Rotten Mango - Cartel Boss Arrested in Influencer’s Live Killing, but Viewers Still Suspect Her BFF is Involved

Episode Date: August 16, 2026

Destiny swapping is a widely debated topic. The idea that a person can somehow take your fate and swap it with theirs…is rooted in deep levels of jealousy. To the point that it can impact someone’s life and take their blessings, or so it’s believed.   It’s much more than a friend trying to dress like you or steal your partner. They are trying to latch onto who you are, your personality, your hopes and dreams.    Some say that you can sense it happening. A person will insert themselves into your life, and all of a sudden you start to lose focus, you can’t even seem to make your own decisions.    Valeria had no idea, but someone very close to her was seemingly jealous of her. Netizens believed that this person was so envious, that she’d kill Valeria to take her fate.    This is the case of 23 year old Valeria Marquez  And how she was shot and killed during a TikTok livestream.       Full show notes available at RottenMangoPodcast.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Badabing, bad a boo. Welcome to part two of the Valeria Marquez case. If you guys haven't listened to the audio part one, please do that first. We went through who Valeria Marquez is. She's a 23-year-old Mexican influencer based in Guadalajara. She owns her own beauty salon. And she was on TikTok live stream when she is ultimately shot three times and killed. A lot of people have opinions on what and who is the person that did this to her.

It's a delivery man. but go listen to part one and in part two, we're going to break down the entire full live stream, the arrests and what people think happened. Valeria Marquez starts her last TikTok live stream, May 13th, 2025. She's sitting inside her Blossom Beauty Lounge and it looks like she's near the receptionist desk. Like she's behind it. And it's just like a green wall behind her. And mainly you just see Valeria in frame.

You don't really see anything else. And it does appear to be somewhat of a slow day. or perhaps it's close to closing time and they don't have a lot of walk-ins coming through. There is music playing in the back, but it's, I mean, it's a salon. So it's not a club. You can hear Valeria.

The music is very background noise. And then there's really not much else. She's wearing a tight pink body suit. This is very pertinent later. She's wearing white jeans. And the first 45 minutes of this live stream, it feels beyond ordinary. She's answering questions about her eyelash extensions.

She's talking about how her head hurts a little bit. She has a headache. The comments are asking her, are you going to stay there all day? And she says, no, no, no. She plans on leaving soon. She says she's extremely tired, just not feeling great. It seems like very early on in the live stream. The last remaining client leaves.

So it's just Valeria and one of her employees, Erica, in the entire salon. It's just two of them. Is Erica in frame or no? She comes in frame briefly. Like, her face is kind of here and there, but not really at all. And it seems like she's doing things in the background. So when she's even talking to Valeria, her voice will sound sometimes more distant, sometimes a little bit closer. She's just in that vicinity.

Now, the question that people have is, okay, well, it's near closing time, and you guys are both there. You don't have any clients, and you're saying your head hurts. Why don't you just leave? Or like, why don't you leave it for Erica to close the store? Is that the best thing a boss can do? Probably not, but it would make sense. So it's just Valeria and her employee Erica. Why are they not leaving?

It just doesn't, it's kind of odd. the point where comments are pointing that out, and Valeria responds, well, the only reason that she's not leaving and she's staying is because her employee Erica told her, some delivery driver came by earlier today. So at this point, Valeria had stepped out to go to the doctor's office. Erica's alone. She's managing the salon. And a delivery driver comes up with this mysterious gift in a black bag.

And he's like, this is for Valeria. Erica's like, okay, well, that's my boss. So I can just sign something. Like, you can just give it to me. She's about to be back in an hour. He says, no. It's a very expensive delivery and I can only leave it with Valeria. But because Erica is like, okay, well, she's not here and she's going to be back in like an hour,

why don't you just come back in an hour? And he says, okay, I'll come back in an hour. It's been way longer than an hour. So this is around 2.30. It's closer to six right now. Valeria is so confused by this. Like she, it seems that she was told by Erica all of this before she starts the TikTok live stream. And as she's explaining it to the comments of why she's saying,

even though she has a headache, she's kind of confused. As she's explaining it, she's also kind of confused. And she's asking, like, Erica, do you know what the delivery was? Did he mention where it's from, who it's from? And Erica's like, I have no clue. I just knew it was in a black bag. I don't even know what was in there. Larry's like, okay, well, I guess I have to wait, but I'm like falling asleep. Erica reassures her it was a black bag, but it was like one of those present, like gift bags. They get a little distracted with work stuff. And then Erica eventually brings up the topic of the present again. She says, you know, they're making us get excited.

Valeria, on the other hand, seems a little more skeptical. And I don't know if this is just her blunt humor coming into play, but she says, dude, maybe they're going to kill me. That is wild. I don't know if it's right after she does keep dancing to the music, but her tone does seem a little bit strange, a little concerned. And I don't know if all of this is in hindsight and I'm overthinking it. But it's just odd.

