Source: Proceso via MXporFCassez (Spanish)
Author: Anabel Hernandez
Originally published on May 31, 2014
Translation: RZ for CART / ACDV
New documented evidence calls into question the death of Hugo Alberto, Wallace’s son.
A telephone call from someone who was supposed to be dead. A mother who claims that her son was murdered. A body that was never found. The DNA profile of the victim is that of a female. And, self-incriminating testimonies presumably obtained under acts of torture…
These have been, overall, the factors surrounding the legal case that was open into the kidnapping and murder of Hugo Alberto Wallace Miranda, up until a few days ago, nine years after his disappearance, when the case took a new turn after evidence was found that called everything into question including his murder.
On the date in which Hugo Alberto was apparently kidnapped and murdered, namely July 11, 2005, he had a different birth certificate. Proceso obtained a certified copy consistent with that official document which bears the name Hugo Alberto Miranda Torres, born on October 12, 1969 in the Federal District. In 1975, the same person obtained another birth certificate bearing the name Hugo Alberto Wallace Miranda.
According to official records of the Legal Services Department of the Federal District and the Secretariat of the Interior (SEGOB), Hugo Alberto’s first birth certificate is authentic and was presented by the bearer in order to obtain his Unique Population Registry Code (CURP) on February 24, 2010, that is, almost five years after his alleged murder.
The birth certificate recently found was submitted by the defendant, Brenda Quevedo Cruz, before the Sixteenth District Judge of the Federal Criminal Proceedings for the First Circuit this past May 14, the deadline for submitting evidence in her defense related to criminal case #35/2006-II.
From the beginning, the Wallace case has been a mystery; unsolved without confessions by those persons who allegedly participated in his kidnapping and murder.
The telephone call
On July 12, 2005, Maria Isabel Miranda Torres after not having received any news from her son Hugo Alberto Wallace Miranda, realized within hours after having found his Jeep Cherokee in a street in Extremadura Insurgentes in Mexico City, that her son had been kidnapped, murdered and dismembered the night before with an electric saw in the small bathroom of an apartment situated on 6 Perugino Street, a few blocks from where the truck was found. She said she immediately knew the name of one of the persons responsible.
In her statement, in which she calls herself Maria Isabel Miranda de Wallace, she stated that her version came from a bystander, a boy who was never identified by name or called to testify and who lived in the Perugino building. The boy assured her and her brother Roberto Miranda, that on the evening of July 11, he had heard gunshots and saw a body covered in blood being dragged down the stairs.
Miranda de Wallace recounts that after having found out everything that had happened, she received a nude photograph of her son and was demanded a ransom. She provided the names of the alleged people responsible, had four of them arrested and since 2005 maintains that her son is dead.
However, in accordance with the testimonies that appear in criminal case #32/2006-II, the only boy in the building, Erik Figueroa, stated that he didn’t even sleep in the apartment on July 11 but at his grandmother’s house, and the only conversation he had on July 12 was with a couple of people who asked him about a woman he didn’t know.
At the request of Miranda de Wallace, on July 12, the Attorney General of the Federal District (PGJ) carried out the first inspection of the apartment but did not find any evidence or clues related to the facts.
On July 13, the then-called Assistant Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Investigating Organized Crime, also inspected the apartment and not a single trace of evidence was found. In the small bathroom where Hugo Alberto was allegedly dismembered with an electric saw, there were no traces of blood. The clothesline in the shower contained clothing belonging to Juana Hilda Gonzalez who lived in the apartment.
Once the inspection was completed, the apartment which was not protected or secured as a crime scene, was rented out by the property manager to a person by the name of Rodrigo de Alba Martinez who never occupied it.
The tenants of the building maintained in preliminary statements, which were considered more plausible, that in the evening of July 11, they did not hear any noise or see strange movements.
