Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders

Ivon, Ximena, and Father Francis go to the morgue, where women are protesting. A policeman tells Father Francis the protestors are “crazy women wanting attention” (44). When they try to enter the morgue, they are told that no one is allowed inside. The policeman also tells them the clothes of the victims are being burned. When Ximena complains that the clothes are evidence, the policeman wonders, “‘Evidence of what, señora?’” (45).

As Father Francis tries to drive away, a woman stops him, saying her name is Rubí Reyna and that she is a cohost of a show called “Mujeres Sin Fronteras.” Confirming that they are from Contra el Silencio, she offers to give them a bus her father is donating in exchange for accompanying them on a rastreo—body search. 

Ivon asks if they can see Cecilia’s body, and Rubí offers to get them inside. She tells the receptionist that Ivon, Ximena, and Father Francis are Cecilia’s cousins. Inside, the group finds the medical examiner, Doctora Flores, and two interns, a man called “Junior” and a woman named Laura Godoy, conducting Cecilia’s autopsy. Ivon notices a cup of coins that evidently came from the mutilated body.