Valeria reassures her viewers No guys, it was just a present But I don't know who sent it It was like somewhat translucent right Like there was little stars on the bag So she's like confirming with Erica off screen Something expensive Because it wasn't a delivery man

Like they would have left something if it was a delivery man right Like a regular delivery guy Like Amazon or UPS would probably just leave it Valeria is confused by the whole thing Just repeating to herself But if it wasn't a delivery man then who 23 minutes into the stream Valeria gets a message from her best friend Vivian and announces it.

She's like, oh, Vivian just texted me. And she's texting Vivian and they're talking about an upcoming surgery that Valeria has, like an elective surgery. As she's texting, she turns back to Erica and talks about the delivery again. And she's like, dude, I'm so worried. You said that you couldn't see his face? He was wearing something like, you know, the motorcyclist's wear like a, like a, you know, helmet thingy, but it didn't go over his whole head.

And what did he say that he was going to come back in an hour? I don't know. I just saw him coming in here. Valeria looks at the camera with like big eyes like, like, you know, when you look at someone like, what? What does that mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. As if she's terrified, but she doesn't look scared.

It's kind of more like, what? Like, you know that look. Yeah, yeah. And she responds, they're going to snatch me or what? That's crazy. She looks around, turns back to the live stream, and she's like telling her live stream comments, no, I don't know what's going on.

But like, who could it be? Girls, I think I'm going to go, because I'm getting creeped out. She said she couldn't see his face, but it was a delivery man, but like not a delivery man, but a delivery man. 20 minutes before the killing, so 34 minutes and like 55 seconds into the live stream. Valeria announces that Vivian texted her

that she needs to stay and wait because Vivian wants to see her face. Later Vivian describes this is taken out of context, but we're going to just go down with the live stream. Valeria drops her phone and shouts, hurry up, bitch, because I have to leave. Valeria says, what is this bitch going to send me? So now Vivian is saying, no, you have to wait because I want to see her face,

not because of the mysterious delivery man, but because I've sent you a surprise. What? Yeah. A separate one? Separate. Oh. So Valeria is like, what is this bitch going to send me? Dude, is she going to send me some stupid shit?

I swear. Erica says then the delivery driver would have just left it with her if it was something stupid. So, like, there's like, I think everyone's miscommunicating here, right? right? So Erica's like, no, no, no, I don't think the delivery driver was going to leave you something stupid. And so Valeria's like, no, I mean Vivian, she's going to send me something too. Valeria says she's tired, she's sweating, she just wants to go home. Meanwhile, Erica clarifies, she tried to take the gift from the guy, but he was intent that it had to be directly to Valeria. Then a male voice is in the background.

Suddenly someone has entered the studio. Someone walked in. Hello? Hi, good afternoon. On behalf of Vivian, Valeria stands up and sits back. down with a Starbucks bag and she's very smiley. Vivian, dude, just say you're into me. She opens the bag, pulls out her very favorite Starbucks drink, which is a dragon fruit lemonade refresher. Then another male voice. Hello, good afternoon. On behalf of Vivian,

Valeria gets up, comes back into frame and it's like a miniso bag, you know, the Japanese. Yeah, miniso. She pops it open and opens a stuffed toy, like a little stuffed pig. Valeria's hugging it. She's screaming, it's a little pig. Dude, Vivian is in love with me. I swear. She starts posing with the stuffed pig. It smells like ass, but I will ignore that. I love you, Slet.

Marry me, I love it. Vivian, like, do you want to be my girlfriend here in front of the audience? I have never confessed to anyone, but I think you're the love of my life. Like, we should date for real dude. She reads the message from Vivian out loud

because you're all pink today. She poses with her present and announces, I will stay until fucking seven then because I'm a responsible boss. But tomorrow, I'm not going to be here. So don't fuck with me. I'm just playing. I'll still come.

So she's saying, I'm just kidding. I'm still going to come into the salon. She starts going back to answering the live comments. Do you like women? No, but I feel like the love of my life is Vivian. I'm looking for a man, but men aren't worse shit. Girls are nicer. More thoughtful, so on.

They go back to talking about the delivery man. Erica says the delivery man came around 2.30 p.m. And she's like, I told him that you'd be back in an hour and now it's six. Valeria goes back to reading comments. They should be here by now then. And she's like, exactly. So a comment is like, they should be here by now. And she's like, exactly.

Could it be a fan? Maybe, but like, why wouldn't they just leave it? You know? Erica jokes, maybe he thought I was like a thief. Valeria turns to Erica, but did he, I mean, was he a delivery man? Did he look like a delivery man? Or a bodyguard? No, a delivery man.

Now, side note, a lot of influential people, politicians, wealthy businessmen, and high up traffickers tend to have bodyguards in Mexico. So that was a very pertinent, relevant question. Valeria starts asking Erica questions, was he small or tall? Medium, like my height. But who? I cannot think of anyone.

