A baby monitor changed everything.
When Mexico City prosecutors began piecing together the April 14 killing of Carolina Flores Gómez, a 27-year-old former beauty queen from Ensenada, Baja California, it was a 60-second apartment security recording that pointed them directly at the suspect: Erika María Herrera, the victim’s own mother-in-law.
Flores Gómez, who held the Miss Teen Universe Baja California title in 2017, was found face down on the floor of her apartment in Polanco — one of the capital’s most affluent neighborhoods — with 12 gunshot wounds, six to the head and six to the chest. Paramedics who responded to an emergency call the following day confirmed she had been dead for hours.
The footage, which leaked online and spread widely, captures Flores Gómez walking into a room as Herrera follows close behind. Gunshots and screams follow. Her husband, identified as Alejandro, then appears in the frame and confronts his mother: “What was that? What did you do, Mom?”
Herrera’s reply, now viral across Mexican social media: “Nothing, she made me mad.”
The exchange continued. Alejandro told his mother, “She’s my family.” Herrera answered, “You are my family, not hers. You’re mine, she is not.”
Husband Waited a Day to Call Police
Alejandro was present in the apartment along with the couple’s 8-month-old son at the time of the shooting. He did not report the killing to police until the next day. Under questioning, he admitted his mother had fired the shots and acknowledged he had let her leave the apartment. He told investigators he delayed because he was trying to act in the baby’s best interest, apparently fearing the infant could be placed in foster care.
Mexico City prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant for Herrera on femicide charges. According to La Jornada, the search has since been extended nationwide, as authorities believe Herrera may have returned to northern Mexico after fleeing the capital. She reportedly traveled from Ensenada to Mexico City before the killing. Investigators are still searching for the 9mm handgun used in the crime. Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila expressed solidarity with the victim’s family and said state authorities are coordinating with Mexico City prosecutors.
A Case That Cuts Across Class
The Polanco setting drew its own attention. The building’s security guard reportedly did not hear gunshots, a detail investigators are reviewing.
But the case quickly became part of a larger conversation about violence against women in Mexico. Just three days after Flores Gómez was killed, Edith Guadalupe Valdés disappeared in Mexico City after leaving home for a job interview. Her family says police demanded money to open a case and asked whether she might have run off with her boyfriend. The family tracked her down themselves to a building in Iztapalapa, where authorities waited until the following day to send agents — and found her body in the basement. Three police officials were later fired for negligence.
Mexico classifies femicide as a killing in which a woman’s gender is a factor in her death. On average, eight to 10 women are murdered in Mexico every day. The impunity rate for femicide cases sits at 95%.
Last month, Mexico’s attorney general proposed new federal legislation that would increase penalties for femicide and create a unified criminal standard across all 32 states — a move advocates have pushed for years.
The Flores Gómez case joins a long list that has brought protesters into the streets. Feminist activists in Mérida have held demonstrations calling for accountability, including a monument unveiled in 2020 to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Case at a Glance
- Victim: Carolina Flores Gómez, 27, from Ensenada, Baja California; Miss Teen Universe Baja California 2017
- Date of killing: April 14, 2026
- Location: Polanco neighborhood, Mexico City
- Suspect: Erika María Herrera, the victim’s mother-in-law, remains at large; search extended nationwide
- Charges: Femicide
- Status: Arrest warrant issued; immigration alert active; 9mm weapon not yet recovered
- Also investigated: The husband, Alejandro, for failing to report the killing until the following day
Source: La Jornada, Reporte Índigo, El Financiero, Milenio,