In addition, in the investigation file that was first opened by the Attorney General of Mexico (PGR), it was recorded that a credit card was used by Hugo Alberto Wallace Miranda on July 20, 2005 with charges over $12,000 pesos, including a restaurant bill adding up to more than $3,000 pesos at Los Arcos and store purchases made at Liverpool de Perisur. However, neither the PGR nor the mother of the alleged victim requested to see the videos to verify who used the credit card. This lead was also not investigated.
On July 22, 2005, Maria Isabel Miranda’s husband, Jose Enrique Wallace Diaz, stated to the authorities―as recorded in the file―that he did not hear from Hugo Alberto and that no one had demanded a ransom, “I would like to say that what probably happened to my son is that he has disappeared because I cannot say that kidnapping was involved.” The last statement he made to date, was on September 23 of that same year, when he asked the authorities not to investigate the case any further.
Since then, Wallace Diaz has not returned to testify despite numerous subpoenas and legal notices.
On November 1, 2005, in accordance with the criminal case file, a call from Hugo Alberto’s cellphone which was never disactivated, was made to telephone number 55-54-56-30-24. A man left the following message: “Hey, what’s up? Listen, am completely wasted, bro. I know I let you down, but I don’t give a fuck. What? Here asshole…What’s up, bro? Listen, am here drinking, bro. You know what, bro? You know who took me for a ride…?”
Four persons who knew Hugo Alberto, namely his ex-girlfriend Vanesa Barcenas Diaz, Carlos Colorado Martinez, Rodolfo Munguia and Isabel Neri Lujano assured the PGR that the man’s voice belonged to Hugo Alberto. However, the PGR never pursued this lead in the investigation.
Problems with the law
Hugo Alberto had a criminal record and although his mother tried to publicly distort this fact, the Mexican government had to acknowledge this in Brenda Quevedo Cruz’s extradition file (1:08-MC-00085) that was lodged in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) indicated in file DGRP/DAMJ/7988/2008 that a warrant against Hugo Alberto issued by the Thirteenth District Judge of the Federal Criminal Proceedings of the Federal District within criminal case #196/2001 was found in their database system. As stated in the document, “by virtue of the final judgement issued, it is declared that he is criminally responsible for smuggling and is sentenced to three months in prison.”
In June 2004, however, the warrant was cancelled because the judge substituted the prison sentence for a fine of $14,665 pesos.
On November 15, 2005, Vanesa Barcenas Diaz, Hugo Alberto’s ex-girlfriend, stated that he told her that he had problems with the law. Vanesa pointed out that, “He told me that at one point they were looking for him in order to charge him for alleged drug-trafficking, but he claimed that in fact, it was because of the goods they were sending him. He didn’t know where the goods came from and what the persons who had sent them to him had done. Hugo Alberto told me that it was like drug-trafficking and for that reason, he was fleeing to various parts of the country.”
Two birth certificates
With each of the birth certificates belonging to Hugo Alberto Wallace Miranda, one dated in 1970 and the other in 1975, he obtained his CURP that was issued by the SEGOB.
Birth certificate #1 was issued on January 15, 1970 in the borough of Milpa Alta, Eight Jurisdiction (Book 1, Certificate No. 27) under the name Hugo Alberto Miranda Torres, born on October 12, 1969 in the Tuxpan Hospital in the Federal District and its authenticity was corroborated in the records of the Government of the Federal District.
The father’s name was registered as Jacinto Miranda and the mother’s name as Isabel Torres, 31 and 21 years of age, respectively.
Paternal grandparents were identified as Luis Miranda and Consuelo Jaimez, and, maternal grandparents were identified as Alfredo Torres and Monica Romero.
Birth certificate #2 which was submitted by Hugo Alberto’s mother in the case of his alleged kidnapping and murder, was issued on November 19, 1975 in Texcoco, State of Mexico (Book 12, Certificate No. 2371). According to that document that beared the name Hugo Alberto Wallace Miranda, he was born on October 12, 1969 in Coatlinchan, Texcoco, State of Mexico.