Like, they would have told me that they're getting me a gift. She starts answering more comments. A delivery man would just leave it the gift. Yeah, exactly. Does the stuffed animal have a GPS? Oh, no, no, no, this is sent by Vivian, dude. So they're like asking, oh, the stuffed animal, who is it sent by? Like, that's creepy.

So her comments are getting a little skeptical to it. And she's like, no, no, no, this is from Vivian. Dude, I don't know. Erica told me it was like a box or like a black gift bag with little stars and it had something very expensive inside. So they wanted me to receive it and take a picture of me with the gift, but I have no idea who could have sent it. I'm not seeing someone. Like I would say, oh, well then the guy that I'm seeing probably sent it.

But no, I don't know. This is creepy, right? He said he's going to come back in an hour. 2.30 p.m. It's like now 6 p.m. Erica further clarifies, I was here. And he said Valeria Marquez. And I said, yes, like he thought it was me.

And he doubted, like, she's not here. And I told him, no, but this is her business and you can leave it here. There's no problem. I can deliver it to her. And he said, I was told to take a picture with her with it. And I said, then wait for her, but I don't know when she's going to get back probably in an hour. And he said, well, because of the price, I can't just leave it with you.

And I told him, well, if you want, I can call her. If she says you can leave it, you can probably leave it, right? And he's like, no, I'm going to be back. And then finally, 55 minutes. in Valeria says he's coming. So, you know, the windows are glass in the salon. So she can see a man approaching and Erika must recognize the guy because she chimes in, oh yes, because if it wasn't the same delivery guy, she wouldn't have said that. You hear a male voice in the background, very calm, like very cheery almost. Hello. And Vivian responds, hello. The delivery man sounds friendly.

And he asked Valeria Marquez. Yes. Valeria leans forward, mutes the live stream. And a few seconds later, you see her holding her stomach with her mouth open. You don't see a lot of blood. It's almost like she had a stomach cramp hit. Like it's almost, I don't know if maybe, like if someone hit her in the stomach with something. Like it's a shocked face, but almost calm in the sense of you don't see a lot of, you don't see anything visually.

She has been shot. There's not a lot of blood. The bullet seems oddly small. You can, you almost don't even see it in the live stream. and then you do because she shot twice in the head. Again, it's a small bullet. There's not a lot of blood, but you can see her body fall forward.

You can see her body go limp. Her face is covered by her hair. She's slightly out of frame. I mean, not much. Her face is out of frame, but her whole body is in frame because she's still live streaming. She's clutching the stuffed pig, and it almost is like her body goes rigid.

And within seconds, you see the phone camera get pointed towards the ceiling, and you see the employee, Erica, turn off the live stream. What? Now, this whole thing is muted. So we don't know if the delivery man said anything else to Valeria before or whilst or after shooting her or what Erica's reaction was because it's muted. But her face, I mean, she's not screaming.

It seems like her face is almost like determined. I don't know how to describe her face. Other people have said she looks indifferent, casual, determined. Like those are the words that are most frequently used to describe her expression. That was crazy But the employee was there watching the whole thing And nothing happened to her That's the big point of contention in a moment

All the police know right off the bat Is that this must be a contract killing Like that's it There's no The delivery man, yes, he is the one that pulls the trigger He is the one that physically kills Valeria And he of course needs to be arrested However, it's very clear

That someone hired him to do this He has no relation with Valeria He's here for a target. It seems like he came back to make sure it's Valeria. Like this is just a job to him. He's clearly been paid to fulfill an order. But who is the one that ordered it? A lot of people initially thought it was Erica.

You know, because they're wondering, why is the first thing that she did is turn off the camera? It doesn't make sense. She would also technically, I mean, just statistically, she would probably be dead too because a lot of the times when, if you're this balzy to take out an influencer who's live streaming on TikTok,

with a lot of fans that are watching, you probably don't care to also kill her employee just so you leave no witnesses. His face was not fully covered, right? You don't see him on camera, though, but not fully covered. Erica would have seen. Erica earlier said that he was wearing like a helmet,

but not fully covering the face. So she could kind of identify him. Yeah. And she could probably identify his motorcycle or like, I'm assuming he walked in with certain. Yeah. So would she not have been dead too? not that people are wishing that an additional person would have died,

but it just didn't make any sense. On top of the fact that she looked really calm, a lot of people are saying, put yourself in that position. If you are Erica and you don't know if you're next, you're not ending a live stream, you're begging for your life, you're screaming, you're taking cover, you're doing something.

