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Mexico starts over in women murder probes
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- After 10 years of investigations marred by negligence and bungling, Mexican police are starting from scratch in their search for the killers of more than 250 women in a northern border town. In a macabre tale filled with grisly scenes and Hollywood plot twists, federal authorities are "back to zero" in the Ciudad Juarez murder investigations, said Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, head of the organized crime unit in Mexico's attorney general's office. In an interview late on Monday, Santiago Vasconcelos acknowledged a lack of expertise on the part of local and Chihuahua state investigators. Most of the women were gang raped, tortured, brutally killed and dumped in anonymous graves, Santiago Vasconcelos said. Now a new team of federal and state authorities is reviewing all 258 cases, including reopening 67 in which suspects were convicted and sentenced, he said. "We are reviewing them case by case," he said. Federal authorities have essentially discarded a theory that some of the murders were linked to organ trafficking after a key suspect admitted that a confession -- in which he named victims, pointed out burial grounds and described an elaborate kidnap and murder network -- was a pack of lies. In the latest setback, DNA tests revealed that six of the women's bodies had been wrongly identified. Investigators are returning to spots where some of the first bodies were discovered as early as 1993 to reconstruct the crimes. A bank of DNA data is being compiled, and some bodies that have been formally buried might be exhumed. A group of serial killers could be responsible and they might use drugs when they commit the crimes, Santiago Vasconcelos said. Some murders could be copycat crimes, while others show evidence of family violence, he said. Amnesty International in August published a report blasting Mexican police for incompetence and corruption in the investigation. The London-based rights group says some 370 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez since 1993, though the official case file consists of 258 murders. Most of the victims were young, dark-skinned and unemployed or working in factories that employ women around the clock, investigators say. The sprawling city of two million is home to one of Mexico's most ruthless drug cartels as well as hundreds of "maquiladora" assembly plants that mass produce goods for export and draw workers from rural Mexico, often young women. Mexico's attorney general got involved in the cases about six months ago when the line of investigation turned to organ trafficking, a federal crime. A victim's cell phone led to the suspect who confessed to participating in an organ trafficking ring. But when faced with a lie detector test he admitted he had made up the story for fear he would be tortured, Santiago Vasconcelos said. The suspect named two supposed victims, who turned out to be family friends still living. He pointed to burial grounds where police had discovered several bodies but later said he had seen police working at those sites. None of the bodies examined showed signs of organ removal. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined the probe and U.S. lawmakers visiting the city on Monday urged their government to give Mexican police financial and technical aid. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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