paulette gebara farah

As law enforcement in Mexico City now seeks a man for questioning in the homicide of 4 year-old Paulette Gebara Farah, both the circumstances of this case and public interest or outrage is much like 1996 and the JonBenet effect.

Paulette had been reported missing for 10 days when her little body was found stuffed in a garbage bag by her own bed, undiscovered by law enforcement - family - and those helping in the desperate search for the missing little girl that caused national attention. The cause of Paulette's death is now listed as asphyxiation and while the parents have not been named as suspects, they are being held for questioning..

Parents in police custody in Mexico missing-girl case
Published in the LA Times
by Daniel Hernandez

"Here's a story that has gripped news attention in Mexico in recent days: Paulette Gebara, a bright-faced little girl...Paulette's case immediately caught the attention of the Mexican press for the same deeply problematic reasons that certain missing-person cases in the United States attract more attention than others....Paulette was not poor or brown. She was blond and fair-skinned, and just 4 years old. She vanished from her home in a secured apartment building in an upscale community...For days, her teary-eyed mother told visiting reporters that when they awoke that Monday morning, Paulette had simply disappeared...

From the start, seen through the prism of famous missing-persons cases in the U.S., the story unraveled like the JonBenet Ramsey mystery. To the public's great horror, that's what it has come to resemble..."[read more]