Like, the live stream is the last thing that would be on your mind if you're Erica. One person theorizes, if Erica hadn't set up Valeria, she would have gotten killed too. It just doesn't make sense, because who's going to let a witness live? They both would have been killed. But there's just people, I think the hard part is a lot of people think Erica is suspicious

and they think that she may have been in on it. Maybe she didn't know what was going to happen. Maybe she was paid to keep her boss all day. Maybe she thought it was going to be something good. Like she genuinely thought her boss was going to get a cute surprise. No one knows, right? But they don't think that she's the one that would have all this incentive to want Valeria dead. No motive.

No motive. But then, like, who does? But does she talk? Does she give? Only to the place. Okay. So do we know the version? No.

Really? Mm-hmm. So when she turned off the live, we're assuming that's after the hitman has left. Or is it the process of walking out? But it seems pretty fast. We don't know. But it was pretty fast.

It's hard to give you an exact timeline because, yeah, it was pretty fast. Okay. All we have are like re-uploaded clips. And I probably wouldn't advise you trying to hunt down the clip. Most of the clips have cut out the part where after she mutes it, the clip ends. So it's hard to say if there was any altering of the facts, but it seemed pretty quick. And I guess you can't rule out an obsessed fan or a stalker or some sort of admire. But this does feel a lot more personal than that.

So the people's next best guess on the internet is maybe it's Viguer. Vivian, the only other person that was interacting with Valeria during this live stream that has maybe some sort of motive. Vivian is the friend that people thought was jealous of Valeria this entire time. One person comments, my parents always warned me jealousy can be deadly. Another writes, once all the signs out up to jealousy, I'm out because you never know what happens. People also point out that Vivian kept telling Valeria to stay because she wanted her to get her gifts and wanted to see her reactions to said gifts. But Vivian says, you guys are taking it all just out of context. She explains later in an interview.

This is after Valeria's death. She says, I always give Valeria gifts. Like when Valeria is live streaming, I'm always sending her gifts specifically like through Uber Eats. So in a different live stream, you know, Valeria is reading her comments and Vivian is telling her to eat something. Eventually there's a knock on the door. Valeria looks shocked, but like not in a bad way. She says, I didn't order anything. It's for Valeria Marquez.

Me, I didn't order anything. She takes the bag, and she's like, who the hell is this from? Is this Vivian? It's a dragonfruit refresher from Starbucks. It's my favorite. That means it's from Vivian. Fuck me if it's not from Vivian. Vivian texts Valeria.

From who else could it be? Valeria laughs. And in other clips, Vivian and Valeria are both live streaming together, are getting ready to go out. Valeria's at home. Vivian's about to go to Valerias. And she's like, I'm going to pick you up Starbucks on the way. And they both kind of do like this baby voice with each other. Other videos show Valeria showing off a bouquet of flower she got.

from Vivian. And Vivian just describes, you know, with my close friends, the friends that I truly love, I'm always really thoughtful. I'm always really thoughtful. Like my way of showing love is through gifts. So I always tried to shower Valeria, like whether it's stuffed animals because she loves stuffed animals a lot or with flowers because she also love flowers. She loved being given flowers. I would send it to her simply because seeing her happy came naturally to me. Seeing how excited she got like a little girl when she received things was more than enough for me. Like I always gave Valeria gifts. I always showered Valeria and gifts. The Interviewer asks her, how frequently did you give her presents?

I mean, I can't tell you, it was kind of like a regular thing. Only when I felt like giving her the gift, I would give it to her. I mean, I literally almost always gave it to her when I saw her in live so that I could see her reaction when we weren't together, you know, because a lot of the times we were also together. So she says that recently Valeria was having problems with her ex. So I just wanted to cheer her up, send her food, flowers, stuffed animals. But a lot of netizens are saying it just feels so convenient. Also, the fact that Vivian loved to be around Valeria when she's live streamed.

but conveniently the day that she passes, she's not there. There are other people who also think it's odd that she sent her a pig, and then she ended up dying in the same live stream. It almost feels like when you factor in what netizens believe to be this obsessive jealousy, it feels almost like a humiliation tactic. And the fact that she was watching, it just feels like she wanted to see this happen, is what people are speculating. Now, Vivian says in the later interview,

that's just couldn't be further from the truth. That's not, it doesn't make sense. She said she's watching the live stream because, quote, I was at home. Because I was watching her live. I mean, I watched her in the background on my phone and I had her voice in the background just listening to her. If she said something that involved me or that I wanted to give an opinion on, that's when I would send her a message and send her a direct message on my phone.

She says, I didn't feel like anything strange in that live stream. I mean, as I told you that I had it in the background. Like there were times that I concentrated a lot on what I was watching on the phone or sometimes I would do other things and I would stop listening to her. I mean, I stopped paying attention to what she was saying and then I would reconnect and I was always watching Val's lives because it was just very entertaining. Like she's very funny so I always watched her lives. She said she was interested in what present she was going to get. She says, I mean, of course I was curious to know what they were going to give her because normally the gifts they sent her were

always left right away. So if there's flowers, people leave them. If there's other things, they leave them. So it's just intriguing. She says about the moment that her friend passes, quote, so at that moment when that happened with Val, I just, I mean, I even thought that they had like thrown confetti poppers or something at her. Because I saw her kind of duck. And then she went off to one side. Like, I didn't really grasp what was happening until I saw that she literally was almost collapsing onto the table. She said that she had the live stream minimized to a small corner on her phone. So she's doing other things.

