Summary

Interspersed throughout this entire section are paragraphs naming victims of the ongoing femicides in Santa Teresa, giving basic biological characteristics (age, height, hair color, etc.), and describing the state in which their bodies were found. Over one hundred women are written about - their profiles take up the textual bulk of the section.

The killings start in 1993, in Santa Teresa, Sonora, Mexico, though it is likely that women were dying in 1992 or 1991 as well. Inspector Juan de Díos Martínez is assigned to the case of the murders. At this point, nearly nothing is known about the murders, particularly whether there are multiple killers or just one. He meets, and begins working out with, the director of the Santa Teresa asylum, named Elvira Campos.

Elvira Campos, in her fifties, is significantly older than Juan de Díos Martínez...