands of families will never know the truth. Potential suspects who could have shed light on the crimes roam free and convicted murders who died in prison like Sharif Sharif may have actually been innocent all along. Women like Esther Chavez, a woman’s rights advocate who established Casa Amiga, have provided help to families and women who had the luxury of escaping a mortal fate. It is because of people like Chavez that the plight of women in Juárez is known worldwide. It is because of people like Oscar Maynez, a former chief of forensics who investigated many of the murders, that any amount of attention and justice was attempted for the female victims. He firmly believes that the real serial killers are still out there. Maynez says, “None of the people detained for the murders are responsible, in my opinion.” (Karzarova, 2004) The real story is the women of Juárez who are without their voices to inform us who their killers are. Women like Silvia Elena Rivera Morales and Olga Alicia Carrillo Pérez will be remembered for the grisly way they died and not the joyous way they lived. They will be remembered for being one of hundreds left in the desert to die or already dead. They are the real story in Rodriguez’s work. The women and girls who were killed by nameless killers in a town burdened by its own sins and drowning in its own discretions. The citizens of Juárez are at a disadvantage because they are powerless to stop the killing and shunned by the people who are supposed to help and protect them. Rodriguez’s book shows us all of this while creating a call to action for us all.
Theoretical Analysis The mass killings that occurred in Juárez are not the standard form that is associated with serial killings. If you use the definition use the definition set forth by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (2008), it is the “unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offenders in separate events” (p.18). Law enforcement in Mexico does not have an established definition for what qualifies a murderer as a serial killer. They often lack basic necessities and equipment to handle murders in a way that will ensure proper evidence handling and crime scene protection. A killer who wants to avoid prosecution would thrive in Juárez. Any physical evidence left on the victim could potentially be mishandled, possibly destroyed, by the procedures of the investigators. Crime scenes were often open to media, reporters, law enforcement, state police and onlookers. The victims themselves were left in the desert where animals and vermin had their way with the abandoned bodies, potentially contributing to the deaths of victims who were left to die. Little physical evidence can be left on body that is only bones upon its discovery. The plethora of easy targets, lack of prosecution, and minimal evidence collection would have all been great reasons for serial killers to take up residence in Juárez. One of the most critical aspects to the serial murders of Juárez is that not feasible for one killer to have committed them. The deserts surrounding Juárez are very rough, some areas are impossible to maneuver even with vehicles built for rough terrain. Over time, the killers were more blatant with where they left their bodies, leaving them in areas frequently traveled within the borders of Juárez and often exposed. One individual continually returning to a particular area would eventually be noticed. Also, the areas near the maquiladoras was usually under their security, had cameras, and would not have been a good place for raping and killing a woman. They did prove to be easy access points for kidnapping victims, many who would be traveling on foot, alone, and at night in areas that were not well lit. Another component to the theory that it cannot have been one person is that there are so many bodies and over a large period of time. It would implausible for one person to have committed all of these crimes. If the person was older when they began in 1993, the killing and movement of so many bodies who have taken a toll physically. There is also the issue that there were so many found in short spans of time. The killer would have had to only kill in order for this many bodies to be discovered and for so many to still be missing. Mexican culture plays a large part of how the victims were portrayed and how the public was swayed into believing lies regarding the victims. Traditionally, Mexico has been a male-chauvinist culture. It is a country that is strong in respecting those in authority and never questioning that authority. This includes within relationships and marriages. Women are told to respect their husbands. Many of the Juárez murder victims were found to be the result of domestic incidents turned deadly. This eliminates a large number of murders and disappearances from the overall tally of death in Juárez. Julia Monárrez Fragoso noted in Debate Femenista, “Women, as the objects of male violence, are suffering from it, from their gender identity and from their position in their system of social classes.” (Fragoso, 2002) It is a challenge to create a concrete modus operandi for the serial killer or killers in Juárez. So many factors play into the potential profile that can be created. The proximity to the United States-Mexico border makes it ideal for an American to easily and quickly cross the border. The lackluster judicial system would appeal to those who want to avoid the strict laws of the American judicial system. The sexual nature of many of crimes and the common appearance of many of the victims could mean the killers have an obsession with young, slender, attractive Mexican