So when I saw that she kind of ducked, I said, oh, they threw confetti at her. And then I zoomed in to show the full screen. And that's when I saw she was already with her hair covered to the side. So I didn't understand what had happened until I saw that. she literally started falling on the table. So logically, I got very worried. I immediately got up. I called her uncles because her uncles weren't at the salon at the time.

I don't remember why they went there. So I called them. I told them that I think something happened to her. I mean, that I wasn't very sure because it wasn't very clear. But logically, at the moment, I didn't see it like I did later after watching all the videos properly. At the moment, I didn't see it clearly. So I just said something happened.

She said she saw some live stream comment saying Valeria had been shot, Valeria had been shot. And she was screaming at, like, you know, telling the uncles, like, what do you mean? She's been shot. Like, that's when I started for. out. She's calling the uncles and getting ready. She's out the door and going to the salon. She says by the time she gets there, another one of their friends had been watching the live and rushed over. We were both in shock. We just hugged each other. I mean, we couldn't believe what was happening. We were so angry because of course they couldn't let us into the salon.

I couldn't see Val. I mean, they had put up the tape by this point, but I was just in a moment of shock. I was in denial. I didn't believe something had happened to her. I was simply completely in shock. Everything was closed off. I mean, they only let immediate family in, law, I don't know any other way to express what I was feeling because at that moment, tears would not come to me. I was in shock. I mean, I didn't want to accept it. When I was in the Uber, I didn't want to accept it. When I was in the Uber, I didn't want to accept it. I was very sad. I was very confused. I just wanted to get there and see her. I mean, I wanted to get there and see how she was because my brain couldn't process that she was no longer there. She says that she doesn't like that people have made her out to be this jealous friend when she's mourning and grieving the loss of her best friend. She says people have concocted these crazy theories in their minds about her being a jealous killer. and she says even about like her trying to look like Valeria, she says, I never tried to look like Valeria. I always had my own style, my essence. I had always wanted to be blonde since I was little

even at like 15, 16 was the first time that I did try to style and lighten my hair. But obviously since I was with my mom, she was the one who paid for it so I couldn't maintain it. So that's why I dyed my black again. I always liked blonde hair, always. I even like how it lights up my face. Like I like how it looks on me. I mean, it's a matter of like I like how blonde looks on me more than. then I like how black looks on me. But that also has to do with the fact that I haven't seen myself recently with black hair because I haven't tried it in a while. I've always admired Valeria, but it was never a thing of me like wanting to look like her. I've always been very present in who I am and I've never looked at other paths. I was an envious of her. I didn't want to

look like her. I thought that she and I had very, you know, we were very clear to each other and very pretty in our own ways. And if I use contact lenses or if I became blonder, it was just because I liked it because I always knew what I am and what I like. I love contact lenses. I don't only have blue contact lenses. I have brown, green, gray. I mean, I use all of them. It's just that in most photos, unfortunately, I appeared with the blue contact lenses. About clothes and the rumors of destiny swapping, she says, yes, I took her clothes. Of course, between friends, you lend each other clothes. I also lent her clothes of mine, and we also bought from the same boutiques. It doesn't make sense. As for all their recent fights that Valeria was sharing on TikTok, she says, I mean,

there was a fight over a guy issue. Okay, so there was this other friend who was hanging out with all of us. And Valeria was, she thought, that friend thought Valeria was hitting on the guy that she liked. So there was this whole mess where they started to tell each other, you know, like just insulting each other. And I was present because I was there. And I didn't take a side. I didn't take a side with Valeria. I didn't take a side with anybody. So, and then I still remained friendly with the other friend. And that's kind of like how it all happened. And she says, but it's interesting because Valeria was on live for about 55 minutes, and Vivian's orders match up closer to when Valeria is killed. So it's almost like three orders come back to back.

The Starbucks drink, the little pig, and then the delivery man that kills Valeria. People found that timing suspicious. And she says, I mean, I ordered both through Uber Eats. Like, you can see that. Suspicious as like, why does it line up so perfectly, like, around the same time? Mm-hmm. Is what people are saying, yeah. But some people think it's like her way of making Valeria just more obligated to stay and wait for the execution. I guess some people are saying like, well, hypothetically, if I were the one calling the hit and the delivery man is like telling me they're nearby, I would send her something to make her stay a little longer, distract her. Because I guess maybe as time goes on, you can see Valeria is getting more and more over it. And she's just like, okay, like, I don't even really care at this point. So it could be that. But Vivian says Valeria is not that type.

