Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders

Pete McCuts visits Lydia’s house with a pair of pants believed to be Irene’s. He hopes so because it would be evidence of foul play, meaning his investigation could begin. When Ivon answers the door, Pete ponders his attraction to Ivon and how he “liked masculine women” (223). 

Lydia identifies the pants as Irene’s, and Pete explains that “this doesn’t mean anything conclusive,” only that they “can move forward on this case” (226). Ivon chastises him for calling it a “case,” reminding him that Irene is someone’s daughter and sister. Then she tells him that the state police picked her and William up in Juárez because “[t]hey didn’t like it that we were going around showing Irene’s picture to people and asking questions” (226). Pete is surprised she was not killed and annoyed that she compromised the investigation; Ivon implies she had to go to Juárez because the investigation was taking too long. Pete is intrigued when, after he calls her “miss,” Ivon tells him she is “a doctor, not a miss” (227). 

Ivon mentions she is going with Father Francis to look for bodies in the desert the next day. After he leaves, Pete considers following her, though he is not supposed to “cross the border in an official capacity” (231). His commander would never let him investigate there, but he has to “do the right thing” (231), which is why he also brings his weapon.

As he drives toward Father Francis’s church, Ivon calls to tell him about Cecilia, how the “Richy’s Diary” newsletter was left on her machine, and suggests the killer is a Richard Ramírez copycat from El Paso. Pete is interested because he and Marcia Ortiz “had been working on a secret investigation of the Juarez murders, looking specifically into the rape cases” (232). He has a map in his office of registered sex offenders in El Paso, and he wonders why so many sex offenders end up in the town and whether there is a connection.

Ivon suggests the killer is writing about his murders in the newsletter and perhaps even sending them to Richard Ramírez, the Night Stalker. Pete is excited by this lead and decides to take the map home so no other detective “get[s] the same idea” (235).

A 40-foot statue of Christ the Redeemer at the top of Mount Cristo Rey in New Mexico is visible from the desert in Puerto de Anapra, just across the river from the ASARCO plant. Ivon’s father died there eight years ago, one of many “hard-core believers trekking up the craggy dirt trails” (236). Supposedly, it was an accident, but Ivon doubts that.

Just before six in the morning, the team meets for their search of the desert. Rubí and her husband Walter are there to film it. Also present are Ximena, several friends and family members of other missing girls, and Laura Godoy, the coroner’s intern from Cecilia’s autopsy. 

Father Francis warns them of all the dangers in the desert—snakes, scorpions, heat, and a constantly changing landscape that makes it easy to grow lost. They all have walkie-talkies and are instructed to call in if they are lost, sick, or find something. He then divides them into groups, and they begin. Ivon notices an unknown car parked by Ximena’s van.

Ivon tells Rubí what happened the day before and how if she had not mentioned Rubí’s name, she probably would have been killed. Rubí tells her the state police fear nothing but the press and laments how dangerous the city is for young girls. The two discuss theories of the murders, and Rubí says the Egyptian likely is not the killer; he is “just a cardboard figure” (242). Only “the government and the maquiladoras” have any power, and “[e]ven the police are nothing but pawns” (242). Ivon ponders the connection between the government and the maquiladoras and wonders if it is “[t]he U.S.-educated rich men who ran both of them” (242). But her thoughts come to a halt when Father Francis’s group finds a body.

The mutilated body is face down. Rubí calls Walter over to film as they examine it. A maquiladora smock covers the girl, indicating she is not Irene. Further proof is the fact that she is not wearing Irene’s graduation ring. When Father Francis goes to turn the girl over, Laura Godoy begs them not to tamper with evidence, but he ignores her pleas.

The front of body is even more brutalized. Like many of the other corpses, the left nipple has been cut off; it also had a pentagram carved on the right breast, like some others did. When someone asks why the girl’s hair had been cut off, Laura says it is because “they hate women” and “[t]hey want everyone to know they can do whatever they want with a woman’s body” (248).

