Text based on the conversation with Ana Luisa Garduño, Ana Karen’s mother. July 27, 2021.

 

Ana Karen was a cheerful, responsible and studious girl who loved music and dancing. She was an extraordinary daughter, sister and friend.

 

Through an X-Box Live game, Ana Karen met Eduardo from Zapopan, Jalisco. Later, they began an online relationship that lasted 10 months, in which he visited her in Morelos every other week. During this time, Eduardo hacked Ana Karen’s social media accounts because “she wasn’t paying attention to him.”  Ana Luisa, Ana Karen’s mother, confronted him about this issue and he later returned the accounts to her daughter. The situation led to the end of the relationship. 

 

On December 9, 2012, while the family was shopping for their businesses, Ana Luisa received a phone call letting her know that Eduardo was outside their house. Ana Karen didn’t want to see him, so her mother talks to him and tells him to stop bothering her daughter. He promises not to bother or approach Ana Karen anymore; Ana Luisa buys him some food and takes him to the bus station to return to Zapopan.

 

Ana Karen told her mom: “Eduardo is going to kill me.”

 

On December 11, the family moved to a new house due to the kidnapping of Ana Luisa’s husband some months previous to these events. Constant threats endangered the safety of the family for which the new address was kept secret and only known to the household. That same day Eduardo returned to their old house, finding it almost empty. Ana Karen’s father talks to him and tells him again to stop harassing his daughter. As a last courtesy, the family allows him to spend the night in the old place, on the condition that he would leave the house in the morning and never return.

 

On December 12, 2012, Eduardo slept or pretended to sleep until late. Around 2:30 pm he told Ana Luisa that he would go pick up his belongings from a hotel and he will later stop by to say goodbye to them. Shortly after, Ana Luisa noticed a lost call from her daughter on her cell phone and calls her back right away. At 3:15 pm Ana Karen told her that Eduardo was just outside the new house and had no idea how he got their new address. Ana Luisa told her not to open the door and rushed to their new home in a cab; upon arriving to their neighbourhood, she saw Eduardo leaving in a cab. At 3:30 pm Ana Luisa found her daughter lying on the floor of the living room. After calling 911 and asking for an ambulance, she found a bullet shell which made her realize that Ana Karen was already dead. Later, civil protection and police officers arrive, but no ambulance. During the investigations, the authorities ransack their house. 

 

Later that day, it is known that Ana Karen died from gunshot wounds to the head, chest and stomach. 

 

Although the authorities knew the whereabouts of Eduardo, he wasn’t detained because they didn’t have an arrest warrant against him. He ran away. On December 15, Ana Luisa personally initiated the search for the perpetrator. All the information compiled in Ana Karen’s investigation file was provided by her mother’s efforts.

 

Until the date of this conversation, 8 years and 6 months have passed without justice for Ana Karen.