Miriam Elizabeth Rodríguez Martínez from San Fernando, Tamaulipas, became one of Mexico’s most fearless fighters for missing children after her daughter, Karen Alejandra Salinas Rodríguez, was abducted and murdered by a drug cartel in 2012. Karen was kidnapped by armed members of the Los Zetas cartel.
Despite her family paying a ransom, Karen was found dead on a deserted ranch in 2014. Following this tragedy, Miriam took matters into her own hands and embarked on a dangerous mission to track down those responsible. Using disguises, fake weapons, and false identification, she managed to find and help arrest at least ten cartel members.
At one point, she even personally captured a cartel member by threatening him with a gun until the police arrived. Despite her relentless pursuit of justice, Miriam was tragically killed in 2017, shot 12 times on Mother’s Day outside her home.
The dedication and thorough records she kept during her investigation were so extraordinary that a police officer who worked with her said he had never seen anything like it.
Miriam’s efforts have been compared to the character in the film Taken, as she fought against organized crime in an area where it often goes unchecked. Today, her son Luis leads a group of 600 families searching for their missing loved ones, continuing the important work his mother began.