Mother Goes on ‘Taken-Style’ Mission, Hunting Down Daughter’s Killers

A mother whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered spent years chasing and hunting down each of her child’s abductors, one by one. The mother’s hunt mirrored the 2008 film “Taken” as she went to extreme lengths to secure justice for her beloved daughter.

Miriam Elizabeth Rodriguez Martinez (left), her son Luis (right) (Credit: Facebook, Facebook)

Miriam Elizabeth Rodriguez Martinez of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, became one of Mexico’s most fearless missing children activists after the disappearance of her daughter, Karen Alejandra Salinas Rodriguez. Karen, 20, was kidnapped in the northeastern Mexican city after a group of gunmen from the Los Zetas Cartel forced entry into her car and drove away with her inside.

Some say Mariam is a vigilante. However, she had no choice but to take matters into her own hands. Mexico is known for corruption in law enforcement, especially when it comes to drug cartels. The determined mother knew it was up to her whether she would get justice. After ransom demands, which were paid, Karen was murdered and her remains were found on an abandoned ranch.

Drug cartel Los Zetas (Source: YouTube)

“By using different disguises, a fake gun, a real gun and false identification, the mother managed to locate and interrogate several members of the Los Zetas cartel, one of the most dangerous and violent in the country,” Daily Mail reported. According to the New York Times, “In three years, Ms. Rodríguez has captured nearly every surviving member of the crew that kidnapped her daughter for ransom, a gang of criminals trying to start a new life — as born-again Christians, taxi drivers, car salesmen, babysitters.”

One of the harrowing experiences involved a man identified as “the florist,” one of the kidnappers Miriam had found thanks to a tipster. By then, all of the kidnappers knew of the mother’s mission, so she had to disguise herself. Armed with a pistol and a trench coat and baseball cap to cover her fire-engine red hair, she ran to the U.S.-Mexico border, where the “florist” was now selling sunglasses.

Another San Fernando mother mourns after her daughter was taken by the Los Zetas drug cartel (Source: YouTube)

At the U.S.-Mexico border bridge, the man recognized Miriam and ran away, but the 56-year-old caught up to him and tackled him. “If you move, I’ll shoot you,” she told him as she held up a gun. The vigilante mother held him for nearly an hour until authorities arrived to arrest him, the Times. “In total she was instrumental in taking down 10 (criminals), a mad campaign for justice that made her famous but vulnerable. No one challenged organized crime, let alone put its members in jail.”

Miriam’s son, Luis, was in the right place at the right time when he recognized “Sama,” one of the kidnappers on his mother’s list. Luis owned a store in Cuidad Victoria and Sama had walked into his store. It was as if God had intervened. Luis called the police and the man was arrested, giving the horrific details of Karen’s murder.

Candlelight vigil in Mexico (Source: YouTube)

Sadly, Miriam’s crusade landed her on the drug cartel’s hit list. Reports say that weeks after chasing down one of her last targets, she was shot and killed outside her home. It was Mother’s Day. Her husband, who was inside watching television, found her face down in the street, her hand in her purse, next to her gun. She died on the way to the hospital.

“She was a brave person, who cared about others and had the courage of her convictions in her fight,” said Giovanni Barrios Moreno, whose own son disappeared. Before her death, Miriam Elizabeth Rodriguez Martinez had asked the government for armed guards, fearing the consequences of her actions after inmates escaped from the prison in Ciudad Victoria. It all fell on deaf ears. Her son Luis is carrying on his mother’s legacy by taking over the group she started, a collective of the many local families whose loved ones had disappeared. Miriam’s hometown of San Fernando placed a bronze plaque in her honor in its central square.