women, although this type of victim could be obtained on American soil. The struggle is that with so many possibilities and so many potential serial killers it makes it difficult to come to a clear conclusion. To put yourself in the mind of this killer, you would have to find a dark place that would want to see women in pain, disfigured, and under your control. You would sexually find gratification from raping them and disfiguring their breasts by biting off the nipple of one and mutilating the other. You could leave them in the desert to die or already dead for the animals to feed off the carcass. You would not care if they were found. You might not even bury them in anyway. You will often return to the scene of the crime with another victim. You would not have to struggle to find a victim as they were plentiful in the border town. You would not have to worry about the police as they were focused on their own bribery and greed related to the cartels. If you did run across one that was investigating too close, you could always pay them off or throw them off their scent by suggesting another suspect. Even if you were picked up, you would most likely have confessed by force as the police were known to torture prisoners during interrogations. One more step still, if you were sent to trial, you would most likely get off on a technicality as judges were held to Mexican laws that are very loose. You would also be held to the Mexican judicial standard which is “probably responsible” until proven innocent rather than the “innocent until proven guilty” code we adhere to in the U.S. When you were left off by the judge and released, you would be right back out on the streets of Juárez, ready to scope out your next victim. The cycle of violence would continue and the number of potential victims would continue to migrate north from other parts of Mexico for the low paying jobs in the maquiladoras. The young women looking for a better life for themselves and their families would be easy targets.
Conclusion and Closing Comments What is most difficult to accept about the murders of Juárez and the heinous crimes associated with them is that the smoke has not cleared completely. There are still so many unanswered questions except for one. There is not one single person responsible for the killings. It would have been physically impossible for just one person to have committed all of these acts. It would have been impossible for one person to have bribed enough people on their own to have gotten away with these serial killings. The mystery surrounding them will forever exist. As Americans we live in a culture that is hyper-sensitive to the plight of children and young adults. Amber Alerts are issued when a child is taken from a street corner or on her way home from school. Mexico is not the same. A glance over the Rio Grande from Texas south is another world. A world where young girls disappeared from the streets and were never seen alive again. No TV coverage. No massive search party and hundreds of volunteers searching for them, except their families and friends. It almost seems archaic that a culture would act in this manner. But Juárez did and still does.
References
Cave, Damien. (2013, December 15). A Border City Known for Killing Gets Back to Living. New York Times, p. A6(L). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/ps/i. do?id=GALE%7CA352930197&v=2.1&u=ksu&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=4b0544fe 77a7652c63d406ab5a1fd431
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2008). Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for
Investigators. Behavioral Analysis Unit, National Center for the Analysis of Violent
Crime. U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder Fragoso, Julia Monárrez. (2002, April) Serial Sexual Femicide in Ciudad Juárez: 1993-2001. Debate Feminista, 13th Edition, Vol. 25
Katzarova, Mariana. (29 March 2004). Letter From Juárez. Nation, 278(12), 8.
Paley, Dawn. (2013, Spring). Femicide and drug wars. Ms, 23, 20-21. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/docview/1365233730?accountid=11789 Rodriguez, Teresa, Montané, Diana, and Pulitzer, Lisa. (2007). The Daughters of Juárez: A True
Story of Serial Murder South of the Border. New York: Atria Books.
The Women of Juarez. (2007, May 24). Tell Me More. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA166545588 &v=2.1&u=ksu&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=783508010c1d3c7123e4f76c6ca09686
– Teresa Rodriguez
“The Daughters of Juárez”: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border by Teresa Rodriguez
True Crime Book Review & Analysis
By Monica Kieffer
SOCIO 562
March 2, 2014
Honor Code: On my honor, as a student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work.
Abstract
“The Daughters of Juárez” by Teresa Rodriguez is an in-depth look at the murders of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Rodriguez exposes the mass murders that have been committed in the border town across the bridge from El Paso, Texas since 1993. She tells the story of the victims who met a deadly end and provides insight into the …show more content…
aftermath of murder and its impact on the family of the victims. Rodriguez pulls back the curtain on a crooked government and municipal system. The socio-economic plight of many in this border town and the cultural norms can be more closely examined to bring a killer or killers more into focus. Research conducted exposes the people who have little resources to fight for the victims or themselves, and a government so infested with corruption and lawlessness that it can do little to stop them.