She says in an interview, and obviously this is something that benefits her. So I guess you could take it how you will. But she says that Valeria is not the type that would ever stay just because of any sort of gifts. Whether it be Vivian's gifts or an expensive gift, she says, quote, because Valeria, if she really had felt in danger, even if I told her to stay, she would have left. Like she simply just would have left. She wouldn't have listened to anybody. She wouldn't have listened to me.

She wouldn't have listened to anyone. I mean, if she felt like she wasn't safe or that something bad was going to happen to her, she would have left. I know what you're thinking, which is kind of irrelevant. Yeah. Yeah. And she's like, but I think that she was just more intrigued by the gift than anything. Like she was confused about knowing who it was from and what the gift was. Others say, you know how Erica had briefly mentioned in the live stream? Like, oh, they asked, I told her I was, like, I said, they said Valeria Marquez.

And she was like, yeah. They're like Valeria. And then she's like, well, this is like my boss's salon. She's stepped out. Do you recall that in the live stream? So that's where people are like, it's interesting that you bought her a stuffed pig because she was holding onto it during the live. And now it's very easy to identify because you would tell someone who doesn't know the difference

between the two girls, hey, it's the one holding the stuffed pig. That's crazy. I guess people are saying it's just such a random gift. But Vivian is saying, well, no, I got a stuffed pig for her because I just wanted to make her feel better. I wanted to get her flowers, but they wouldn't deliver in time. And the stuffed pig was pink and she was wearing all pink. So that's why I coordinated it like that. Now, aside from Vivian, there is another suspect. The internet has their eyes on. So they're not just like honed in on Vivian. It's the cartels. Valeria is based in Guadalajara, which is where one of the more powerful

criminal organizations is based, C.J. NG. Cartel Halisco Nueva Generation, the new generation of Cartel Helisco, and she was suspected to have been dating R1's son. Now, R1, whose real name is Ramon Angel Alvarez Ayala, is the leader of one of these subunits of CJNG. So this is like a top dog. I wouldn't say he's the topist, you know, like he's at the top, but he runs one of the subunits. And I've heard he is in charge of the subunit that handles taking people out.

So it seems like a very violent subunit. So cartels are, their structure is interesting. so they have subunits that are dedicated to just like violence and enforcement. And then obviously they have different subunits that are more for the trafficking purposes, right? But he's like the head of a very violent subunit. He's also been linked to the murder of Carlos Manzo

who is the former mayor of Europon. And people say that he was killed because he was not bending to the demands of the cartels. Was it a shooting or? Yeah. Now, Valeria was the legislation. dating his son, Francisco, who is nicknamed Narco Jr. They had seemingly a nasty breakup, which is all but confirmed with the recent arrest in this case. So recently in Mexico, R1, the dad, was arrested

on suspicion of murder of the former mayor as well as influencer Valeria Marquez. Authorities state... Really? Yeah. I know. People were so shocked. Really? They cracked down that hard. Yeah. Interesting. Authorities were stating R1's son was in a romantic relationship, with Valeria. He had already threatened her on several occasions and everything indicates that the son asked his father, R1, to commit the femicide. Femicide. The son, Francisco, Narco Jr., has not been found yet. Authorities have not been able to locate him. But why would R1's son ask his dad to help him kill his ex-girlfriend? I'm not doubting it. I'm not saying like, oh, but why would he, right? I'm saying, like, is there a reason? Because a lot of people are saying being entangled in the cartel life is

incredibly dangerous, but you would imagine that it's impossible for these cartel higher apps to kill every single person that they've ever been romantically involved with. And then to do it in such a public scale and in a way that a lot of psychologists believe is humiliating. To do it in the midst of a TikTok live stream for the world to see, there is a humiliation aspect. There is a power. Yeah. It's also, it's like a message almost.

Yeah. And it's like a, and it's dangerous because it does put a target on your back for authorities, too, because there's more pressure for them to solve the case. So a lot of people think, well, maybe Valeria knew too much about the organization, but some people think it's weird. And I say maybe it's a potential motive, not as justification for murder, but just as people are trying to figure out why Valeria. In one live stream, Valeria says about her ex,

do you know what he told me that I was already used? And that he didn't like women who'd been with a lot of guys, that a lady doesn't go from bed to bed and that I was one of those women. He told me he was disgusted by me, knowing how many men I slept with, that I wasn't good enough to introduce to his friends, that how could he give me his last name if I had already been recycled? And there I was, believing he loved me, putting up with his insults, his control, even his stupid jealousy, also he could treat me like trash.

Some people think that Valeria was getting fed up, and she was perhaps disclosing too much information. Allegedly days before her death, she posted an Instagram story showing bruises on her legs, and she wrote, it was my partner with whom I lived with. That's why I say he is my ex. And I make that person responsible for anything that might happen to me and my family, even if I have to leave the city. She even wrote in her private broadcast, don't break my heart anymore because I will actually die this time. Then another one that reads right after, why are people so fucking stupid?

