Vigilantes lynch woman suspected of role in kidnap and killing of young girl

Residents of a Mexican town lynched a woman whom they believed was involved in the murder of an eight-year-old girl after police arrested three people on suspicion of involvement in the child’s murder.

The girl disappeared from the tourist town of Taxco on Wednesday and her body was found on a highway the next day.

She appeared to be the victim of a financial kidnapping following reports that her family received anonymous telephone calls demanding a ransom.

Locals immediately suspected a man and a woman as being behind the crime after security footage apparently showed them loading a black bag thought to contain the body into the boot of a car.

On Thursday, residents blocked one of the main streets of Taxco and gathered outside a house where the woman and two men were located, demanding justice.

Beat with sticks

They dragged out the trio, doused them in gasoline and beat them with sticks.

Video footage shows dozens of people kicking and punching a woman, who was wearing nothing but a pair of blue jeans. Her body then goes limp as she is left lying in the street, her face obscured by a mass of hair and blood.

In another video, a man is seen being yanked from the custody of police by a mob. The vigilantes pull the man from an officer on the back of an official police truck and throw him to the ground. People then take it in turns to kick and punch him with virtually no resistance from police.

The woman died and the two men were hospitalised.

On Sunday, Guerrero state prosecutors said a man and a minor were arrested on Saturday “for the crime of femicide” along with another man the day before on similar charges. They did not clarify whether that included the men attacked by the mob.

Evelyn Salgado, the governor of Guerrero, said on Friday on X, formerly Twitter: “My solidarity is with the family [of the minor], the future is not understood without justice.”

Two hours from Mexico City, the silver mining town of Taxco is popular among tourists for its cobbled streets and centuries-old architecture. Old VW beetles ply the roads as taxis, while rising up in the centre is the beautiful, peach-coloured Santa Prisca church.

Yet the town’s magical appearance belies its reputation for crime. In January, the United States banned its government employees from visiting the city.

It came amid a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In November, five people disappeared from the town, including three journalists who were later freed unharmed.

Kidnappings and murders are daily occurrences in Mexico, although adult men are the most common victims, making the young girl’s death particularly shocking.

Regular lynchings

There are regular lynchings of alleged criminals, which experts link to the widespread perception of impunity.

A report by researchers at the Autonomous University of Mexico found that 1,423 lynchings were recorded between 2016 and 2022.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” a member of Thursday’s mob said. “This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she added. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

Mario Figueroa, the mayor of Taxco, whose own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles in February, said he shared residents’ outrage over the killing, adding that his small, outnumbered municipal police force had not received the help it needed from the state government.