7-Year-Old Girl Found Wrapped in Plastic Bag in Mexico City
Mexico City law enforcement has arrested suspects for the death of a seven-year-old girl.
Authorities arrested a woman and a man late Wednesday for the kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl who was later found wrapped in a plastic bag a day later.
Arrest warrants served by the city's prosecutors are for kidnapping charges with intent to cause harm. Murder and other charges could be added later.
The seven-year-old girl Fatima Cecilia Aldrighett was last seen being picked up from school by an unidentified woman. Her mother was about 15-20 minutes late to pick her up.
Family members condemned social services when their calls for help went unanswered.
Authorities waited for a formal missing person's case file to be opened, losing a full day in searching for the seven-year-old child.
Investigators were drawn to a white vehicle that was spotted in the area before the crime. At least five witnesses were interviewed by the authorities. They also searched a property in the Xochimilco neighborhood where they found clothing and other items belonging to Fatima.
They initially appealed to the public, offering a $107,000 reward for any information about Fatima or the woman seen on the video.
A post by the prosecutor's office
Authorities released a sketch of the woman during a press conference Tuesday afternoon. "We want to ask everyone to support us with the dissemination of the image, as well as the physical characteristics to the person we're referring to," they said.
Fatima's body was discovered in Tlahuac over the weekend. She was found to have suffered sexual abuse and beating before she died.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said that the two suspects were a couple who had abandoned their rented home located in a southern neighborhood the day before the body was discovered.
Sheinbaum said the family knew the woman. She also confirmed via twitter that the suspects were detained by state police and National Guard.
Fatima was buried Tuesday.
Grade school students in Mexico City walk out of school after classes to meet their parents on the sidewalks. Many have criticized the school for not calling police to get Fatima when no parent was there to get her.
Sheinbaum said they plan to disperse uniformed workers for security at drop-off and pick-up hours. They also plan to accelerate the deployment of security cameras and bolster protocols for identifying the people who pick kids up from school.
Sheinbaum said they are also reviewing the timeline of response from the time the girl was reported missing.
The news of Fatima's death sparked another wave of anger amongst the women and girls demanding better protection from the Mexican government.
Fatima's death comes days after the gruesome murder of Ingrid Escamilla, a 25-year-old who was found skinned and disemboweled in her own home.
Femicide, the killing of women, have increased a whopping 137% in the last five years. A total number of 1,006 cases of femicide were reported in 2019, with 912 reported the year before.
According to activists and authorities, 10 women are killed in Mexico every day.
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador came under fire for comments regarding Fatima's murder where he appeared to blame the neoliberal economic policies and society as a whole.
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