Outcry over killing of Tijuana med student

The strangling death of a 22-year-old medical student named Eneyda Ramos Noriega brought dozens of her classmates from the Autonomous University of Baja California to the streets of the city’s Rio Zone earlier this week, calling for justice. On Thursday, authorities announced two arrests in the case: the victim’s former boyfriend and fellow medical student, along with his new girlfriend, a law student.

“It was jealousy,” said Jose Maria Gonzalez, deputy attorney general for the state of Baja California. “He could not get over the fact that she broke up with him, and was going out with one of his classmates.”

According to the state investigation, Ramos was last seen alive on Friday night in the city’s Rio Zone. The victim’s ex-boyfriend, Alejandro Castellanos, 22, had told the current girlfriend, Karla Vanessa Garza, 21, that he “had a surprise” for her on the occasion of their three-month anniversary, according to the investigation. With Garza in the back seat, Castellanos drove to the Rio Zone and picked up Ramos, investigators said.

The three then headed to Garza’s house in a nearby neighborhood, Colonia Revolucion, where Castellanos began hitting Ramos and subsequently strangled her, state authorities said. The couple then carried Ramos’ body from the vehicle into Garza’s parents’ house, according to the investigation. Upon learning on Saturday that the body was in their basement, the parents called authorities.

Tijuana has had more than 250 killings this year, with most victims members of the city’s drug trade, authorities said. But this was a different kind of crime, one of a handful of homicides in recent years that have raised public outcry. Wearing their white school uniforms, Ramos’ classmates joined family members at a protest on Wednesday morning outside the offices of the Baja California Attorney General’s Office, calling for the detention of Castellanos and Garza. They shouted “We are all Eneyda,” and carried signs that read: “We are your voice.”

“She was a good person, a responsible person, she worked hard,” Esmeralda Ramos, the victim’s sister, told Tijuana’s Sintesis TV.

The victim and the suspects were students on the Tijuana campus of the Autonomous University of Baja California, the state’s largest public university. Ramos and Castellanos had dated since high school and been together for five years before she ended the relationship, said Gonzalez, the deputy attorney general.

Ramos “was feeling very happy about having gotten out of this somewhat torturous relationship,” he said. She began dating another fellow medical student but occasionally continued seeing Castellanos, who had threatened suicide, Gonzalez said.

Garza told investigators that she acted under pressure from her boyfriend, who threatened to kill her if she did not cooperate. Castellanos has yet to give his account of events, but forensic evidence and Garza’s statement allowed investigators to obtain a warrant for his arrest.

Arrested on Wednesday night, Castellanos and Garza both face charges of aggravated homicide, which carries a sentence of up to 50 years behind bars.

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com

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