Outrage as Mexico City mayor accuses Morelos state attorney general of covering up murder

The mayor of Mexico City has accused the attorney general of the central state of Morelos of colluding with a murder suspect to cover up the killing of a woman who was dumped on a road last week.

The shocking allegations were made Monday after Rautel Astudillo turned himself in to authorities in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León.

The businessman is being linked to the murder of Ariadna Lopéz, 27, a mother of a five-year-old child whose lifeless body was discovered October 31 by two bicyclists in the Morelos city of Tepoztlán, 57 miles south of Mexico City, the Mexican capital.

'The Attorney General of Justice of the State of Morelos is covering up and trying to cover up a femenicide, alleged nexus between the (killer) and the Attorney General of Justice of Morelos [Uriel Carmona],' Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said during a press conference.

Ariadna López, a 27-year-old mother to a five-year-old child, was found dead on the side of a road in Tepoztlán, a city in the central Mexican state of Morelos that is located 57 miles south of the Mexico City, the nation's capital. López was out with a group of friends in the Mexico City neighborhood of Roma on October 30 and was found dead the next day in Tepoztlán

Rautel Astudillo turned himself in to authorities in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. Mexico City authorities obtained an arrest warrant after linking him to the murder of Ariadna López. Astudillo attended López funeral service Friday and told reporters she had left his home on her own in a taxi, but Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum revealed on Monday a security camera image that shows him carrying her body

Vanessa Flores, the girlfriend of Rautel Astudillo, was arrested Sunday in connection to the murder investigation but has not been formally charged

Astudillo's girlfriend, Vanessa Flores, 20, was arrested Sunday in connection to the murder investigation but has not been formally charged.

A spokesperson for the Mexico City attorney general told DailyMail.com that Astudillo was being extradited from Nuevo León and that he was due to arrive on a flight Monday night. 

'I just found out that I have an arrest warrant against me, issued by a judge in Mexico City,' Astudillo told Mexican news station Telediario moments before he walked into the police precinct with his lawyers. 'I am innocent of what I am accused of, I did not kill her, that is why I have come to face justice.'

Vanessa Flores (center), the 20-year-old girlfriend of Rautel Astudillo, was taken into custody Sunday in connection to the murder of Ariadna López 

Still image from a parking lot surveillance camera shows Astudillo carrying López's body after she was allegedly killed in his apartment. Investigators discovered blood stains on the living room floor, a seat cushion and in a bedroom

Sheinbaum said López was at a bar in the Mexico City neighborhood of Roma with a group of friends, including Astudillo and Flores, on October 30 around 6pm local time. They later headed to Astudillo's home in the same neighborhood an hour later.

Astudillo attended López's funeral service Friday and told reporters that she had left his residence by her own in a taxi.

However, Sheinbaum revealed a screenshot image from the building surveillance camera that showed Astudillo carrying López's body across an indoor parking lot at 11:28 am on October 31.

Her body was identified by family members after Mexico City law enforcement released photos of her body's tattoos. 

Ariadna López, a mother to a five-year-old child, was killed in Mexico City last week. Her body was dumped on the side of a road 57 miles away in Tepoztlán, Morelos

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum (pictured) accused Morelos state attorney general Uriel Carmona of covering up Ariadna López's murder 

According to Morelos state attorney general Uriel Carmona, Ariadna López's death was caused by is a 'serious alcoholic intoxication and a consequent bronchial aspiration'

Carmona told reporters Friday that an autopsy had shown that López death was caused by a 'serious alcoholic intoxication and a consequent bronchial aspiration.'

The attorney general added that there were 'no traces of violence in it' and that 'technically, forensically up to this point the autopsy is not consistent with a femicide.'

López's family, Sheinbaum explained, reached out to the Mexico City attorney general's office and requested a second autopsy.

The results were released by Sunday attorney general Ernestina Godoy, who said during a press conference that the 'necropsy established that the body of the young woman presented various injuries due to blows, so it was determined that the reason for death was a multiple trauma, which is classified as fatal.'

Godoy said that investigators discovered blood stains on the living room floor, a seat cushion, and in a bedroom.

Sheinbaum stressed during Monday's presser that investigators were committed to uncovering Carmona's plot to cover up the suspects' role in the murder.

'We do not want there to be impunity for any crime, but in particular for femicides,' she said. 'I present this case because we do not want there to be impunity in any case but in the case of feminicides where they even tried to blame the victim. As we are going to show in this case, it is evident that the Attorney General of the State of Morelos wanted to hide Ariadna's femicide, presumably because of his nexus with the probable (murderer).'

Carmona defended his state's forensic team's autopsy in an interview with Radio Formula and said that they were not hiding any results.

'We did find injuries but for our medical examiner they were not the cause of death,' he said. 'She did have abrasions typical of resuscitation maneuvers and injuries typical of her body from when it was deposited or practically thrown.'