It's the sort of grisly intersection of unspeakable violence and high-tech trickery that wouldn't have been conceivable 20 years ago.
The Twitter account of a woman identified by government authorities in the northern Mexico state of Tamaulipas as Dr. María del Rosario Fuentes Rubio (@Miut3) issued a series of messages that claimed that Fuentes Rubio had been killed by a group of narcotraffickers operating in the area of Reynosa, which is on the other side of the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas.
The tweets were accompanied with horrifying images of the woman, apparently before and after execution.
Fuentes Rubio is identified as a "citizen-journalist" by people online, one who tracked violence committed by narcotraffickers and publicized shootouts online and via her Twitter feed in the hope of saving lives.
The Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office says it's investigating whether Fuentes Rubio has been killed after being reported kidnapped by a gunman Thursday.
The first tweet about her death opened, "Friends and family," and after naming the victim claimed, "Today my life has reached its end."
The second one read, "Close your accounts. Don't risk your families the way I have."
The hacked Twitter account was later suspended by the company.
Late Thursday night, the Facebook community Valor por Tamaulipas (“Courage for Tamaulipas”), featured an in-memory-of post about Fuentes Rubio saying that she was kidnapped on Oct. 15 and calling her “a doctor who was dedicated to informing the community about risks—with a heart as large as her courage.”
Social media users in Mexico who have commented on cartel violence have been killed in the past.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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