Paulette Gebara Farah was a four year old girl who lived in the municipality of Huixquilucan de Degollado, Mexico with her mother Lizette, father Mauricio, and her seven year old sister. Paulette was disabled as she was born very light, so the doctors didn’t know if she would make it. Thankfully she did, but this caused her to suffer with developmental problems, and couldn’t walk by herself without assistance and couldn’t talk in sentences. She did attend a normal school, but she needed extra help in her classes and assistance walking. Her family was very wealthy, lived in a HUGE apartment, and even had multiple maids to help around the home.
Mauricio took both of his daughters on a little weekend vacation to Valle de Bravo, while their mother was also away for the weekend somewhere else to visit a friend, but it was later revealed that she was actually meeting up with a man who she was having an affair with. Mauricio returned with the girls on the night of March 21st, 2010, while Lizette was already home and waiting to put them to bed. The next morning one of the nannies, Erika, went into Paulette’s room to wake her up and make the bed like she did every morning, but she wasn’t there. Erika went downstairs to notify the parents that Paulette was missing.
THE INVESTIGATIOn
Erika and another maid named Martha searched for Paulette everywhere in her room. The closets, under her bed, multiple times. They went and searched her parents room and there were no signs of her there either. When they told Lizette and Mauricio that they couldn’t find Paulette, they both seemed really unphased about it. They were very calm, strangely unbothered by the situation, as if it were just another normal day. The parents didn’t even help the maids search for her, so the maids went and looked around the rest of the apartment and the apartment building with no luck. Mauricio’s brother informed his sister of her disappearance and she notified the authorities. Later, the Mayor Alfredo del Mazo Maza, notified the Attorney General of The State of Mexico, Alberto Bazbaz.
Forensic teams came in and searched the entire apartment at least five times on the first day they were there, and no signs of Paulette or any evidence of an intruder were found. There were no signs of a forced entry, no signs of a struggle, nothing. The parents claimed that there was nothing off or suspicious about the night she went missing, the dogs weren’t barking, everything just seemed pretty normal. There were many interviews conducted during the time of her disappearance, especially with her mother Lizette. There’s one interview specifically which was recorded while she was in Paulette’s room and sitting on the edge of her bed, which will be important later on.
Due to these interviews, Paulette’s picture was EVERYWHERE. She was on billboards, newspapers, magazines, and on TV. It’s believed that this case was so popular due to them being a pretty wealthy family. The public started to become skeptical of the situation due to no ransom notes being left, or no calls from anyone trying to demand money, and people figured if a child from a well off family gets taken, why wouldn’t they try to make money off of it? Of course being taken for ransom isn’t the only reason children go missing.
SUSPICIONS GROW STRONGER
On March 31st, 2010, Paulette’s body was found wedged in the corner at the foot of her bed, wrapped in her own sheets. This is the same exact spot on the bed where her mother was sitting for her interview. This was nine days after she had gone missing, and this really raised the public’s suspicions on what really happened to the child. Not only was her own mother sitting on the bed where her child’s body was, but there were so many people going in and out of that room to search for her, and no one found her.
The parents, the maids, the forensic teams, who claimed they searched her room, including her bed at least five times. The maids have entered the room to make the bed since then as well, and no one found her. People have slept on her bed within those nine days as well. Everyone knows a de*ad body produces a very unique and disgusting smell, so how could no one have smelled the body after so long of it being there? However, forensic investigators claimed that the body couldn’t have been there any longer than three days, so it had to have been a homicide. There was just no way the body could’ve been there any longer without producing a smell or being found.
However, the coroner ruled Paulette’s de*ath to be an accident, and she died from asphyxiation from slipping between her bedpost and the mattress, and her covers compressed her lungs which caused her to suffocate. The authorities even had the nannies reenact themselves making the bed on video, and from the way they were doing it, it’s definitely possible that the nannies wouldn’t have been able to notice her body. Even with this information, it’s still widely believed that this wasn’t an accident, and she had to have been k*illed by someone in the home. Even if this truly was a homicide, there was no way for anyone to be able to prove it considering how all of the evidence in her room and in the home was so contaminated. Many, many people have come in and out of that home due to the property not being marked off as a crime scene. Footprints and fingerprints everywhere, DNA everywhere, it would’ve been extremely hard to try and pinpoint who the suspect(s) were. A close family friend, Amanda de la Rosa also lived with the family for several days after she disappeared, and slept in her bed every night.
THEORIEs
The main theory is that Paulette’s mother, Lizette, ki*lled her due to frustration and being unable to handle all of her disabilities. People described Lizette as a rather cold person who lacked empathy and emotional attachment, and is someone who would have definitely seen Paulette as a burden. Lizette seemed emotionless and carefree regarding Paulette’s disappearance and mur*der, and was even quoted saying, “even if I lose Paulette, I still have another daughter.” Whenever she was accused of being involved in her mur*der, she just became angry and defensive and kind of anxious as well.
The next theory regards Mauricio, her father, as being her ki*ller. It’s speculated that Paulette was already de*ad before they returned from their trip. However, I personally don’t feel like that’s the case. It doesn’t really make any sense. If they had flown there and back, she couldn’t have been d*ead. If they drove, where did he hide the body considering his other seven year old daughter was also with them? Wouldn’t she have asked where her sister was? It’s also believed that the Attorney General, Alberto Bazbaz covered up the mur*der for Mauricio since they were very close friends and the family had a lot of money and he could’ve paid him off or something like that. Alberto was also heavily accusing Lizette of the mur*der as well.
The next theory regards both parents being the ki*llers. It’s theorized that the family were having some financial struggles and they were scared of not being able to afford their home or the luxurious lifestyle they lived, so they staged a kidnapping in order to get money from the government, the people of Mexico, and Paulette’s grandparents. They believe it’s possible that they stored Paulette in an air vent or something like that, told her they’d be back to get her soon, and were just so busy with the investigators, and the news press, and the interviews, that they couldn’t get back to her in time and she suffocated in the air vent, or wherever they had put her.
Another theory is that the whole investigation was rigged from the start, due to the relationship the family had with the District Attorney. It’s strange that the room and the home were searched at least five times and no one saw the body. The investigators were only ordered to look for signs of forced entry, and when they started looking for other sorts of evidence, they were ordered to stop looking.
Another theory involved the maids being the ones who killed her, due to always having to look after her, and being the ones to discover that she was missing in the first place. People also thought it was strange that they had made her bed after she disappeared and still didn’t notice the body there, but as I said early, it was definitely possible for them to not notice the body with the way they were making the bed.
Another theory was that Paulette’s sister accidentally kil*led her. They claim that she was probably jealous of all the extra attention Paulette received due to her disabilities, and that maybe her parents could’ve been fighting the night they got home, and it’s theorized that Paulette went into her sisters room scared and upset due to all the yelling, and her sister tried to shut her up, and accidentally ki*lled her. Again, I don’t think this is right either, considering Paulette couldn’t really walk on her own and needed assistance, so how did she get into her sister’s room?
I personally believe the theory of her mother being the k*iller is possible, or her father and everything being a coverup. I don’t believe the maids were involved, or her sister, and I’m kind of skeptical about Paulette being ki*lled before she returned home. I suppose it’s possible, it just seems very odd. Or of course, it really was an accident.
