Queer Texas Couple Found Tortured, Shot, and Dismembered in Juarez Mexico

This piece initially ran on Advocate.com, read the original here. 

Two women from Texas were found tortured and shot to death, with their bodies dismembered and left in trash bags in the Mexican border town of Juarez on Sunday.

The women were identified as married couple Nohemí Medina Martínez and Yulizsa Ramírez, both 28, from El Paso, The Daily Mail reports. The bags containing their remains were found 17 miles apart.

One of the women’s bodies was found in the San Agustín neighborhood, while the other’s body was located in Jesus Carranza village.

Family members told the news outlet El Diario that they had seen the couple last on Saturday, January 15.

Karen Arvizo of the Chihuahua Committee for Sexual Diversity told The Daily Mail the two were married in 2021 and were raising three children.

Arvizo said she’s concerned the killings will go unsolved like many involving LGBTQ+ people.

“The concern is that authorities will absolutely do nothing,” Arvizo said. “We feel like we are treated like second-class citizens and that we really don't matter.”

The area near Juárez is known for its grisly history as well. Between 1993 and 2005, as many as 400 or so killings occurred, which drew international attention because of the perceived inaction of the Mexican government to prevent the violence and bring those involved in the killings to justice. In the past three years, another 491 women homicide victims have been reported, according to Border Report.

Juárez authorities found two more women tortured and shot on Monday. One of the women was alive but died after being taken to the hospital. It’s not known if there’s a connection between the murders.

The Daily Mail reports that 1,424 homicides happened in Juárez last year — an average of four a day.