The Murder of Miroslava Breach

A reporter in Chihuahua

Miroslava Breach Velducea was the Chihuahua correspondent for La Jornada and reported on politics, organized crime, human-rights abuses and violence in the state. Federal prosecutors later argued that her journalism was the reason she was targeted, particularly reporting that exposed alleged links between a criminal group and local political candidacies.

On March 23, 2017, Breach was killed outside her home in Chihuahua City. This archive does not repeat graphic details of the attack. The criminal investigation that followed identified a group of alleged participants and produced two convictions, but not complete accountability for every person authorities say was involved.

Juan Carlos Moreno Ochoa

Federal prosecutors tried Juan Carlos Moreno Ochoa for his participation in the murder. On August 22, 2020, the Fiscalía General de la República announced a 50-year prison sentence, stating that the federal trial court had found him criminally responsible for the homicide and had accepted evidence that the crime was committed because of Breach's exercise of journalism.

Moreno appealed. On September 9, 2021, reporting on the appellate judgment said the term was increased to 51 years and three months, while the amount of compensation for indirect victims was also increased. The original 50-year sentence and the later appellate increase are therefore not competing facts; they describe different stages of the same case.

Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz

Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz, a former mayor of Chínipas, was arrested in the broader investigation. In June 2021, a federal judge sentenced him to eight years in prison after an abbreviated proceeding in which, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, he admitted criminal responsibility for his role in the murder in exchange for a reduced sentence.

The record attributes to Schultz the provision of information that investigators said helped the criminal group target Breach. That role is distinct from the physical execution of the killing, and the page does not describe him as the person who personally carried it out.

Who remains accused, not convicted

Federal investigators have accused José Crispín Salazar Zamorano of ordering the murder. They have also pursued Wilbert Jasiel Vega Villa as another alleged participant. Neither accusation is presented here as a conviction.

A La Jornada review published on March 23, 2026, nine years after the murder, reported that both men remained fugitives and that arrest warrants against them were still outstanding. The same report said the federal investigation remained open. That current status is why this archive does not classify the case as fully solved.

Why the case is partially solved

There is substantial criminal accountability: two people have been convicted in proceedings connected to Breach's murder. But authorities themselves continued in 2026 to seek the alleged organizer and another alleged participant. A person identified by prosecutors as a mastermind is not legally equivalent to a person convicted after trial or a valid guilty plea.

The archive therefore records the case as partially solved / accountability incomplete.

Timeline

Current status

Juan Carlos Moreno Ochoa and Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz have been convicted for roles in the murder. Mexican authorities continue to accuse José Crispín Salazar Zamorano of ordering the crime and Wilbert Jasiel Vega Villa of participation, but both remained fugitives according to the latest reliable 2026 reporting reviewed for this file. The case remains partially solved.

Related Mexico case files