Teresa Rodriguez

Subtitle: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border.

Beginning in 1993, the residents of Juárez, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, became aware of a disturbing frequency of murders of young women. The women were mostly young, slender, and with long hair. They disappeared in broad daylight, from bus stops or while walking home from their jobs in factories or downtown shops. Their bodies were typically found in the surrounding desert, usually days or weeks after they disappeared, with the result that there was little evidence remaining. And yet the families claimed that authorities took the murders too lightly.

Investigators bungled or just ignored standard procedures, failed to collect and secure (or just lost or destroyed) key evidence, and relied on torture of random suspects to secure “confessions” and clear the dockets. The continued murders attracted international attention, but despite heightened scrutiny the crimes and lack of prosecution continued.

Journalist Teresa Rodríguez was a reporter for Univision and spent considerable time in the area interviewing families, suspects, prosecutors and police officials (when allowed to). This is her report of the time up to about 2005. It’s well researched and the story is presented in a manner that is easy to absorb, however distressing the subject.

Some estimate that at least 350 women were murdered between 1993 and 2005. It seems that the machismo culture put little value on these women. But Rodríguez makes it clear that there was considerable corruption and/or ineptitude among authorities. The most disturbing thing to me is that the book leaves the reader with more questions than answers.… (mere)