The parents were identified as Jose Enrique Wallace Diaz and Maria Isabel Miranda Torres, 37 and 24 years of age, respectively.
Paternal grandparents were identified as Arturo Wallace Ramirez and Maria Luisa Diaz Solorzano, and the maternal grandparents were identified as Fausto Miranda Romero and Monica Torres de Miranda.
In examining the contents of birth certificates #1 and #2, it is evident that there are inconsistencies in the names and surnames of Hugo Alberto’s father, mother and grandparents.
To the same extent, with the use of birth certificate #1, Hugo Alberto applied for his CURP on February 24, 2010, almost five years after his alleged murder.
In the ID card obtained directly from SEGOB, two notes appear. The first note says, “There is a possible discrepancy with this CURP, please verify and if necessary, please undertake further investigation.” The second note says, “This CURP is certified which means that the information has been verified by the Civil Registrar.”
With the use of the name Hugo Alberto Wallace Miranda and his birth certificate, another CURP application was submitted on September 13, 1999.
If that were not enough, Hugo Alberto was born in three different places in accordance with the two birth certificates and a statement from his mother: Tuxpan Hospital in the Federal District (birth certificate #1), Coatlinchan, Texcoco (birth certificate #2) and Dalinde Hospital in the Roma district in Mexico City (interview with Isabel Miranda published in Animal Político on December 8, 2010).
In addition, in statements made to the media, Isabel Miranda has said that her mother’s name is Monica Torres Jaimez, but in fact, the last name of Jaimez corresponds to Hugo Alberto’s paternal grandfather in birth certificate #1.
The DNA “evidence”
The birth certificate found not only calls into question the death of Hugo Alberto, but also calls into question the DNA profile which the PGR claims shows proof that the kidnapping and murder took place and has served to sentence Cesar Freyre, Juana Hilda Gonzalez, Alberto and Antonio Castillo Cruz (brothers), along with Jacobo Tagle and Quevedo Cruz who were charged for committing both crimes, to 78 to 131 years in prison.
To date, despite the alleged confessions of Freyre, Gonzalez and Tagle―who maintain that the confessions were obtained under means of torture―Hugo’s remains have not been found.
The only legal evidence obtained in the nine years of the alleged murder appeared six months after the murder took place in the apartment on 6 Perugino St., which for months was never surveilled as a crime scene.
In a new inspection carried out by SIEDO, a drop of blood was found in the bathroom and an expired driver’s licence belonging to Hugo Alberto, even though he had another valid licence that to date, has not appeared.
The drop of blood was compared to the DNA samples of Isabel Miranda and Enrique Wallace, who appeared as the father of Hugo Alberto in birth certificate #2. The sample was a match, but despite the fact that PGR experts first said that the sample contained XX chromosomes, that is of a female, in a hearing held in July 2006 by the Sixteenth District Judge of the Federal Criminal Proceedings in the Federal District, then experts explained that there was a typographical error and that the chromosomes were XY, that is of a male.
Given that the Wallace-Miranda couple have a daughter, the accused persons, in their defense, requested new testing, but the sample of the only drop of blood that was found did not exist then. With that DNA evidence, the PGR were certain that the kidnapping and murder of Hugo Alberto Wallace Miranda took place. However, if the biological father whose surname was not Wallace but Miranda, as indicated in birth certificate #1, the story would have been very different.
Once the birth certificate found has been submitted, the Sixteenth District Judge of the Federal Criminal Proceedings has to piece together the evidence in accordance with the law, seek the truth and ensure transparency of such an unsettling case.
Sources consulted by Proceso indicatedthat after Quevedo submitted the birth certificate as evidence, they tried to obtain direct access to the Book of the Civil Registrar of Mexico City where it was located, but they were told that the Book was sent to the court judge. The said birth certificate is considered fundamental to the case and documents at the offices of both the Civil Registrar and SEGOB support her case, and therefore, cannot be lost as they have been advised.
