Twenty-year-old Rosa Isela Castro Vazquez thought that she was meeting a kind-hearted woman who would give her secondhand baby clothes. Little did she know that the woman really intended to take her baby from her.

Vazquez, eight months pregnant, was reported missing on Wednesday, November 30. She was going to a pharmacy in her state of Veracruz, Mexico to meet a woman whom she met online through Facebook. When she did not return, her husband contacted the police to help look for her.

Security footage showed Vazquez being led inside a vehicle by the woman. The woman was also observed to be nervously looking around.

Vazquez was later found dead on the Los Arrieros ranch. Like a scene out of a horror movie, her baby was found, having been cut out of her womb.

The suspects, Gonzalo “N” and Veronica “N,” were arrested after they took the newborn to the Veracruz Regional Hospital to register it as their own. They were not able to provide proof that the baby was theirs and police were called. 

According to the investigation, Veronica “N” is incapable of conceiving. She was also reportedly faking a pregnancy for months before the incident. 

The two were charged with kidnapping and femicide. The infant has been rescued by the authorities and has been kept safe. An investigation is also currently being done by the Special Prosecutor’s Office for the Investigation of Crimes of Violence against the Family, Women, Children and Human Trafficking.

Femicide has become a growing problem in Mexico. Reports show that in 2021 alone, 1,000 out of the 3,700 female murders were classified as femicide. These incidents have sparked rage and pushed people to protest about the Mexican femicide crisis.