Fearless Mom Hunts Down Mexican Drug Cartel Members Who Killed Her Daughter, One by One

People usually turn to the police and put their faith in them if their loved ones are kidnapped. But one mother from Mexico made it her mission to find her daughter's murderers and put them behind bars. Miriam Elizabeth Rodríguez Martínez spent years stalking and hunting down her daughter's captors and eventually managed to narrow down most of them. Miriam's story does seem like something straight out of a Hollywood movie, as most of the details mirror the plot of the 2008 movie Taken.

The mother from San Fernando, Tamaulipas, went on a personal vendetta mission after her 20-year-old daughter Karen Alejandra Salinas Rodriguez was abducted on January 23, 2012. According to Daily Mail, a group of armed men from the Los Zeta Cartel had forced their way into her car and took off with her inside. Shortly after this, Miriam received ransom demands in exchange for her return. The worried family complied with their demand and made several payments, even took out loans. Unfortunately, Karen's body was discovered on an abandoned ranch two years later, in 2014. At this point, the mother made up her mind to pursue her daughter's killers, despite knowing the dangers that came with it.

At one point during the negotiating, she requested to meet with the members of the local Zeta cartel. To her surprise, they agreed and soon she found herself requesting a young man at El Junior, a restaurant, to release her daughter. The man insisted that they didn't have her daughter but offered to help in her search for a fee of $2,000. After the conversation ended, Miriam walked away with $2,000 less in her purse and an important piece of information. She overheard someone call the man by the Sama over the radio. 

When the young man stopped answering her calls, she was contacted by others who asked for more money and she paid. One day, Miriam made up her mind to find the culprits one by one until the day she dies. Her grief hardened into resolve. Keeping the promise, she began her investigation, carefully going through social media and her daughter's profile, looking for clues. Finally one day, she came across Sama's profile and immediately recognized him. He was standing beside a woman who was wearing the uniform of an ice cream shop two hours away in Ciudad Victoria. For weeks, she stalked the store to catch the guy and finally, Miriam followed him home.

To get more information about Sama without being recognized, the mother changed her appearance by cutting off and dying her hair bright red. Miriam pretended to be a government official and went around his neighbourhood conducting a fake poll. Unfortunately, he had left town by the time police got involved but he was eventually arrested, thanks to the information Miriam had collected. At one point, she even cornered a man involved in Karen's murder, holding a gun to his back and saying, "If you move, I’ll shoot you." 

Although most of the living culprits had started new lives, including a florist, a nanny,  Miriam managed to locate all of them and turned them to the authority. According to the New York Times, she narrowed down 10 members of the Zeta cartel, who were ultimately arrested. Although her mission was hugely successful, the 57-year-old's inspiring hunt culminated in a cruel twist of fate. She was shot 13 times in front of her home on Mother Day in 2017, shortly after she found her final targets. Miriam was gone but not forgotten as her heroic story continues to inspire citizens in a place where organized crime often goes unchecked. 

The officer who assisted the mother in her efforts recalled, "The details and information gathered by this woman, working all alone, were incredible." The cop who chose to remain anonymous, continued, "She had gone to every single level of government and they had slammed the door in her face." Miriam did not let this dissuade her and turned her pain into strength. We hope that the doting mother is with her beloved daughter Karen now, resting in peace.