Marisela Escobedo Ortiz

Marisela Escobedo Ortiz was a human rights defender who pursued justice for the killing of her 16-year-old daughter and other victims of violence in Mexico. Marisela Escobedo Ortiz's daughter, Rubi Marisol Fraye Escobedo disappeared in Ciudad Juárez in August 2008. In June 2009 her body was recovered burned, dismembered and dumped at a pig ranch near the city of Ciudad Juárez. Following the killing of her daughter, Marisela and her husband started investigating the case and found out that their daughter had been killed by Sergio Rafael Barraza Bocanegra. The couple managed to find Barraza, who was arrested and taken to Juarez. Barraza confessed the crime in court, but was later acquitted for lack of evidence and released. Marisela Escobedo began a series of protests against the authorities' decision to release her daughter's killer, until the court overturned the acquittal and sentenced Barraza for murder. The man, however, remained fugitive. On 16 December 2010 an unknown assassin killed Marisela outside the governor's office, in the northern city of Chihuahua, where the human rights defender was holding a vigil for her daughter.