Valeria Marquez was addressing her TikTok followers in a livestream from her beauty salon in Zapopan, Mexico, when someone arrived at her door to deliver a small parcel.
“He’s a little piglet!” the 23-year-old beauty influencer exclaimed as she returned to her viewers and unwrapped the stuffed animal, smiling as she tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
Moments later she was dead, slumped over in her chair with blood pooling on the desk in front of her, even as the livestream continued. The footage ended only when another person picked up her phone, their face momentarily showing to viewers.
According to the state of Jalisco’s Attorney General’s office, Marquez was shot dead by a male intruder into her salon in a case it is investigating as a suspected femicide – the killing of a woman or girl for gender-based reasons.
The death of Marquez – a public figure with more than 100,000 Instagram followers – has sent shockwaves through a country that has long struggled with high levels of both homicide and violence against women.
Just days earlier, another woman – a mayoral candidate in the state of Veracruz – was also shot dead during a livestream, alongside three other people.
While not all homicides involving women are femicides, many are. In 2020, a quarter of female killings in Mexico were investigated as femicides, with cases reported in each one of Mexico’s 32 states, according to Amnesty International.
Last year, there were 847 reported cases of femicide nationwide – and 162 in the first three months of this year, according to Mexican government figures.
Mexico’s response to homicides in general is severely wanting, according to rights groups, who say too few investigations lead to prosecution.
The main challenge, Goebertus said, is increasing authorities’ capacity to investigate and protect witnesses and victims.