Mexico State Prosecutors Accused of Intentionally Botching Ariadna Lopez's Autopsy to 'Cover up for the Killer'

Officials in Mexico are launching a probe into the prosecutors' office of Morelos state after it was accused of covering up the murder of young woman Ariadna Lopez.

According to BBC, the body of the 27-year-old woman was found along a highway in Morelos last week. The state prosecutors' office said Lopez had choked while being drunk. However, a second post-mortem conducted in Mexico City found that Lopez had died of multiple force trauma.

Mexico City's mayor then made the accusations against the attorney general's office, saying it "wanted to hide the femicide," due to possible "links with the presumed killer."

But the Morelos attorney general's office "categorically" denied the accusations in a statement, noting that they lacked "any basis." Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum alleged that the prosecutor of Morelos state had ties with Lopez's accused killer.

"It is clear that the prosecutor of Morelos state tried to cover up for the killer of a woman because of his ties to the killer," Sheinbaum said in a news conference on Monday. However, she refused to describe their purported connections.

Sheinbaum also played CCTV footage showing a man in a parking garage at a Mexico City apartment carrying a body, which she claimed was Lopez, after she disappeared. Citing a state forensic exam, Morelos state prosecutor Uriel Carmona said the young woman choked on her own vomit due to intoxication.

However, Mexico City prosecutor Ernestina Godoy noted that a new autopsy conducted by Mexico City experts revealed "several lesions caused by blows" on Lopez's body. It also listed the cause of death as "multiple traumas."

Death of Young Woman Ariadna Lopez in Mexico

Ariadna Lopez's body was found by two cyclists two days after she disappeared. Lopez was last seen alive in a gathering of friends in the Condesa neighborhood in Mexico City on October 30.

Uriel Carmona earlier said they did not find any signs of violence, adding that "technically and forensically the post-mortem does not match a femicide."

However, Morelos state anti-corruption office said Monday that it had opened an investigation into "possible crimes" and "alleged acts of corruption" committed by employees of the state prosecutors' office. According to Reuters, two people connected to Lopez's alleged killing were in police custody.

Suspects in Ariadna Lopez's Death

El Pais reported that the main suspect in Ariadna Lopez's alleged femicide was identified as Rautel "N." He will face the start of the court case from prison.

The accused surrendered to the authorities in the early hours of Monday. His partner, identified as Vanessa "N," had been arrested on Sunday. She is also in pre-trial detention for femicide.

Rautel said when he entered the Nuevo Leon Prosecutor's Office that he did not kill Lopez. His lawyers have asked for time to collect evidence to support their client's defense, so it has been decided that the hearings continue over the weekend.

Rautel spent the night in prison in Mexico City after arriving on a plane and was transferred to testify in a court of the Judicial Power of Mexico City.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had also commented on the case, saying there was a rush to close the case and make public statements in the middle of the investigations.

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Mary Webber

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