Mexican authorities have confirmed that TikTok creator Esmeralda Ferrer Garibay, 32, her husband, and their two young children were found dead inside a pickup truck in Guadalajara.
Police identified the victims as Ferrer Garibay, her husband Roberto Carlos Gil Licea, 36, their 13-year-old son Gael Santiago, and their 7-year-old daughter Regina.
The bodies were discovered last Friday inside an abandoned grey Ford Ranger, but investigators only released their identities publicly on Thursday.
Officials have now launched a homicide investigation and are searching for those responsible for the killings.
Ferrer Garibay, known to her 18,000 TikTok followers as Emseralda FG, had built a growing audience with lifestyle videos, travel clips, and lip-syncs to narcocorrido ballads — songs often linked to Mexico’s violent drug culture.
The young family had only recently relocated to Guadalajara from Michoacán, where they hoped to build a more stable life.
However, Guadalajara and its wider metropolitan area remain deeply affected by cartel activity, particularly from the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Her husband, Roberto, had been trading vehicles and farming tomatoes before moving the family.
Authorities believe his business links, rather than his wife’s online presence, may have been connected to the attack.
Investigators used CCTV footage to retrace the truck’s final movements, which eventually led them to a nearby mechanic’s workshop.
According to prosecutor Alfonso Gutiérrez Santillán, evidence gathered at the site strongly indicates the family was killed there before their bodies were placed in the vehicle.
“Forensic tests are still pending, but the ballistic and blood traces leave little doubt the crime occurred inside that location,” he said.
Two employees from the workshop were initially detained for questioning but were released after investigators found insufficient evidence to hold them.
In a dramatic twist, the two men were abducted shortly after leaving the prosecutor’s office.
Witnesses reported that the pair joined two other individuals nearby before a group of armed men intercepted them.
Gunmen abducted three of the men at the scene, while the fourth narrowly managed to escape.
The missing men have not been located, raising concerns that the case could spiral further into gang-related violence.
Prosecutors now consider the abduction directly linked to the family’s killing.
Blanca Trujillo, the state’s chief prosecutor, revealed that surveillance shows the armed group had been waiting for hours before striking.
“This was not a spontaneous act,” she explained. “The attackers remained outside for more than two hours before ambushing the victims just metres from the building.”
The sole survivor of the ambush is now being sought by authorities to provide a key witness statement.
Officials have not yet publicly identified any suspects, but investigators maintain that organised crime is the most likely motive.
The case has shocked residents across Jalisco and Michoacán, where cartel violence continues to claim hundreds of lives each year.
M10News Crime Desk | Contact: crime@m10news.com
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