2666

Part 4 of 2666 chronicles the murders of 112 women in Santa Teresa from 1993 to 1997. Many of these women fit the same physical profile: They are slim, young, and have long black hair. Many of them are raped and strangled. Their names and short biographies are given, as well as details on the ineffective investigations. Evidence is lost, misplaced, or destroyed through either malicious intent, lack of care, bureaucratic overreach, or accident. Part 4 also weaves together many of the disparate story threads of those who become involved in the murders.

The first victim appears in January 1993, though “surely there were other girls and women who died in 1992” (353). The victim’s name is Esperanza Gómez Saldaña. She is followed five days later by Luisa Celina Vázquez. Midway through February, an unidentified woman is found stabbed to death. Isabel Urrea, the female reporter for the radio station El Heraldo del Norte, is shot in the head by a shadowy figure. A sex worker named Isabel Cansino is found by a knife sharpener; another unidentified woman—assumed to be a migrant—is found “in a dump” (358).

A case is given to Inspector Juan de Dios Martínez when he receives a phone call, telling him to come to a church where many statues have been smashed, and a sexton has been stabbed.