A mother of two from Texas was found dead with all of her teeth missing. Authorities believed that she was tortured before she was killed.
Victim's teeth were removed
The victim, 23-year-old Lizbeth Flores, was reported missing after she traveled from Texas to the Mexican border city of Matamoros to visit her boyfriend. She left her home on August 9 and was never heard from again.
Flores' mother, Maria Rubio, filed a missing person's report on August 10 after she lost contact with her daughter, as reported by MailOnline.
On August 11, Flores' body was found. According to authorities, she died from head injuries that she suffered after she was beaten with a rock that was also found at the scene.
Law enforcement investigators also said that part of Flores' scalp had been removed and that all her teeth were taken out by force. Maria Rubio said on August 14 during an interview with Telemundo that "losing a child is like having your heart ripped out."
Rubio expressed her grief and said that she is sad about what the suspect did to her daughter and how they left her. It pains her to think about the torture that her daughter endured. Rubio is seeking help from the United States and Mexico officials to repatriate her daughter's remains to Texas.
There have been no arrests made as of August 17 by police in Matamoros. The FBI is involved in the investigation because Flores is a US citizen, according to KRGV-TV.
Similar incident
In 2018, a mother from Michigan was sentenced for the torture and murder of her 4-year-old child. The mother, 35-year-old Candice Diaz, and her 28-year-old boyfriend, Brad Fields, are both facing charges of murder, child abuse, and torture in the death of 4-year-old Gabby Barrett. They are facing 30 to 60 years in prison.
The victim was found inside their mobile home in Sumpter Township, she was burned and beaten on New Year's Day of 2018. According to the police, Diaz told them that in December 2017, the child was running her own bath and she made it too hot, causing her to burn her skin.
The couple did not seek medical attention and Gabby wanted to take a bath again the next day. Diaz then told the police that she found the child submerged up to her nose in the water. She said she pulled the child from the bath and she vomited, while they attempted to provide CPR.
Police said that the couple called 911, who attempted to resuscitate the child but she did not survive. The Michigan State Police found a massive amount of melted skin in the bathtub drain, as reported by Fox5.
A detective stated that the child had been burned so badly that her large toe fell off of her body. According to a medical examination, the child had been physically abused before her death.
The two fled Michigan but were eventually caught days later in Lake Park, Georgia near the state line of Florida. The officials said that the couple would turn on their cell phone to use it, and it allowed investigators to trace their location.
