Jesús Ociel Baena Saucedo was murdered by his romantic partner Dorian Daniel Nieves Herrera, who then committed suicide, the prosecutor of the state of Aguascalientes, Jesús Figueroa Ortega, announced on Tuesday. “The investigations we have revealed that an argument starts between the two on the upper floor of a property, we found a stain on the bed and disorder on the other side,” the officer said in an interview RadioFormula. “When the autopsy was conducted, we found 20 wounds on the judge’s body, 19 of which were superficial and caused by a sharp object that we recognized as razor blades,” Figueroa said.
According to the officer, several traces of blood were found as well as a droplet that indicated Baena Saucedo was still alive when he went down the stairs after the argument and knife attack. “One of the wounds, the fatal one, was in the carotid artery, in his neck, which is why the judge was bleeding profusely,” the prosecutor said.
The bodies of Baena and Nieves were found on the ground floor of the house in the Punta del Cielo district where Baena lived. Cuts on several fingers were found on the hands of the lawyer’s partner, which, according to the authority, indicates his responsibility. According to initial investigations, no other people were involved in the deaths.
“We assume that he reached for another knife and inflicted a thin, wide wound in the front of his neck, causing his death and leaving both bodies only centimeters apart,” the prosecutor said.
However, this theory was described as not very credible even by the prosecutor. “It may seem to many people like a hypothesis that is not very credible, but we are careful to leave in particular the recording and preservation of all these signs, without mentioning the inspections that were carried out on site,” Figueroa clarified.
Nearly a day after the judge’s death was announced, toxicology tests are still ongoing to show whether Baena and Nieves were under the influence of alcohol or other substances. “Before we could remove the bodies, we had to collect all the evidence. The autopsy schedule was yesterday evening. At that time we took laboratory samples because it is a matter of hours until these results are available,” said the prosecutor.
The circumstances of the judge’s death have aroused suspicion in Mexican public opinion. On the one hand, there is the question of whether this is a hate crime based on the gender identity that Baena Saucedo himself claims as a non-binary person, or on the preference of his romantic partner, for whom he is now held responsible for his murder and his Suicide.
The only video footage that exists of the couple shows them both entering their home “walking normally,” as the Aguascalientes prosecutor puts it. Baena Saucedo, 38, described herself as “a non-binary and proudly homosexual person,” meaning someone who does not identify with either the male or female gender.
Just hours after his death, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest his death, unhappy with the explanation that it was a crime of a “personal nature.” “Crime of passion, national lie” or “Sir, madam, do not be indifferent.” “Dissidents are being killed in front of the people,” said some of the demonstrators.
Subscribe here Subscribe to the EL PAÍS México newsletter and receive all the important information on current events in this country