The Find
Roberto Alejandro Vázquez Hernández locked up his petrol station on López Mateos Avenue.
It had been six years since his daughter, Valentina, disappeared during her 11th birthday party—and every night, when he locked up, he remembered how she had come home only once more—on the night of April 15, 2017.
Rodrigo Pérez Villanueva, the custodian, was cleaning the service area that afternoon when he saw that one of the floor tiles in the back storage room had fallen loose.
He found a plastic bag underneath it when he picked it up to mend it.
“Mr. Vázquez, you have to see this!” Esteban yelled from the rear lot.
Roberto rushed over. Esteban had a clear bag with a pink cell phone with butterfly stickers on it, some papers, and a silver bracelet with the name Valentina on it.
“Where did this device come from?” Roberto asked, his legs shaking.
“It was buried here, under the tile.” Esteban said, “It looks like someone hid it years ago.”
Roberto knew the phone right away. He had given it to Valentina for her 11th birthday, barely two months before she went missing. She also owned the bracelet; she wore it at her friend Sofía Beatriz Mendoza Jiménez’s quinceañera. Valentina’s school ID, a pharmacy receipt from April 14, 2017, and a handwritten letter that said they were all in the bag.
“Everything is set for tomorrow.” No one will know. —D.C.R.”
A New Lead
Roberto promptly contacted Inspector Joaquín Gabriel Torres Salta María. He had been in charge of the first inquiry.
Thirty minutes later, Torres showed up there with a forensic team.
Torres looked over the evidence and stated, “Don Roberto, this is the first real lead we’ve had in six years.”
“Do you know why it might have been buried here?”
Roberto said that the gas station was open all the time and that many individuals could go to the back area, including staff, suppliers, and customers.
“But I do remember that Valentina lost her phone the night she went missing,” he said.
The pharmacy receipt showed that Valentina bought sleeping medicines and bandages with cash at 6:00 p.m. on April 14, 2017, the day before she went missing.
“Do you know what the letters ‘D.C.R.’ stand for?” Torres wanted to know.
Roberto shook his head, but Esteban said, “I remember that night.” A young man came to the gathering and asked if we had found anything. He was tall, had dark skin, and was probably 18. He said he was Valentina’s friend.
“Do you know what his name is?”
“No, but Mrs. Carmen thought it was strange that he was watching me so closely,” Esteban said.
Carmen Esperanza Morales de Vázquez, Valentina’s mother, came at that time. She fell to the ground in sobs as she saw the proof.
“I got her that phone for her birthday, and she loved it!” How did it get here? That night, we looked everywhere!
Torres told the police to do a comprehensive forensic search.
They sent the phone to the lab to get the data back, took fingerprints from everything, and looked at the handwriting on the note.
Torres told Don Roberto, “I need a list of everyone who has worked here since 2017, as well as all of Valentina’s friends, especially those who were at Sofía’s party.”
The investigation is back on.
Roberto did what he was told. There were 12 former employees, six frequent suppliers, and 20 friends and classmates who went to Sofía’s quinceañera on the list.
Carmen remembered that Valentina had been sad that night.
Sofía’s mom said Valentina departed around 11:00 p.m., but Sofía thought she had just gone to the bathroom.
“Did Valentina have a boyfriend?” Torres wanted to know.
“No.” Carmen said, “She was very focused on school.” “Boys liked her, but she always said she wanted to finish school first.”
In 2017, the police interviewed all the guests, looked at security footage, and scoured a 50-kilometer area, but they never found any sign of Valentina.
Torres remarked, “The problem is that we didn’t have this proof back then.” We may now reopen the case the right way.
Putting the pieces together
Torres brought the receipt to the drugstore. There were no security tapes left, but the pharmacist remembered that a young man bought something with cash around 6:30 p.m. on April 14.
Torres looked at the guest list and saw that one name matched the initials “D.C.R.”
Diego Armando Castillo Ríz was Sofía’s boyfriend in 2017.
Step by step, things that didn’t make sense came up. Diego said he didn’t know Valentina very well, but those who were there saw him talking to her.
Valentina’s phone revealed the last message she sent at 10:43 p.m.
“I’m heading out now.” “Where do we meet?” — texted to Diego’s phone number.
This proof ruined Diego’s first alibi.
When they searched his flat, they found secret pictures of Valentina, notes that tracked her activities, and messages with two notorious criminals, Mauricio Guzmán and Fernando Moreno.
The Truth Comes Out
Later, a concealed SUV was located on Mauricio’s land. There were fibers inside that matched Valentina’s garment and blood in the trunk.
During questioning, Mauricio broke down:
“Inspector, I just assisted her move. I didn’t kill anyone!
Sofía also admitted it soon after:
Diego told me he liked Valentina and asked me when she was free. I believed he merely wanted to see her… I had no idea he was going to hurt her. He told me he would hurt me after she went missing.
Diego ultimately admitted to everything when he was shown all the proof.
“I didn’t want her to die.” He told Torres, “I just wanted her to be with me.”
He said that Fernando Moreno killed Valentina by strangling her in June 2017 after holding her prisoner for 45 days in a secret house in Tlajomulco.
Then, in a cruel joke, Moreno forced Diego and Mauricio to bury Valentina’s body and conceal her belongings beneath the tiles of the gas station floor.
Justice and What Happened Next
Six years later, forensic teams dug up human bones from the Tlajomulco residence.
DNA proved that it was Valentina.
The autopsy revealed signs of confinement, abuse, and torture.
The case got a lot of attention all around the country.
Torres found a human trafficking ring in Guadalajara that ran from 2015 until 2020. It was operated by businessman Javier Mendoza Salinas, who happened to be Sofía’s uncle, and protected by former police chief Ricardo Emilio Salinas Medina.
They had taken at least 32 young women, killed eight of them, and sold the rest as sex slaves across Mexico.
Valentina was the youngest person they hurt.
The arrests shook Jalisco. Businessmen, politicians, judges, and police were all involved. Many people were charged.
Torres’s section took apart the whole ring, revealing a lot of corruption.
The reality was hard for Roberto and Carmen Vázquez to take, but it gave them peace.
Roberto remarked at a public tribute, “My daughter won’t come back, but her case will help other families find theirs.”
The past
Mexico made significant changes by 2023:
A task team was established to focus on stopping trafficking.
Cross-checking processes to stop sabotage,
Funds for the families of victims,
Enhancing the safety of witnesses is also a priority.
Seven years after Valentina went missing, on April 15, 2024, Inspector Torres went to the memorial Roberto had made at the gas station.
Pictures of all the victims surrounded the memorial.
“Inspector, have you found the girls who were sold to other states?” Roberto asked.
“Twelve have been saved,” Torres said with a nod. “Eight came back home.” Four people decided to start over. And for the remainder, we’re still looking.
Valentina’s case became a major turning point in Mexican criminal investigations.
People all around the country started using the new methods of investigation that it inspired.
Roberto Vázquez, who had been devastated by sadness, had become a symbol of justice, change, and the fight against human trafficking.