[5] In 2016, she joined the Ministry of Justice and began work at the prison directorate, the National Service for Comprehensive Care for Adult Persons Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (Spanish: Servicio Nacional de Atención Integral a Personas Adultas Privadas de la Libertad y Adolescentes Infractore).
[9] Icaza came to Litoral Penitentiary at a time when organized crime and drug violence had begun to change Ecuador's perception of safety, and the prison system was in a state of crisis.
[15] After a string of incidents in 2021, rapporteurs from the United Nations Committee against Torture and Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture issued a press release abhorring the violence taking place in the country's prisons, and calling on Ecuador to commit to upholding a commitment to maintain security inside the prison system.
[21] After his escape, criminal gangs in Ecuador launched widescale attacks, including arsons, bombings, and a hostage situation on a newsroom.
[22] The actions led Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa to declare a state of emergency, calling in military support to control the violence.
[3] In the months that followed, the country continued to experience a growing security crisis due to increasing influence of criminal gangs.
[29][30] On 3 September 2024, the director of Lago Agrio prison in Sucumbios province, Álex Xavier Guevara Angulo[1] was killed in an armed attack while he was riding in a vehicle.
[29] Guevara Angulo was previously threatened by organized crime groups, and as a result had submitted resignation as director.
[34][35] In an effort to protect herself, Icaza had stopped driving with her husband to work, and changed the route and colleagues she travelled with.
[8] Early reports suggested around 18:00 while waiting in heavy traffic, two individuals on a motorcycle came up to the car she was riding in and fired several shots.
[7] Upon learning of her assassination, Ecuador's former President Rafael Correa lamented the murder of a “wonderful and incorruptible” person.
[1][38] On 16 September, Interior Minister Mónica Palencia said 28 public servants who had experienced threats have received protection.
[35] Icaza's widower, also a prison officer, requested protection due to specific threats to his and his children's lives.