Nearly fifteen years ago, the disappearance and death of 4-year-old Paulette Gebara Farah captured international attention. What began as a desperate nine-day search for a missing child turned into one of Mexico’s most controversial and haunting criminal cases.
Who Was Paulette Gebara Farah?
Paulette was a four-year-old girl from Huixquilucan de Degollado, Mexico. She had developmental disabilities that made it difficult for her to walk and speak, according to the Los Angeles Times.
She lived with her parents (businessman Mauricio Gebara and lawyer Lisette Farah) her older sister Lisette, and two nannies, Erika and Martha Casimiro.
On March 22, 2010, Paulette’s parents reported her missing after she vanished from her bedroom overnight. They told authorities that she had been put to bed after returning from a short family vacation.
Her disappearance triggered a massive search effort across Mexico. Media outlets covered the story relentlessly, and the public followed closely on television and social media, offering theories and demanding answers.
The Shocking Discovery
Nine days after she was reported missing, investigators made a grim discovery. Paulette’s body was found in her own bedroom, wedged between her mattress and the bed frame, wrapped in sheets.
According to CBS News, a coroner ruled that the little girl had died from suffocation and that her body had not been moved after her death. Officials concluded that she had accidentally slipped into the gap and suffocated in her sleep.
However, many found this explanation hard to believe. The idea that police, family members, and investigators had missed her body in the same room for over a week fueled growing public suspicion.
Public Outrage and Conflicting Theories
The case quickly became a national scandal. Outraged citizens accused authorities of mishandling the investigation.
Mexico’s attorney general at the time, Alberto Bazbaz, initially declared that Paulette had been murdered, only to later reverse his statement and support the coroner’s finding that her death was accidental. He admitted that investigators had failed to search the child’s bed thoroughly.
The public, however, remained skeptical. Many suspected Paulette’s parents, especially her mother, Lisette Farah. Some theorized that she viewed caring for her daughter’s disabilities as a burden, an accusation Farah strongly denied, insisting she loved her daughter deeply, as per the Boston Globe.
Both parents were briefly placed under house arrest but were never charged.
Aftermath and Family Fallout
The investigation fractured the Gebara family. Paulette’s parents grew estranged and later fought a bitter custody battle over their surviving daughter, Lisette. Farah was ultimately granted custody.
Mauricio Gebara continued to insist that his daughter’s death was not accidental. “The only thing I can say is that for me, it wasn’t an accident,” he told Televisa in April 2010.
Renewed Interest in the Case
A decade later, the mystery surrounding Paulette’s death resurfaced when Netflix revisited the story in its *Crime Diaries* series in 2020. The show reignited public debate about what really happened to the young girl whose death still haunts Mexico to this day.