Table of Contents
Cover Page………………………………………………………………………………………...1
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………2
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….3
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..4
Review of Book and Case…………………………………………………………………………5
Theoretical Analysis………………………………………………………………………………9
Conclusion and Closing Comments……………………………………………………………...12
References………………………………………………………………………………………..13
Introduction One bridge away from the United States is the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez. Commonly referred to as simply Juárez, it is far removed from the American way of life. Beginning in 1993, the numerous bodies of girls and young women were found dead in and around Juárez. The Daughters of Juárez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border is Teresa Rodriguez’s telling of the stories of some of the women who were found dead. Rodriguez is a reporter for Univision, a major network for Spanish speaking populations in the United States and Mexico, traveled to Juárez and shares the story of the victim’s families and what they have endured, some for the last twenty years. Rodriguez also pulls the curtain back for a glimpse into the corruption and injustice that thrives inside the government of Juárez and created a barrier to the investigations and prosecutions. Throughout the stories told, the socio-economic status of the citizens of Juárez, the rise of power of the drug cartels, and the fear instilled by authority figures are revealed to be an integral part of the killings. It may also be why so many of the killings remain unsolved and families have lingering questions that may never be answered. My goal will be to first summarize the book written by Rodriguez and provide an overview of the serial murders in Juárez. I will include an evaluation of the serial killer theory in relationship to the hundreds of murders. I will also provide evidence that provides more detail and analysis of the murders that enhances the ground work laid out by Rodriguez in her book. At the end, I will provide my own opinion as to why the story of the victims of Juárez are so important to Americans.
Review of Book and Case
The Daughters of Juárez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border by Teresa Rodriguez is a series of stories told through the eyes of the victims, families, human rights activists, and government officials involved with the mass serial murders of over 400 women and young girls in Ciudad Juárez since 1993. Hundreds of female bodies were found deserts in and around Juárez. These young women were snatched from the streets and next found dead in the desert. Some were students, others were workers in maquiladoras, local factories in Juárez. Some were mothers were married, others were employed in Juárez’s red light district as dancers or waitresses. By all appearance, they were being targeted as potential victims and easy prey. Most died by strangulation after having been the victims of torture, strangulation, mutilation, and rape. Rodriguez also brings to light the stories of the families left behind. Several interviews show how they struggled, not just with the loss of a family member, but also with police officials who did not offer any help and turned them away. They were left to return home and pray that their loved ones would return. Some chose to fight back and keep the memory of the victims alive and on the forefront of people’s minds in Juárez.
The rampant corruption within the government structure in Juárez is a common thread throughout Rodriguez’s book.
The police and prison officials were most often mentioned as drowning in deceit and hidden motives. Mario Escobedo, Jr. is one of the best examples of how far the state police would go. Escobedo was a defense attorney for bus driver Gustavo González Meza, one of the bus drivers arrested and charged with crimes related to eight women found killed in a cotton field after being kidnapped and raped. Meza had been arrested along with another bus driver, Javier “Víctor” García Uribe, and police stated that both had confessed to the crimes. Escobedo had taken Meza on as a client after much thought and consideration for his own safety. After receiving anonymous threats over the phone, Escobedo was shot and killed while driving home from work. Mario Escobedo Sr. worked tirelessly to prove the state police were behind his son’s death. Escobedo Sr. said, “I still didn’t know then that my son’s own executioners were the agents and comandante of the judicial police of the state.” (Rodriguez, Montané, and Pulitzer, 2007, p.
215)
She exposes the influence drug cartels, long considered one of the potential suspects, had over the police, prisons and judges. Drug violence spills into the streets and is occurs in broad daylight. Julia E. Monárrez Fragoso, a professor and researcher at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Ciudad Juárez, states “Beginning in 2008, when President Felipe Calderón…decided to implement Operativo Conjunto Chihuahua, which is a military confrontation against drug cartels, the assassination of women increased, but above all the disappearances of young women [increased].” (Paley, 2013)
Businessmen, potentially even Americans, running the maquiladoras are also found to be breaking the laws set forth regarding underage labor and may have played a role in the victim’s being vulnerable to their fates. Rodriguez stated in a radio interview, “…the bodies began to appear in ’93, shortly after the factories began to operate in Ciudad Juárez. So there is a correlation there (Women of Juarez, 2007).
