A woman and man have been arrested and charged with femicide in the killings of Yulizsa Ramirez and Nohemi Medina Martinez earlier this month.
Ramirez and Martinez, both 28, were a married couple living in El Paso, Tex., according to some media reports. Their bodies were found dismembered in Juarez, Mexico, on January 16. Authorities at the time said the two had been tortured and shot.
The suspects are a 25-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man, according to a statement by local prosecutors. The two were only identified as Jaqueline Isela CR and David R.
Authorities said the two suspects contacted both Ramirez and Martinez on January 15. They brought them over to their house in San Isidro. Investigators believe it's there that the deaths of the two women took place.
According to the statement, local police were granted a search warrant for the home. There, they found "sufficient evidence that the double crime was committed," the attorney general's office said.
The two suspects are scheduled to appear in court Friday.
Authorities told The Washington Post in a statement that the killings of the two women were not hate crimes.
"In this case, the investigation lines are linked to the economic activity that both victims carried out and with the people they related to in that environment," said Roberto Javier Fierro Duarte, the attorney general of Chihuahua.
However, a local nonprofit working on LGBTQ+ rights wrote on Facebook that the brutality of the killings indicated they were hate crimes.
The area near Juarez is known for its grisly history as well. Between 1993 and 2005, as many as 400 or so killings occurred, which drew international attention because of the perceived inaction of the Mexican government to prevent the violence and bring those involved in the killings to justice. In the past three years, another 491 female homicide victims have been reported, according to Border Report.
Ramirez and Martinez were married last July. They were raising three children together.
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