Karen Mariel Juárez Romero's family demands her death be investigated as femicide after she fell from a moving car on February 8. The young woman identified her partner as responsible before dying on February 20. On Monday, April 20, they called for a protest outside Mexico City's prosecutor's office.
Karen Mariel Juárez Romero was hospitalized in critical condition on February 8 after falling from a moving car on Insurgentes Norte. Her family says she told hospital staff that her partner, Jesús Fernando, assaulted her and threw her from the vehicle. She had both legs amputated and died 13 days later, on February 20.
Claudia Romero Mecalco, the victim's mother, criticized the Mexico City General Prosecutor's Office for classifying the case as culpable homicide rather than femicide. "We want the culpable homicide that the Prosecutor's Office says was an accident to be reclassified as femicide," she stated. The family complains of missing key forensic exams and camera footage reviews, accusing authorities of demanding they provide evidence themselves.
Karen Mariel's friends have not joined protests due to alleged threats from Jesús Fernando, according to the mother. The demonstration took place on Monday, April 20, at 7:30 a.m. outside the Mexico City prosecutor's office, amid stark statistics: nearly 10 women killed daily in Mexico, with less than a quarter probed as femicide.
The case adds to recent backlash over the handling of Edith Valdés's femicide, where the prosecutor's office faces probes into possible corruption.
