Debanhi Escobar: one year after his death and no arrests, what progress is there in the investigation?

Debanhi Escobar He was 18 years old when he disappeared on April 9, 2022 after leaving a party in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. The last photo of the girl that morning, alone in the middle of the road, went viral and started a case with a fatal outcome that shocked the country and that remains unresolved.

The previous night, April 8the law student at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) she had gone out to a party with her friends in the Nueva Castilla neighborhood, in Escobedo.

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After leaving the party, she took a taxi that was driven by “someone trustworthy,” according to her friends. The taxi driver was the same one who took them to the meeting. But almost at the beginning of the journey the young woman got out of the vehicle on a desolate road. The driver took a photo of Debanhi and shared it with friends. That was the first image of the young woman that was shared on social networks to report her disappearance.

The last photo of Debanhi Escobar that was taken by the taxi driver that was taking her home (Credit: Instagram/@debanhi.escobar).

So far there is no convincing explanation for the reason for the decision to Debanhi. Even at one point the girl’s father, Mario Escobar, said that she had been the victim of harassment by the taxi driver, something that the man has always denied. Furthermore, he was never linked to the process.

The place where the young woman got out of the taxi is near the New Castile Motel and a transport company.

Finally, on April 21 Debanhi Escobar was found dead in a cistern at the Nueva Castilla Motela place that had already been searched by the authorities several times without positive results.

That same night, the authorities of New Lion They concluded that the young woman’s cause of death was an accident: she fell into the well and drowned.

Initially, the Nuevo León Prosecutor’s Office reported that the New Castile Motel it had surveillance cameras, but no recording capability. Later it was reported that there were some cameras that did record.

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At the end of April, the Prosecutor’s Office showed some videos to the media that began after the last photograph taken by the taxi driver who was taking Debanhi, at 4:26 in the morning, and left it on the road.

In the videos, the young woman is seen going to a transport company but it is not appreciated that she enters the premises. Minutes later he goes to the Nueva Castilla motel, where the young woman walks through the patio of the place, and according to the prosecutors she goes “towards the area of ​​the cistern”, where her body was located.

The body of Debanhi Escobar was found in a cistern at the Nueva Castilla Motel, in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. (The Universal, GDA).

What did the friends say after the discovery of the body? He April 27, Sarahí and Ivonne gave a television interview where they assured that the young woman she got very bad and aggressive during the party and that she did not want anyone’s help, that she asked to be left alone.

The three autopsies and the contradictions

The first autopsy carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office New Lion determined as a conclusion that the young woman died from a “deep contusion of the skull.”

On April 27, the medical examiner Eduardo Villagómez Jasso assured that Debanhi Escobar he fell alive into the motel cistern. But at the same press conference she said that he had no water in his lungs.

“The girl fell still alive, where she was found she was alive, and there was an opportunity to react. She had no water in her lungs. Why didn’t she drown? Because she stopped, I don’t know if you know the height of the amount of water in the cistern, it was 90 centimeters ”, Villagómez said.

Then there was a independent autopsy, which was commissioned by the family of Debanhi Escobar.

On May 12, the result was leaked, where one of its conclusions was that the young woman showed signs of sexual abuseblows to the head with a blunt object, and that she died before being submerged in the cistern of the New Castile Motel.

The body of the young Debanhi Escobar was discovered on April 21, 12 days after she was reported missing after attending a party. (Photo: Instagram @debanhi.escobar)

Finally, the 1st of July the prosecution exhumed the body of Debanhi Escobar to perform a third autopsy.

The results were released on July 18. The third autopsy established that Debanhi Escobar died of mechanical suffocation, that is, his nostrils were blocked; he did not die by drowning. He completely ruled out asphyxiation by submersion and sexual abuse.

At a press conference, the director of the Institute of Forensic Sciences of the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City, Felipe Edmundo Takahashi, said that “the necessary elements are available, sufficient to establish that the cause of death of Debanhi Escobar it was due to asphyxia due to suffocation in its variety of obstruction of respiratory orifices”.

He also talked about other two conclusions relevant to the case:

The first is that Debanhi Escobar died between three and five days before the discovery of his body on April 21. That is, between April 9 and 16, the young woman could be found alive.

The other is that there was no evidence, injury or any other finding that indicated a sexual assault.

No detainee

On September 8, 2022, the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic took up the investigation, but currently there are no major advances and no detainees.

The research focuses on the New Castile Motel. Initially, the motel manager and receptionist ensured that the security cameras They were monitoring and there were no recordings. However, in a search, USB sticks with videos were located.

Both women, identified as Ana Luisa “N” and Elida Yurith “N”, were linked to the process for their alleged responsibility in the crimes of concealment and false statements.

Dolores Bazaldua and Mario Escobar, parents of the young Debanhi Escobar, offer an interview to EFE, on April 4, 2023, outside the motel where their daughter was found lifeless. (EFE / Miguel Sierra). (Miguel Sierra /)

This is Debanhi’s father

Mario Escobar and Dolores BazalduaDebanhi’s parents, are still waiting for justice.

“The case has been very slow, it has already been a year, there are many things that have to be resolved”Mario Escobar, who along with his wife assured that they will not rest until he or those responsible for the disappearance and femicide of his daughter pay for their crimes.

For Mario Escobar Debanhi’s case became emblematic and transcended borders because it showed what they live in Mexico hundreds of women victims of disappearance and femicide whose cases have not been resolved either.

“Beyond femicide, it was a situation that is representing all the women of Nuevo León, all the women of the country, many women from all over the world”held.

People hold signs as they participate in the women’s march demanding justice for Debanhi Escobar, on April 22, 2022. (Photo by Julio César AGUILAR / AFP). (JULY CESAR AGUILAR /)

In the same interview with EFE, Mario Escobar He denounced that the Nuevo León authorities tried to “shelf” the case after stating that the young woman died from a deep contusion to the skull, for which the strongest line of investigation pointed to her having accidentally fallen into the cistern.

While Dolores Bazaldua He commented that this year after the disappearance and femicide of his daughter has been difficult, especially because they cannot overcome his absence.

“Our life has totally changed and it has been difficult because we have also had to learn to live without it,” she said.

Source: Elcomercio