A couple accused of torturing and murdering a seven-year-old girl after collecting her from school are suspected of having sexually abused their own children.
Schoolgirl Fatima Cecilia Aldriguett Anton had been waiting for her mother to collect her from her school in Mexico City, but another woman showed up and led the girl away by her hand.
CCTV footage showed the female suspect walking along the street with the young girl.
The girl was reported as missing on February 11 and her body was found in the municipality of Tlahuac inside a rubbish bag in a wheelie bin four days later, according to local media.
Mexico City government head Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed the arrest of two suspects, identified as Mario Alberto Reyes Najera and Gladis Giovana Cruz Hernandez.
The General Attorney’s Office (FGJ) has revealed this week that the pair are also suspected of having abused their own children.
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Suspects Mario Alberto Reyes Najera (left) and Gladis Giovana Cruz Hernandez (right) were arrested by police investigating the murder of schoolgirl Fatima Cecilia Aldriguett Anton
Fatima was reportedly abducted on her way home from school in Mexico City has been found in a wheelie bin with signs of torture
According to the FGJ, an exam conducted into the children of the suspects, two girls and a boy whose names are not reported, concluded that the minors showed signs of abandonment and being sexually assaulted.
Prosecutors found that the three children ‘lived in fear of their father’, according to the La Verdad newspaper.
Reports also state that Najera’s aunt, Irma Reyes, informed local authorities that her nephew’s partner told her he asked to be brought a minor as a ‘girlfriend’ or he would abuse their children.
Infobae quoted Irma Reyes as saying Najera threatened to abuse his own daughters if Cruz Hernandez did not bring him a child victim.
Reyes reportedly turned her nephew in to the police, telling them that the couple were hiding in a house that belonged to Najera’s deceased father in the municipality of Isidro Fabela.
Reyes said: ‘They cannot get away with it, I do not want them [local authorities] to give me money, I just want justice.’
Reports said that the grandmother of the children on the side of their mother Marcelina Cruz Hernandez has started legal procedures to obtain custody over the children.
The seven-year-old girl seen in CCTV with the female suspect walking down an alley after being picked up from school on February 11
Demonstrators gathered to protest and call for justice over the case of Fatima, whose death has shocked Mexico
The grandmother’s legal adviser Angelina Urbina told local media that female suspect Cruz Hernandez had reported that she was suffering domestic violence but she was ignored.
The head of government of Mexico City said: ‘They are children in vulnerable conditions and we are going to pay attention to them so the family can have the support they need.’
Both Reyes Najera and Cruz Hernández are also being held on charges that they tried to bribe police into letting them out of custody.
Aldriguett’s mother, María Magdalena Antón, told Milenio television that Cruz Hernandez once rented a room in her home to escape domestic violence.
She was recently living 10 minutes away from Aldriguett’s home and reportedly is the mother of two children who attend the victim’s former school.
Gladis Giovana Cruz Hernández and Mario Alberto Reyes Nájera (pictured) were arrested by state police agents and the National Guard
Mexico City residents and advocates came together for a memorial service to honor the life of seven-year-old Fátima Cecilia Aldrighett
Najera fled with Cruz Hernandez and three children to his aunt’s home in the Mexico State municipality of Isidro Fabela after the death.
He asked Irma Reyes if she had an extra room they could rent, and she told Mexican television network Televisa that she obliged after not seeing her nephew in 16 years but became suspicious of the couple when their images appeared on the TV screen.
Reyes said Cruz Hernández confessed that she and Nájera killed Aldrighett when they noticed that authorities were searching for her after she disappeared from Enrique Rébsamen Primary School in Tlalpan.
Last Wednesday morning, Mexican authorities closed in on the suspects and used a drone to keep surveillance over the home where they were hiding out.
The state police and the National Guard raided the small house and apprehended Reyes Nájera and Cruz Hernández by 1pm local time after receiving a tip.
The pair sought their immediate freedom by bribing the cops and National Guardsmen with $26.
A belt suspected of choking the young girl to death has not yet been found, according to police.