The body of a two-year-old girl found dead in a suitcase nearly a year ago will be buried in a Mexico City cemetery rather than a common grave next month thanks to the efforts of the Institute of Forensic Sciences (Incifo) and a city magistrate.

But her identity remains unknown.

The body of Ángela, as she has come to be known at the institute, is to be removed from a drawer in the morgue and buried at the Panteón Civil de Dolores. Discovered in a suitcase in the Juárez neighborhood of Cuauhtémoc in March last year, the remains have been scrupulously examined but never identified.

Most such bodies are buried in a common grave but investigators avoided burial in the hope that they would find her parents or other family members. According to Edgar Elías Azar, president of the Superior Tribunal of Justice for the Federal District (TSJDF), authorities were contacted in Canada, the United States, Europe and South America in an attempt to locate the girl’s family.

Legally, bodies may only remain at Incifo for one year, and Ángela’s time runs out next month. Still insistent that the little girl not be buried anonymously, the institute purchased a plot at Mexico City’s largest cemetery and staff members will attend her funeral.

Says Elías Azar: “I said from the beginning: that girl was not going to end up in a common grave. We have searched tirelessly for the mother of the girl, but we could not find her.

“I think it’s time the body of the little one has a grave. I am convinced that somewhere in the world someone is looking for this child; at some point we will find them and take them to her grave.”

In another interview last year, Elías Azar said it was likely that the girl’s mother had also been killed. “I believe the mother is already dead and suffered the same heart-wrenching end as the child. Surely they killed the mother and daughter under absolutely unspeakable conditions, with brutal cruelty.”

The investigation took inquiries outside the country due to what Elías Azar described as the foreign features in the girl’s countenance.

Thanks to witnesses, police have a picture of the man who left a Ralph Lauren suitcase in a garden area. Inside was the body of the toddler, the head cut off, showing signs of sexual abuse. Investigators believe that the killer was traveling through Mexico City at the time and was not local.

Source: Reforma (sp)