A woman whose daughter was kidnapped and killed by members of a Mexican cartel went to unbelievable lengths to bring them to justice.
Miriam Rodrigues was horrified and heartbroken over how little authorities were willing to do when her daughter, Karen, was abducted - so she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Eventually, Miriam's investigation got her enough information to point fingers at members of one of Mexico's most dangerous drug cartels, Los Zetas.
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After narrowing down one of the men who was involved in her daughter's kidnapping, Miriam launched her investigation.
Unlike her Hollywood counterpart Liam Neeson in Taken, Miriam wasn't out for blood. She was simply looking for answers, and carrying out the investigation that authorities couldn't.
The mother disguised herself as a healthcare worker and let on that she was conducting a local survey in the area.
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Eventually, she gathered enough information for police to arrest the man she suspected was involved in her daughter's kidnapping.
With the help of her son Luis, Miriam managed to get this gang member behind bars, and once he was, he was more than willing to give up the names of other gang members.
One of the members named was just 18 years old - a detail that Miriam used to her advantage, relying on her motherly compassion to convince him to give up her daughter's location.
Unfortunately, this led her to one devastating discovery - Karen had been killed.
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Not only did this further fuel Miriam's mission to take down the notorious gang members responsible, but it led to the mass excavation of more dead bodies.
Miriam dedicated the next few years of her life hunting down members of the notorious gang responsible for her daughter's murder.
Over the next three years, Miriam adopted lots of different disguises; changing up her hair, impersonating election officials, getting close to unsuspecting family members for information, all so she could learn every last detail about the people responsible for her daughter's abduction and death.
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Within those three years, Miriam was responsible for taking down 10 different gang members who had tried to make a run for it and start new lives.
Although her mission made her a figure of hope and admiration among other mourning families in San Fernando who had lost their loved ones to the cartel, it also put her in a seriously dangerous position.
And in 2017, Miriam's life came to a tragically abrupt end when she was shot dead in her home.
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The grieving mum was killed on 10 May - Mother's Day in Mexico - when gunmen broke into her home and shot her 12 times.
Although Miriam had requested armed protection in the years after her cartel takedown, she once said, as reported by the New York Times: "I don’t care if they kill me. I died the day they killed my daughter."
"I want to end this. I’m going to take out the people who hurt my daughter and they can do whatever they want to me."
Miriam's son Luis continues his mom's mission, helping to find cartel members responsible for the abduction and murder of families' loved ones through the San Fernando Missing Persons Activists Collective.
Topics: Crime, World News
Ali Condon