The influencer of social media who was shot down during a live flow On Tiktok in the Mexican state of Jalisco, seemed to be murdered by a hitman and expressed his fear before being killed, prosecutors announced on Thursday.
The macabre murder of Valeria Márquez, 23, shocked the Latin American nation on Tuesday, triggering rumors on the grounds behind her murder in a region which has been overcome by the violence of the cartel in recent years. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said that her administration worked with local investigators to find the killer and exercised her condolences to Márquez’s family.
Denis Rodríguez, spokesperson for the Office of the Jalisco State Prosecutor, provided new details on the murder on Thursday, but said prosecutors still investigate the death of the model and beauty influencer with more than 113,000 subscribers on the application of social media.
@V ___ mark / via Instagram / Via Reuters 
Rodríguez said that early Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before the shooting, a masked man pretending to be a delivery driver arrived at the beauty salon on the outskirts of Guadalajara, accompanied by another motorcycle man. According to a woman in the living room, the men said that they had a “very expensive” gift for Márquez that they had to deliver in person. When Márquez arrived and heard that people were looking for her, she expressed her fear in her live broadcast.
“Maybe they were going to kill me,” she said in the video for a few minutes before she was killed. “They were going to come and take me, or what? I’m worried.”
When the men returned, they asked if it was Márquez who was now in the living room, which prompted prosecutors to believe that the men were hired murderers, said Rodríguez.
“The attacker arrived by asking him if the victim (Márquez) was there. He therefore seems that he did not know her,” said Rodríguez. “With that, you can deduct – without jumping to conclusions – that it was a person who was paid. She was obviously someone who came with a goal.”
Marquez was seen on the Livestream saying: “They arrive”, before an off -screen voice asks “hey, vale?” And Marquez replied “yes”, reported the reuters news agency.
Márquez received a plush animal and a bag of Starbucks coffee while it was live, and was shot in the head and chest, collapsing on the camera. Tiktok has since eliminated the influencer’s account.
Although it is not yet clear which was at the origin of the murder, the region is firmly controlled by one of the most powerful maps in Mexico, the cartel of Jalisco New Generation, and Rodríguez noted murders by canons hired on motorcycles, often known as “Sicarios”, have become a common event.
The cartel of the new generation of Jalisco has recently been accused of having used false advertisements to attract new members and torture and kill recruits who resist.
Rodríguez said that the authorities also investigated whether death was linked to the murder of a former Congress member a few hours earlier in the same area of Guadalajara, also made by two men on a motorcycle. The state prosecutor’s office said he was killed in a shopping center in Zapopan.
Epidemic of femicide and violence against influencers
The murder of Márquez shocked Mexico – where murders and kidnappings are a daily event – and highlighted both his femicid epidemic and his growing violence against influencers.
It is not the first murder of a social media star in Mexico, who has a story of musicians, influencers and other celebrities finding themselves in the criminal world.
In January, a small plane would have dropped brochures on the bastion of the northwest cartel of Culiacan threatening around 20 artists and youtubers for alleged relations with a war faction of the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Several influencers from Sinaloa have already been killed.
David Saucedo, an independent expert in Mexican cartels, said that people who fell on gangs include informants, money launders and those who have romantic relationships with criminals.
“Influencers have become another cog in the organized crime machine,” he said.
The mayor of Zapopan, Juan Jose FRANGIE, said that his office had no trace of Marquez asking for the aid of the authorities due to threats against her.
Stringer / Reuters 
“It’s incredible that (one minute) you make a video and then you are murdered. A femicide is the worst thing,” said Francie.
According to the United Nations, 70% of women over 15 have experienced a form of assault at least once in their lives in Mexico. Since 2001, at least 50,000 women have been murdered in Mexico, according to the UN, but only 2% of cases end in criminal sentence and only one of the victims out of 10 reports their aggressor.
About 10 women or girls are murdered every day in the Latin American nation, but little attract as much attention as the sudden death of Marquez while interacting with its fans.
On the Instagram account of Marquez, where the photos showed the young woman lounging on a yacht, by a swimming pool and in a private plane, some users paid tribute to the influencer.
Others have speculated on the motive, the sources of its apparent richness and the possible role of an ex-friendly friend.
“Justice for Valeria”, demanded several positions.
“So young and beautiful, she did not deserve to have her life removed,” wrote a user.
Agency France-Press contributed to this report.
