Beauty queen, 27, found dead in Mexico City apartment as police eye mother-in-law in ‘murder’ case

A former beauty queen was allegedly shot to death in Mexico City, with authorities investigating her mother-in-law as a suspect.

Carolina Flores Gómez, 27, was found dead on April 15 in a luxury apartment in Polanco, according to Mexican outlet Diario Puntual. Paramedics said she showed no signs of life upon arrival. She had sustained a gunshot wound to the head.

Gómez was crowned Miss Teen Universe Baja California in 2017, making her a recognized figure in state-level beauty pageants. She was born and raised in Ensenada.

The Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office is treating the case as an intentional homicide.

A Mexican journalist reported that Carolina Flores Gómez sustained 12 bullet impacts.

“Her husband claims it was her mom (a candidate for councilor in Ensenada) who shot her inside her apartment,” Antonio Nieto wrote on X.

While a motive has not yet been established, early findings in the investigation have pointed to the model’s mother-in-law, Erika María. Reports indicate that both María and Gómez’s husband, Alejandro Gómez, were present at the time of the alleged shooting.

Authorities have also noted that Gómez’s husband filed a complaint one day later, a detail that has raised additional questions in the case. Preliminary reports also indicated that the building’s security guard did not report hearing any gunshots, which investigators are reviewing.

Forensic experts have since combed the apartment for evidence.

The case has reignited debate over violence against women in Mexico, with feminist groups urging authorities to investigate it as a femicide in line with established protocols.

They also stressed the need to pursue justice through a gender perspective and to prevent impunity. The investigation remains ongoing.

In a separate incident, a young woman in Mexico City vanished after heading to a job interview and never returning home.

Edith Guadalupe Valdés Zaldívar, 21, was last seen on April 15 at a building in the south-central part of the capital, where she had gone for the interview.

When she failed to return, her family, who had details of her route but received no response, began searching the area before contacting authorities, according to CNN Español.

The family also alleged that a police officer demanded money to initiate the investigation during the critical early hours of her disappearance.

On April 17, forensic experts and agents first located Zaldívar’s personal belongings and then her body in the basement, hidden under a mound of sand.