Dafne Zapata Quintos’s death certificate classifies her death as a homicide; the cause: “asphyxia due to submersion.” The 13-year-old girl died on Thursday, July 17, during a summer camp at the Marina Doenitz Militarized Academy in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas. Since then, her mother, Alejandra Quintos, has been piecing together—call by call and testimony by testimony—what occurred during the four days the institution had her daughter in its care. The Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office is investigating the case under femicide protocols. No arrests have been made.
Dafne was originally from El Mante and had started the camp on Monday, July 13. During her four-day stay, the academy’s rules prohibited direct telephone contact between students and their families. Academy staff were the only ones providing updates on the minors’ condition. The coordinator for the girls’ section, identified as Estrella Mora, was the person who maintained communication with Alejandra Quintos during those days.
According to the mother’s testimony, on Tuesday the 14th, Mora called Quintos to report that Dafne had vomited and fainted face-first during a physical activity—falling without breaking her fall with her hands—and had split her lip. She sent a video of the girl lying down with an injured mouth. She told the mother it was “a minor scrape” and that Dafne had already been medicated, was receiving IV fluids, and was resting in an air-conditioned room.
The mother asked that she be taken to a doctor. Mora replied that she had already been examined and that the specialist found her to be fine. When Quintos requested the prescription to claim reimbursement for the expenses, Mora never sent it.
