Who Killed Heidi Pérez?

Four-year-old Heidi Pérez had a stomachache. She complained to her Mom, and when the pain persisted into the evening, her step-grandmother drove her to the hospital in Nuevo Laredo, a town in Mexico near the US border, where they lived. Along the way, gunshots hit their car, striking Heidi and leaving her bleeding and unconscious. She would die that night, killed by a bullet to the head.

Two years later, her family is still searching for answers and awaiting justice.?

Here’s what we know: On the way to the hospital, Heidi’s step-grandmother saw military vehicles in the street a few blocks from the family’s house. She didn’t think much of it; military vehicles are common on the streets of Neuvo Laredo. She turned down a street to avoid the soldiers, and that’s when they heard the shots.

The Mexican government says a stray bullet from a shootout between soldiers and armed criminals killed Heidi. But the Mexican Attorney General’s office has done little to examine inconsistencies between the military’s timeline and video evidence from the night of the shooting, as well as possible ballistics matches between the bullet that killed Heidi and a weapon carried by a soldier that night.

Human Rights Watch reviewed the official investigation into Heidi’s death, in partnership with Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee, a local advocacy organization.?A new report details the events of August 31, 2022 and the serious flaws and omissions in the government’s investigation, as well as new evidence about the possible role of the military in Heidi’s death.?

Over the last two years, HRW reviewed thousands of pages from the criminal investigation file, interviewed Heidi’s family and their lawyers, visited the scene of the shooting, and examined the car in which Heidi was riding.?

Researchers also consulted with independent forensic and ballistics experts and reviewed satellite and open-source imagery and security camera footage from the night Heidi was killed.?

Heidi’s family maintains that soldiers fired at the car, causing the young girl’s death.?Heidi’s mother says that after making the claims and refusing a request from the military to stop speaking publicly about her daughter’s murder, soldiers began following and harassing the family. She eventually moved from Nuevo Laredo.

Whatever happened that night two years ago, far too many questions persist for the Attorney General’s office to take the military’s version of events at face value. Heidi’s family deserves the truth.

Also in The Week in Rights:

• The Taliban's assault on Afghanistan's women
• Protesters around the world target inequality
• The weekly quiz

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