Outrage and grief have gripped the state of Morelos after the devastating news was confirmed. Michelle Itzayana Fuentes Calderón, a 15-year-old high school student at the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM), was found dead.
The reconstruction of events has left the entire country heartbroken: the young girl disappeared in broad daylight after leaving her home with a completely innocent goal: to buy poster board to finish a school assignment.
The clock read 12:50 p.m. on May 24th when Michelle was last seen in the municipality of Yautepec. When she didn’t return from the stationery store, her family began a desperate search. Finally, after a massive interagency operation involving the National Guard, the Navy, the Army, and local search teams, authorities located a woman’s body near Tepoztlán.
Hours later, the family confirmed their worst fears on social media: it was the missing girl.
What has raised alarms and caused absolute panic in the student community is that Michelle’s case is not an isolated incident. She is the third young female student from the UAEM (Autonomous University of the State of Mexico) to disappear and be found dead so far this year. Her name is added to a horrific list that already includes Kimberly Joselín Ramos Beltrán (disappeared in February) and Karol Toledo Gómez (disappeared in March). Authorities are already investigating the case under the strict femicide protocol.
The UAEM, where the girl’s mother works as a professor, issued a statement expressing its full solidarity with the family and assuring them that they will remain vigilant regarding the progress of the investigation. Meanwhile, groups and citizens are demanding that the cause of death be clarified immediately and that those responsible for robbing a girl of her future—a girl who only wanted to study—be captured.
Source: OEM