Ivon finds the girl’s factory identification badge—it is Mireya Beltrán from the Phillips plant, the girl J.W. kidnapped in an earlier chapter. One of the group members discovers she has a penny in her throat. Laura informs them that some of the bodies have American pennies inside them, and she begs them not to make the information public because it is classified by the government. 

Rubí and Ivon discuss how Abe Lincoln has been shoved down victims’ throats “like the maquilas themselves have been shoved down Mexico’s throat” by NAFTA (252). Ivon tries to remember where else, other than the autopsies, she has seen pennies recently.

Father Francis speaks into Rubí’s camera about how “Juárez is not ready for the liberated woman” (252). He says that “[t]he Mexican gender system cannot accommodate […] the First World freedoms given to women,” and the murders are in response to men’s “social emasculation […] at the hands of American corporations” (252). As Ivon speaks with Rubí more, she realizes that the girls, who are “the easiest workers to exploit” (254), have one power: the ability to have babies. Pregnancies would cut into factories’ profits, and the girls become a threat when NAFTA factory jobs created bring them so close to the border. She recalls how factory workers’ periods are monitored.

Ivon thanks Rubí for making her a tape of Friday’s show. When the authorities finally arrive, they do not even search the area because they must also collect the body of a transvestite man whose mouth had been stapled shut. Ivon remembers the transvestite who refused to give information about the man in the cowboy hat and how the state police had taken her stapler.

In Ximena’s van, Ivon asks to stop at the cantina where she and William had a beer, but Ximena, inexplicably angry, ignores her. When Ximena says Ivon could have gotten William into trouble, Ivon reminds her that she had insisted Ivon take him along. She is also angry with Ximena for neglecting to mention that she was being followed.

Ivon says she must pick up Irene’s car from Raquel’s, and Ximena accuses her of “just want[ing] to get laid” (258). The cousins continue to fight, and when Ximena makes another lewd comment about Ivon and Raquel, Ivon demands she stop the car. 

Ivon takes a taxi to Raquel’s house, which used to be a quaint, small house but is now a huge mansion after Raquel’s renovations. Ivon notices many of the houses are large and of different styles and concludes that drug money must be the cause; “only sudden amounts of cash” could be responsible for this “exaggerated conspicuous consumption” (260). She presses the house’s buzzer and tells someone inside that she wants to see Raquel, who initially refuses to come out. Eventually, Ivon is invited inside.

In a receiving room, Ivon criticizes Raquel for not helping find Irene. When she talks about Pete McCuts bringing them Irene’s pants, she breaks down in tears, and Raquel comforts her. Ivon apologizes for crying and, when she sees Raquel’s bruise, for hitting her. Raquel strokes her face, and the two kiss.

Ivon later wakes up from a nightmare about Irene; she is in bed with Raquel. Ximena calls on Raquel’s phone and tells Ivon that Brigit is flying down from Los Angeles and arriving in an hour. Ivon frantically dresses and demands Raquel lead her to Irene’s car. Raquel says she loves her, and Ivon says she “shouldn’t” because she is “an asshole” and that “this was a big mistake” (266). Ivon grows emotional at the sight of the car, and she ignores Raquel’s crying.

Irene hears Junior’s voice crying, “Action!” As she waits in a closet, she also hears coyotes and echoes. She is “terrified” when he asks where “the bitch” is (267). 

She hears a girl crying and begging. Junior calls to “Dracula” for “Action.” The girl faints and Junior demands another; Dracula, who has a “high, girlish voice” (267), asks if she should bring “la cholita” (266). Junior says la cholita is “reserved for the Egyptian” (268).

A younger girl is brought, and Junior calls her “another lucky penny” (268). Junior says she must be tied to the bed facedown. Dracula says the girl urinated on herself, and Junior calls for a close-up. He also tells someone to perform rough sex acts on her. Irene wants to cover her ears, but her hands are tied.