The death of Leyla Monserrat, a 15-year-old girl, at the hands of two minors in Sonora, sparked outrage on social media and among feminist groups due to the brevity of the sentences handed down to her attackers months after her femicide.
The court ruling, issued in April 2026, became a national trending topic and reignited the debate about the application of justice for adolescents involved in serious crimes.
Leyla Monserrat, originally from the El Desierto ejido in General Plutarco Elías Calles, Sonora, had been a victim of bullying by her classmates.
According to information released by state authorities, months before the crime, the attackers used a photograph of the young woman to humiliate her on social media and had ended their friendship after a fight.
The court ruling, issued in April 2026, became a national trending topic and reignited the debate about the application of justice for adolescents involved in serious crimes. The victim’s mother, Carmen Becerra, stated that she was unaware of the reasons for the breakup and never imagined her daughter was in danger after leaving a party and meeting up with the minors.
The Sonora State Attorney General’s Office (FGJE) determined that on September 25, 2025, Leyla Monserrat was lured by acquaintances to a house where she was murdered.
The two teenagers, ages 13 and 15, immobilized and asphyxiated the victim, recorded the crime, and hid her body in the backyard of a house. The autopsy confirmed that the cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation.
