The mother-in-law of a former Mexican beauty queen has been arrested in Venezuela for her murder after fleeing the country. Erika Maria Herrera, 62, was taken into custody on Wednesday in connection with the femicide of Carolina Flores Gomez, 27, inside her Mexico City apartment on April 15, according to reports.
Details of the crime
Gomez, who was crowned Miss Teen Universe in Baja California in 2017, was shot 12 times — six times in the head and six in the chest, Blog del Narco reported. Authorities focused their investigation on Herrera and placed her on Interpol's Red Notice list earlier this week, which the Office of the Attorney General of Mexico City credits with leading to her arrest, according to Reporte Indigo. Prosecutors are now seeking to extradite Herrera to Mexico, Diario Puntal reports.
Video evidence
Herrera's arrest came after video allegedly showing the shooting was posted online. The footage appears to show Herrera following Gomez into a room in her apartment before several gunshots are heard. The video then shows Gomez's husband, Alejandro Gomez, holding their eight-month-old child, walking into the room and asking his mother, 'What happened?' according to Blog del Narco. She allegedly replied, 'Nothing, she just made me angry,' and emphasized that Alejandro is her son before fleeing the premises.
Investigation and cover-up allegations
The fact that Alejandro let his mother flee the scene and waited until the next day to notify authorities has led prosecutors to investigate whether there was a cover-up in the homicide. Gomez had recently celebrated her birthday on April 4, 1999, in Ensenada, Puntual reported.
Official response
Baja California governor Marina del Pilar Avila told reporters that the investigation into Gomez's death was a foremost priority. 'No crime against a woman should go unpunished,' Avila said. 'Our thoughts are with her family during this devastating time.' State prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez said there has been close communication between officials to prioritize the probe, according to Puntual.
Context of violence against women
The tragic death of the beauty queen occurs amid social unrest in Mexico over what advocates call an epidemic of violence against women and lack of justice for assailants. Civil organizations are pushing prosecutors to reclassify the case as a femicide, which the United Nations agency UN Women defines as 'an intentional killing with a gender-related motivation,' Puntual reported. UN Women said last November that femicide 'is different from homicide, where the motivation may not be gender-related.' The agency stated that femicide 'is driven by discrimination against women and girls, unequal power relations, gender stereotypes or harmful social norms. It is the most extreme and brutal manifestation of violence against women and girls which occurs on a continuum of multiple and related forms of violence, at home, in workplaces, schools or public and online spaces.' Among the forms it takes are intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, and other forms of sexual violence, harmful practices, and trafficking.
