A woman went on a Taken-style mission when her daughter disappeared.
Miriam Rodriguez, from Mexico, was devastated when 20-year-old Karen Alejandra Salinas Rodríguez went missing in 2012.
Confused by the lack of action taken by the authorities to find her daughter, Miriam took matters into her own hands and set about tracking her down.
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Following her lengthy investigation, she eventually arrived at a gang called 'Los Zetas', one of the most infamous cartels in Mexico.
She was then able to narrow down her search to a handful of gang members, whom she believed were involved in her daughter's kidnapping.
Like something out of a movie, she used fake identities and disguises to delve deeper into the murky criminal underworld.
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And she eventually gathered enough information to get the police to arrest one of the men involved.
Once he was behind bars, the gang member gave up the names of others, one of whom was just 18-years-old.
Somehow, she managed to convince the teenager to give her the location of her daughter.
Tragically, though, when Miriam went to find Karen, she found that her daughter had already been killed.
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Despite the heartbreaking discovery, Miriam continued in her search for justice, tracking down everyone involved in her daughter's murder.
The mother even cornered one of the men in an alleyway and put a gun to his back, warning him: "If you move, I'll shoot you."
Despite some of the culprits starting new lives with respectable jobs, Miriam rounded up nearly everyone and handed them over to the authorities.
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In total, she was able to get 10 members of 'Los Zetas'.
Sadly though, her mission came at a cost.
On Mother's Day in 2017, as she was chasing down one of her last targets, she was shot 12 times in front of her home and was killed.
According to the New York Times, following her destruction of the faction of the cartel, she claimed that she was not afraid of death.
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"I don’t care if they kill me," Miriam claimed. "I died the day they killed my daughter.
"I want to end this. I’m going to take out the people who hurt my daughter and they can do whatever they want to me."
Her tireless effort to bring people to justice resulted in a bronze plaque being erected in her city of San Fernando, as many were inspired by her mission.
Topics: Crime, True Crime
Dominic Smithers