A RISING TikTok star, her husband and two young children have been found murdered inside a pickup truck in Mexico.
Esmeralda Ferrer Garibay, 32, was discovered dead alongside husband Roberto Carlos Gil Licea, 36, 13-year-old son Gael Santiago, and seven-year-old daughter Regina.
Jam PressAn influencer, her husband, and their two children were found murdered in Mexico[/caption]
Jam PressTheir bodies were found inside this gray Ford Ranger in Guadalajara[/caption]
Jam PressThe influencer posted luxury and narco-culture content to thousands of followers[/caption]
Mexican authorities found the abandoned gray Ford Ranger in Guadalajara last Friday, but only confirmed their identities yesterday.
Authorities confirmed the victims’ remains had been handed back to relatives just three days after the pickup truck was found.
The young family had only recently moved to the Guadalajara metropolitan area for work.
Roberto, who traded vehicles and farmed tomatoes back in their hometown of Michoacán, is believed to have been the target.
Investigators stressed that Esmeralda’s online activity is not considered the prime motive.
Instead, her husband’s vehicle business and agricultural dealings in Michoacán may have drawn deadly attention from Mexico’s infamous cartels, Infobae reports.
Tracing the truck’s movements, detectives were led to a mechanic’s workshop.
That’s where ballistic evidence and bloodstains tied the family’s fate to the location – fuelling theories that they could have been shot to death.
Prosecutor Alfonso Gutiérrez Santillán said: “The scene was processed, and investigators found multiple pieces of evidence suggesting the family was killed there.
“While the forensic results are not yet in, ballistic and blood evidence almost certainly confirm they were murdered at that location.”
Two workshop workers, Héctor Manuel Valdivia Martínez and a man nicknamed “El Chino” (The Chinese), were detained for questioning but later freed due to lack of evidence for prosecution.
While Valdivia was leaving the Prosecutor’s Office, an armed group intercepted him along with two other relatives, José Manuel Arredondo Roldán and Gary Omar Silva González, who are still missing, Infobae reported.
The individual known as “El Chino” managed to flee.
The abduction appears directly tied to the same investigation into the family’s murder, according to local reports.
Prosecutor Blanca Trujillo described the chilling patience of the attackers: “Investigations show the perpetrators had been watching the exit for over two hours.
“It wasn’t an immediate attack – they waited until the group had moved a few metres before carrying out the abduction.”
The tragedy has drawn widespread attention not only for its brutality but because Esmeralda had cultivated a strong following online.
Her accounts, where she shared travel and lifestyle clips, also featured her lip-syncing to ‘narcocorridos’ – songs glamorising drug cartels.
Esmeralda had built a persona online that grabbed the attention of thousands.
On TikTok, she had 18,000 followers and more than half a million likes.
She flaunted Gucci and Dior, luxury cars, surgeries, and beachside vacations, while also posting sharp-edged content tied to narco culture.
One of her most notorious clips included the phrase: “Advantages of having a narco boyfriend.”
Jam PressEsmeralda’s husband’s business dealings are the suspected motive for the family’s murder[/caption]
Jam PressBallistic evidence and bloodstains link a mechanic’s workshop to the murders[/caption]
Her last video, uploaded on August 7, has already crossed 100,000 views. Others have pulled in more than 600,000.
In between the glamour shots, she also appeared with her children and her Pomeranian dogs.
Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, has become one of the country’s most violent regions in recent years.
The metropolitan area is a stronghold for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the most powerful and feared criminal groups in the world.
Kidnappings, executions, and disappearances are routine in the region, with the CJNG locked in bloody turf wars against rivals and security forces.
For many families who move to Guadalajara in search of opportunity, the shadow of cartel violence looms constantly in the background.
Jam PressEsmeralda had built a persona online that grabbed the attention of thousands of people[/caption]