Rodriguez also adds devil worshippers in the mix as being possible killers. She provides stories of shacks filled with demonic images involving women that could be a potential explanation for the killings. However throughout all of the stories told and angles presented, Rodriguez shies away from providing her opinion on who the killer is or who the killers are. For whatever reason, she does not offer her own conclusion. Perhaps it is journalistic integrity or to protect herself against retaliation and the safety of her own family. More than twenty years has passed since the first murders in 1993 occurred. Today, many of the same issues facing victims and their families still exist in Juárez. According to a New York Times article, “Criminal conviction rates are still abysmal. Extortion is still a problem…and many poor neighborhoods are still deadly.” (Cave, 2013). There are still families who had family members go missing who are still looking for answers. Despite all of the commissions and investigators, hundreds, maybe thousands of families will never know the truth. Potential suspects who could have shed light on the crimes roam free and convicted murders who died in prison like Sharif Sharif may have actually been innocent all along. Women like Esther Chavez, a woman’s rights advocate who established Casa Amiga, have provided help to families and women who had the luxury of escaping a mortal fate. It is because of people like Chavez that the plight of women in Juárez is known worldwide. It is because of people like Oscar Maynez, a former chief of forensics who investigated many of the murders, that any amount of attention and justice was attempted for the female victims. He firmly believes that the real serial killers are still out there. Maynez says, “None of the people detained for the murders are responsible, in my opinion.” (Karzarova, 2004) The real story is the women of Juárez who are without their voices to inform us who their killers are. Women like Silvia Elena Rivera Morales and Olga Alicia Carrillo Pérez will be remembered for the grisly way they died and not the joyous way they lived. They will be remembered for being one of hundreds left in the desert to die or already dead. They are the real story in Rodriguez’s work. The women and girls who were killed by nameless killers in a town burdened by its own sins and drowning in its own discretions. The citizens of Juárez are at a disadvantage because they are powerless to stop the killing and shunned by the people who are supposed to help and protect them. Rodriguez’s book shows us all of this while creating a call to action for us all.
Theoretical Analysis The mass killings that occurred in Juárez are not the standard form that is associated with serial killings. If you use the definition use the definition set forth by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (2008), it is the “unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offenders in separate events” (p.18). Law enforcement in Mexico does not have an established definition for what qualifies a murderer as a serial killer. They often lack basic necessities and equipment to handle murders in a way that will ensure proper evidence handling and crime scene protection. A killer who wants to avoid prosecution would thrive in Juárez. Any physical evidence left on the victim could potentially be mishandled, possibly destroyed, by the procedures of the investigators. Crime scenes were often open to media, reporters, law enforcement, state police and onlookers. The victims themselves were left in the desert where animals and vermin had their way with the abandoned bodies, potentially contributing to the deaths of victims who were left to die. Little physical evidence can be left on body that is only bones upon its discovery. The plethora of easy targets, lack of prosecution, and minimal evidence collection would have all been great reasons for serial killers to take up residence in Juárez. One of the most critical aspects to the serial murders of Juárez is that not feasible for one killer to have committed them. The deserts surrounding Juárez are very rough, some areas are impossible to maneuver even with vehicles built for rough terrain. Over time, the killers were more blatant with where they left their bodies, leaving them in areas frequently traveled within the borders of Juárez and often exposed. One individual continually returning to a particular area would eventually be noticed. Also, the areas near the maquiladoras was usually under their security, had cameras, and would not have been a good place for raping and killing a woman. They did prove to be easy access points for kidnapping victims, many who would be traveling on foot, alone, and at night in areas that were not well lit. Another component to the theory that it cannot have been one person is that there are so many bodies and over a large period of time. It would implausible for one person to have committed all of these crimes. If the person was older when they began in 1993, the killing and movement of so many bodies who have taken a toll physically. There is also the issue that there were so many found in short spans of time. The killer would have had to only kill in order for this many bodies to be discovered and for so many to still be missing. Mexican culture plays a large part of how the victims were portrayed and how the public was swayed into believing lies regarding the victims. Traditionally, Mexico has been a male-chauvinist culture. It is a country that is strong in respecting those in authority and never