Pedro Padilla Flores (born in the 1970s), also known as The Rio Bravo Assassin among many other aliases, is a Mexican serial killer who was convicted of killing three women in Ciudad Juárez but is suspected of murdering up to 27 more, some of whom were underage.
[4] Padilla's modus operandi was to follow his victims to deserted places where he subdued and raped them, choking them with his bare hands,[5] supposedly this was done to make the vagina contract during the violation.
On September 20, 1998, the body of Dutch citizen Hester Suzanne van Nierop was found under the bed of a hotel room in the red zone of Ciudad Juárez; she had been raped and strangled, had multiple mutilations that correspond to defeminization pattern and also had incisions on her neck.
The probable culprit was a moderately-known person in central Juárez, a subject that attracted attention with his special characteristics: deformed handset, athletic build and striking tattoos that showed a naked woman.
In December 2013, investigating agents of the Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Attorney General of Chihuahua obtained specific data on Padilla's location: he was in Adams County, Mississippi in a Federal Bureau of Prisoners, where he had been detained for drug trafficking.
In cooperation with the FBI and ICE, the detention of Padilla in one of the latter's prisons was confirmed, and international efforts began to have him returned to Ciudad Juárez and tried for van Nierop's murder.
The General Prosecutor presented a solid and reliable investigation, supported by technical tests, scientific studies, forensic analysis, documentaries, as well as expert opinion.
No progress had been made in solving the crime, the alleged perpetrator was still at large, and there was strong pressure due to the intervention of the United States Organization and the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.
On the day of the sentencing, Attorney General of Chihuahua, Jorge Enrique González Nicolás, contacted the Dutch ambassador in Mexico, who, during the entire process, was on the watch and in touch with the agency.
With the condemnatory sentence of 35 years in prison and reparation of damage, Mexico has fully complied with the petition before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights to do justice for van Nierop.