Four-year-old sexually assaulted, murdered in Mexico

Kneeling at four-year-old Lupita's grave, Mexican activist Veronica Villalvazo spoke to the murdered girl as if she had known her all her short life. "Hey girl," she said, laying flowers on the earth. In reality, Villalvazo never met the child long known only as "the little girl in the red socks." But she was determined not to let her be just another anonymous statistic in the wave of violence against women and girls in Mexico.

Lupita's semi-naked body, beaten and sexually assaulted, was found in a Mexico City suburb on March 18. No one came forward to claim her, and for months, she was known only by the clothing she had on when locals found her in a vacant lot: a pair of bright red socks.

Villalvazo, a 47-year-old journalist and women's rights activist, first read about the case in the local newspapers she monitors every day in an attempt to document Mexico's epidemic of violence against women. The problem, which has lingered for years, exploded into the headlines again in 2017, when 7.5 women were murdered per day, according to statistics from the United Nations and the government -- a new high after three years of decline.

Villalvazo, who goes by the pseudonym "Frida Guerrera" (Frida the Warrior), did not want the girl's case to end as just another unsolved homicide in a country where 99 percent of violent crimes are never punished. She asked authorities for a picture that could help identify the girl. But she never received an answer.

"The authorities' silence is a touchy subject. The message they send is, 'We don't care. We're not going to do anything,'" Villalvazo told AFP. "In Mexico, it's no big deal -- you can kill a woman, a girl, rape her, torture her, kidnap her, and absolutely nothing will happen to you, because they don't investigate. Because it doesn't concern them." Finally, a confidential source passed Villalvazo a bloody crime scene photo, which she was able to use to create a composite sketch of the girl. It was the first step toward identifying her and finding her killers -- a long journey that took a decisive turn Wednesday when prosecutors finally announced the girl's identity at a press conference, shortly after arresting her mother and stepfather and charging them with her murder.