questioning that authority. This includes within relationships and marriages. Women are told to respect their husbands. Many of the Juárez murder victims were found to be the result of domestic incidents turned deadly. This eliminates a large number of murders and disappearances from the overall tally of death in Juárez. Julia Monárrez Fragoso noted in Debate Femenista, “Women, as the objects of male violence, are suffering from it, from their gender identity and from their position in their system of social classes.” (Fragoso, 2002) It is a challenge to create a concrete modus operandi for the serial killer or killers in Juárez. So many factors play into the potential profile that can be created. The proximity to the United States-Mexico border makes it ideal for an American to easily and quickly cross the border. The lackluster judicial system would appeal to those who want to avoid the strict laws of the American judicial system. The sexual nature of many of crimes and the common appearance of many of the victims could mean the killers have an obsession with young, slender, attractive Mexican women, although this type of victim could be obtained on American soil. The struggle is that with so many possibilities and so many potential serial killers it makes it difficult to come to a clear conclusion. To put yourself in the mind of this killer, you would have to find a dark place that would want to see women in pain, disfigured, and under your control. You would sexually find gratification from raping them and disfiguring their breasts by biting off the nipple of one and mutilating the other. You could leave them in the desert to die or already dead for the animals to feed off the carcass. You would not care if they were found. You might not even bury them in anyway. You will often return to the scene of the crime with another victim. You would not have to struggle to find a victim as they were plentiful in the border town. You would not have to worry about the police as they were focused on their own bribery and greed related to the cartels. If you did run across one that was investigating too close, you could always pay them off or throw them off their scent by suggesting another suspect. Even if you were picked up, you would most likely have confessed by force as the police were known to torture prisoners during interrogations. One more step still, if you were sent to trial, you would most likely get off on a technicality as judges were held to Mexican laws that are very loose. You would also be held to the Mexican judicial standard which is “probably responsible” until proven innocent rather than the “innocent until proven guilty” code we adhere to in the U.S. When you were left off by the judge and released, you would be right back out on the streets of Juárez, ready to scope out your next victim. The cycle of violence would continue and the number of potential victims would continue to migrate north from other parts of Mexico for the low paying jobs in the maquiladoras. The young women looking for a better life for themselves and their families would be easy targets.
Conclusion and Closing Comments What is most difficult to accept about the murders of Juárez and the heinous crimes associated with them is that the smoke has not cleared completely. There are still so many unanswered questions except for one. There is not one single person responsible for the killings. It would have been physically impossible for just one person to have committed all of these acts. It would have been impossible for one person to have bribed enough people on their own to have gotten away with these serial killings. The mystery surrounding them will forever exist. As Americans we live in a culture that is hyper-sensitive to the plight of children and young adults. Amber Alerts are issued when a child is taken from a street corner or on her way home from school. Mexico is not the same. A glance over the Rio Grande from Texas south is another world. A world where young girls disappeared from the streets and were never seen alive again. No TV coverage. No massive search party and hundreds of volunteers searching for them, except their families and friends. It almost seems archaic that a culture would act in this manner. But Juárez did and still does.
References
Cave, Damien. (2013, December 15). A Border City Known for Killing Gets Back to Living. New York Times, p. A6(L). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/ps/i. do?id=GALE%7CA352930197&v=2.1&u=ksu&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=4b0544fe 77a7652c63d406ab5a1fd431
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2008). Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for
Investigators. Behavioral Analysis Unit, National Center for the Analysis of Violent
Crime. U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder Fragoso, Julia Monárrez. (2002, April) Serial Sexual Femicide in Ciudad Juárez: 1993-2001. Debate Feminista, 13th Edition, Vol. 25
Katzarova, Mariana. (29 March 2004). Letter From Juárez. Nation, 278(12), 8.
Paley, Dawn. (2013, Spring). Femicide and drug wars. Ms, 23, 20-21. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/docview/1365233730?accountid=11789 Rodriguez, Teresa, Montané, Diana, and Pulitzer, Lisa. (2007). The Daughters of Juárez: A True
Story of Serial Murder South of the Border. New York: Atria Books.
The Women of Juarez. (2007, May 24). Tell Me More. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA166545588 &v=2.1&u=ksu&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=783508010c1d3c7123e4f76c6ca09686