Overview
- A tribunal in Oaxaca found E.L.O. guilty of qualified homicide and ordered 30 years in prison after prosecutors said she lured a recently postpartum woman with a false offer of social support, killed her and took the infant.
- Forensic reports cited by prosecutors established asphyxia by suffocation and traumatic cranioencephalic injury as the cause of death and a home search led investigators to recover the newborn alive.
- The Oaxaca court rejected the defense claim of impaired mental capacity after psychiatric and psychological evaluations determined the defendant was fit and criminally responsible.
- In a separate case in Argentina, an appellate panel revoked María Teresa Díaz’s life sentence for killing her newborn and returned the case to the trial court to hold a new penalty phase while keeping the conviction intact.
- Both matters underscore regional concerns about crimes that exploit trust around pregnancy and childbirth and show how forensic work, gender‑sensitive investigation and multi-stage appeals shape final punishments and protections for victims and children.