Another circulating screenshot is Valeria had shared the screenshot of how she allegedly got kicked out of a club and the security guards assaulted her, leaving her covered in bruises. and it was all her ex's fault. So apparently the caption of that story that has since been deleted reads, my ex didn't like me being here to have fun. And the security guards told me, please leave, because you don't know what he's like, I don't want to get in trouble with him. And they like dragged her out of there.

And she was covered in bruises. So it does indicate that she was dating someone who had a lot of power and they were scared. There was also another screenshot that she shared where it's text messages between her and her ex-boyfriend. which people think is Francisco. And he's telling her, I've never showed you the other side of me,

like you don't want to mess with me. And she was wondering if that was a threat. Yeah. I see. A lot of people, though, I will say, are relieved and happy that there is, like a step closer to justice. Okay, happy is a crazy word.

Relieved and grateful that there is a step closer to justice. One person comments, finally, but also you can arrest her friend who set her up. So people are happy, but they also think that Vivian was still involved. Like the cartel and Vivian theories were not separate from each other. The new internet theory is that Valeria's ex-boyfriend, Narco Jr., had Vivian's help in making sure Valeria stayed. And a lot of those people think that Vivian also recruited Erica to help as well.

And some of the other people are just indifferent to Erica, but people speculate that Vivian's new boyfriend is Narco Jr. Valeria's ex-boyfriend and that perhaps they'd even been dating prior to all of this, prior to Valeria being killed. There were some people who like really, and again, with cases where there's lots of internet conspiracy theories, it does take me a lot of time to try and step back because it's very natural once you start reading the same theory over and over again to kind of slip into it and say, you know what, that does kind of make sense. And then you have to take a step back to be like, okay, am I saying that because I've read so many

forms that sound convincing or is there maybe any truth to it. So I really don't know. And this is a case where it just keeps spiraling. And I'm like on one hand, I could kind of see it. On the other hand, it sounds crazy, but maybe it's not. Some people are saying like even Vivian taking Valeria's underwear, she could have been going behind Valeria's back sleeping with Francisco. And that could have been a very like, ha ha, I'm wearing your girlfriend's underwear, my best friend. while we're sleeping together. Does that make sense? Okay.

And then sending her the pig, people are speculating if she was in on it and she wanted Valeria out of the picture so she could have Francisco to herself. The pig could have also been some sort of inside joke between her and Francisco or just another humiliating aspect to add to all of this. It's a big theory this is for Vivian?

So, yes, these are the people who are fleshing out the theories, but I would say a lot of people think that she's involved, even after the arrest of R1. So no one is like, oh, no, we knew it was the cartel. Like, we probably knew an ex-boyfriend was involved, but we still think Vivian is involved. I would say that's a huge internet sentiment right now.

But there's just like no proof other than a few faceless pictures of Vivian. And, well, a picture of Vivian hugging a guy who is faceless that people just assume is Francisco. So there's really no proof. And they think that reason just makes sense. And she, okay, so that same interview that she does after Valeria's death, she's asked about her own cosmetic procedures and like what she plans in the future for getting more work done.

And the interviewer is like, what do you do for work right now? And she says, right now I don't work. Then how do you pay for your surgeries? She says, I can't comment on that. And she's also, people think it's weird that she's defending Erica. So people are like, imagine the friendship that Vivian and. and Valeria had. If it's true, both parties, you know, like,

if Vivian thought of Valeria the way Valeria thought of Vivian, if my friend was killed on livestream and the only other person was her employee there, and she turned off that live stream in that manner, I'm going to have my strong suspicions. Yeah. I'm not going to be at least even favorable of that person, right? Like, I would really, it would have to take a long conversation with this individual to even have some sort of, basically what Erica

has come out to say was she didn't want her boss to be shown to the world in that state. So she did come out to say what happened. That was it. Oh. She said, I just ended it because I didn't want my boss to be shown in that state to her followers. But it was just the quickness in which she ended it. People are like, no, it makes sense. But it's the fact that that was like one of the first things you did.

Right. You know, it's kind of, it just doesn't make sense with all the adrenaline going on with all of this and like maybe the killer is still there or at least he's in the vicinity. and you're just turning off the live stream doesn't make any sense. It seems like something that you would do after step one, step two, step three. So that was just Erica's explanation.

She doesn't further elaborate. That's it. Vivian, however, defends Erica in that interview, saying later when I saw her reaction of the clip, it seemed to me more like a reaction that in the beginning she didn't want Valeria to be vulnerable. You know, the same thing is happening to me

where they're crucifying her simply for having ending a live stream. I mean, I don't have an opinion on that because in reality, I don't know her. I mean, I don't know her deeply. But if she's in the same situation as me, you know, where people are accusing her of things, well, I send her lots of strength and don't let yourself be brought down by the bad comments. At the end of the day, she knows the relationship that she had with Val, and that's what matters.

