A 46-year-old woman was fatally attacked inside her home in Tijuana’s Colonia Libertad on the night of May 2, with authorities identifying her son-in-law as the suspected attacker.
Carmen Elizabeth Estrada Cortinas was found injured at a residence on the corner of Calle 8 and Luis Moya at approximately 7:45 p.m. Emergency dispatch C4, the city’s primary emergency coordination center, received the report and sent first responders to the scene. Estrada Cortinas did not survive her injuries.
Son-in-Law Identified as Suspect
Authorities suspect a man identified only as Yahir, reportedly the victim’s son-in-law, carried out the attack. Details about the circumstances of the assault or whether the suspect has been detained have not been released.
Colonia Libertad is one of Tijuana’s older residential neighborhoods, located east of the downtown core near the international border. The area sits roughly two miles from the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Femicide Remains a Persistent Problem in Baja California
The case is being treated as a suspected femicide, defined under Mexican law as the killing of a woman on the basis of gender. Baja California has long recorded some of Mexico’s highest rates of violence against women. In recent years, state prosecutors have faced pressure to classify and investigate these cases under the femicide statute, which carries stiffer penalties than standard homicide charges.
The state Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General del Estado, or FGE) handles femicide investigations in Baja California. It was not immediately clear whether the FGE had formally opened a femicide case or issued an arrest warrant for Yahir.
Domestic violence killings by family members or intimate partners account for a significant share of femicide cases across Mexico. A 2020 case in Tijuana drew international attention when a Garden Grove, California, couple was found murdered at a property they owned in the city, with the son-in-law arrested as the suspect.
This story was first reported by Zeta Tijuana.