Diana Montane - Dancing on Her Grave: The Murder of a Las Vegas Showgirl

by Teresa Rodrguez, Emmy Awardwinning host of Univisions Aqu y Ahora

As an Emmy Awardwinning journalist for more than thirty years with Univision, the Spanish-language television network, and its respected news magazine show, Aqu y Ahora, Ive seen my share of horrific crimes and covered more than Id like to remember. One assignment in particular became a ten-year labor of love and a bestselling book I cowrote with Diana Montan, The Daughters of Jurez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border, in which I investigated and exposed how poor young women and girls in the Mexican border town of Jurez were being abducted and murdered, their bodies left to rot in the barren desert that surrounds the city. Despite the hundreds of cases that were never resolved or bodies that were never found, I remember the most difficult aspect of reporting these stories was talking to the families. I spoke to the mothers who kept their daughters bedrooms as theyd left them when they disappeared, and who, years later, were still waiting for their daughters to return. Those assignments allowed me to report dozens of human rights violations including political and police corruption. Covering so many crimes in Mexico made me realize how little a life could be worth if one happened to be poor and a female. At this point, I thought there were few crimes that could leave me dumbfounded and shocked. That was until I saw Debora Flores-Narvaezs story. It was 2010 and the Christmas holidays were around the corner when this beautiful, educated young woman disappeared in Las Vegas. She was at the pinnacle of her career and moments away from starring in her dream role in a very popular show. Perhaps it was the time of year that her story made headlines, or perhaps it was the gruesome facts that emerged shortly thereafter, that haunted me.

Carolina Sarassa, the reporter who filed the story for our show, was no stranger to me. She was a talented, hardworking, inquisitive young woman whod trained with us before she joined our Las Vegas affiliate. I remember the times she would come into my office and ask me about the stories we were working on and, in particular, about the art of interviewing and the importance of credibility and impartiality.

She was a woman on a mission, and I had no doubt she was blossoming into an accomplished reporter. To see her investigation on the air made me proud, especially when I found out how persistent she had been in staying in touch with those connected to Deboras case.

Ive always been one to believe that there are no coincidences in life, and when Diana Montan, the coauthor of my book, who also happened to be the cowriter of this book with Carolina, approached me to write the foreword, I knew that for some reason, I had to be a part, albeit small, of this story. Fate had once again knocked on my door to write about a Latina whose life ended all too soon and in the cruelest and most barbaric manner possible. This time, however, unlike the dozens of cases documented in my book, justice had been done; there was an accused murderer who would pay for his crime.

Carolinas dedication not only in pursuing this story until the perpetrator was brought to justice but also in making sure that it didnt just become another number in a growing log of cold cases was key. By securing interviews with Deboras family and close friends, she kept the case very much alive. It was her ability to develop a trust with those closest to Debora in life that would unveil the facts behind those closest to her in death.

Like any young woman pursuing her dream away from home, Deboras story of love and death could unfortunately happen to anyones child. This was not a young lady whose parents were absent in her life; she wasnt a dropout, an alcoholic, a junkie, or a fanatic. She was a well-educated woman with a caring and nurturing family, and she had left the nest in order to succeed but inadvertently fell prey to a chain of events that no one ever suspected could end so tragically and morbidly.