And I hope that her loved ones and her friends are surrounding her with lots of love. People thought that that was weird because you're valerious friend, best friend since like 15. Yeah. Did she ever say who she thought did this? No. Yeah. She also, when she's asked, like, was Valeria dating members of the cartel? And she says she wasn't dating anyone that would bring any trouble.

See, she clearly knows more then, you know, at that point. And she's, you know, then if you're, she's not being transparent about some aspect. Then people are going to assume you're lying about more things. So I think it's just a matter of Do people think she's lying Because you don't want the cartel on your back Because to be like, oh yeah No, she was dating a cartel member

Obviously the cartel is not going to take that nicely They're not going to just be like Oh, okay, do your little live streams and interviews Or is it the fact that she has Further incentive To protect that information Yeah, yeah, yeah She says for all the people

Who are coming up with rumors about her Quote, broaden your minds a little more Don't get carried away by all the things you see on the internet don't get carried away because people simply have a certain number of followers and they are already judge and jury to say who is guilty and who is not when the evidence they have isn't even real it's fabricated but some people think even that is shady people are like you've never once demanded justice for your friend like you're not going around trying to get answers you're just more so being like hey guys don't believe everything you hear when your friend is

dead vivian has also started fighting back in the comments One person had commented on her profile, free me from friends like you. And she responds, I don't think you have any friends. When someone asks her why she told Valeria to stay, she responds, yes, dude, I told her to stay, but for my gifts only. I never told her to stay the whole time. And then she gets frustrated and she says, just go watch the full live stream, dude. I mean, like she's telling them to watch the live stream in which her friend was killed.

It's just kind of odd. Now, as of right now, it appears that the authorities are searching for Narco Jr. I don't know if they're going to find him. Probably not. I also think, and I say this as, you know, like a place from anger, not a place of just like stating the facts, right? But I do wonder if R1 had not also killed the former mayor if he wouldn't have been arrested. If it was just the death of a woman, I don't know if he would have been arrested. But I think maybe it's like, okay, we wanted to get him down for killing the mayor.

but now we can also get some good standing with the community because we can make it about Valeria because so many people are shocked that they were arrested someone in the first place and that means that usually authorities don't care when a woman is murdered. Yeah, exactly. So I don't know if they're searching for Narco Jr.

I don't know if they're going to find him. Maybe they're investigating if any of Valeria's friends have anything to do with this. I'm not sure. One person writes, honestly, I'm just surprised she's getting any justice. Another person comments, I hate that pig plushy.

It was so symbolic and it broke my heart how she hugged it as she died. And what's crazy is a lot of people still blame Valeria for her own murder. When comment reads, I had my suspicions. It's so sad that they end up like this because they just want an easy life.

Another response, she had it coming. She knew what she was getting involved with. She looked for her own death. God gives you free will on the path that you choose to take. Rest in peace. Someone else comments, not everything that shines is gold. They get involved with criminals

and then they don't like it anymore. People have been generating like AI generated images of her holding a plushy and they write in the words, this happened to me for being a whore. Work so you don't think you can go around being a whore and get money from a drug trafficker

and then leave him as if nothing happened. Which is already a dumb, despicable message, but it makes even less sense when you realize that Valeria was killed at work, at her place of work. Someone even made an AI picture of Valeria laying in the morgue where she's essayed by someone dressed

as the medical examiner. And so just even in her passing, there's this whole debate. Lots of people are saying like, why are we making her a martyr? Why are we making her the face of femicide when she was the one that decided to get involved with cartels? And then other people are saying,

that's still victim blaming. Like that's still, that's the reason why maybe she should be the face of femicide, Not that there should be a face or one face, but it's like, that's another reason people are upset. One person comments, the way that people are covering the femmicide of Valeria Marquez fucking enrages me. Like, they keep spreading videos of her murder, like when she gets shot. They also keep only showing photos of her in swimsuits. Like, just stop to which someone directly comments.

Hors who get involved with narcos don't deserve any less than to be belittled even after death. Let this be an example that easy luxury is not free. One person writes, Valeria Marquez was not killed for being Bucona or for having plastic surgery or for being ambitious or for even dating a narco. She was murdered because in Mexico and in many parts of the world, having a male partner who lacks the tools to manage his emotions continues to be a risk factor for women. Valeria was not killed by her lifestyle. She was killed by a man who lacked emotional control, not because of how she looked, but because she said no and because she left a relationship. and that is where we are with Valeria Marquez's death. I will keep you guys up to date if there are any updates, but we'll see how it goes.

What are your thoughts on this case? Do you think other people were involved? Do you think that they're going to go after Narco Jr.? Let me know in the comments. Stay safe and I will see you in the next one.