Seven women have been murdered across the Mexican state of Jalisco since January, and a state legislator says the pattern points to something officials refuse to say out loud: a serial killer may be operating in Puerto Vallarta, one of Mexico's most popular resort destinations.
Yussara Canales, who represents Puerto Vallarta's 5th district in the Jalisco state legislature, told the New York Post that a specific forensic detail links at least two, and possibly three, of the killings: the victims' blouses had been pulled up into a raised position on their bodies.
Canales described the detail as the thread that first raised suspicion of a single predator. Five women have been killed in Puerto Vallarta alone in the first five months of 2026, compared to three homicides of women in the entire previous year. The spike is sharp, the pattern is specific, and the Jalisco State Attorney General's office appears eager to dismiss any connection.
The deaths stretch from January to late May, scattered across Puerto Vallarta and surrounding areas of Jalisco state.
On January 20, a 73-year-old woman was stabbed to death inside her home by her 47-year-old son, who then killed himself. On March 31, the body of 29-year-old Kitzia Montes turned up on the side of a highway in the Autlán de Navarro municipality. On April 23, a 50-year-old woman was gunned down in broad daylight while riding her motorcycle.
Then the pace quickened.
On May 10, an unidentified woman believed to be around 30 years old was found dead on Victor Itiburde Avenue near El Pirulí ranch. Her body lay face-up with cuts on both wrists. She wore a blue blouse. Five days later, on May 15, another unidentified woman, estimated between 35 and 40, was discovered near the upscale Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta resort with signs of a blow to the head. She had been dead for several hours. She wore a black blouse.
Both women remain unidentified. Both were found in a resort corridor that draws tourists from around the world. And in both cases, Canales says, the blouse detail was present.
The string of killings in and around Puerto Vallarta mirrors a broader pattern of violence against women in the region that has drawn growing international attention.
Elizabeth Galindo, 25, was reported missing from the State of Mexico on April 29. On May 21, her body was found in Puerto Vallarta with multiple signs of violence and bruising on her face.
How a young woman vanished from one Mexican state and turned up dead in another, hundreds of miles away, remains unexplained. The Jalisco State Attorney General's office concluded on Wednesday that there was no link between Galindo's death and the killings of the two unidentified women found earlier that month.
That conclusion drew sharp skepticism from Canales, who questioned both its timing and its motive.
"Let me tell you why I think they did it: because, sadly, this news is making international headlines. It is leaving our port city in a very bad light. Perhaps this is the attorney general's office's way of trying to counteract all the negative notoriety our municipality is currently receiving."
The timing matters for a specific reason. Guadalajara, just 52 minutes by air from Puerto Vallarta, is scheduled to host four World Cup games in June. Jalisco state is about to be flooded with international visitors, media, and scrutiny. A serial killer narrative is the last thing state officials want circulating.
Canales laid out her case during a break from a legislative session on Thursday. She pointed to the forensic detail she says links the cases, the raised blouses, as the element that first triggered suspicion of a serial predator.
"This appears to be a common denominator among the femicides that have occurred recently. It was this specific detail that initially led to the suspicion of a serial killer."
She added that the pattern held across multiple scenes. "In every instance, the victims' blouses had been pulled up. In two, possibly three, of the cases, their blouses were found in this raised position," Canales said.
The legislator stopped short of claiming certainty. But she made clear the implications for women in the area are already real.
"I do believe this is something that puts us very much on alert, something that compels us women to be far more cautious and, sadly, to live in fear."
Violent crime in Mexico has repeatedly made headlines in recent months. A shooting at the Teotihuacán pyramids that injured six Americans underscored the danger facing even tourists visiting the country's most iconic sites.
One case in the timeline raises its own questions. Dr. Dalia Cortés, 43, was found stabbed to death inside her home in Zapotiltic on Tuesday. A former boyfriend was arrested on Friday in connection with her killing.
But the reporting also references Cortés's 13-year-old son in connection with the death. Whether both individuals are suspects, or whether conflicting accounts exist within the investigation, is unclear. No names have been released for either the former boyfriend or the son.
The Cortés case and the January murder-suicide, in which a 47-year-old man stabbed his 73-year-old mother before killing himself, are the only two of the seven deaths where suspects have been identified. The remaining five cases have no named suspects and, in two instances, no identified victims.
Mexican law enforcement has faced scrutiny over its capacity to investigate and solve serious violent crimes. The recent capture of a double murder suspect in Sinaloa showed what authorities can accomplish when resources and political will align, but such outcomes remain the exception, not the rule.
Puerto Vallarta, made famous by the 1970s and '80s television show "The Love Boat," draws millions of visitors each year. The Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta, a 4.5-star resort, sits near where one of the unidentified women was found dead. The contrast between the city's polished tourism image and the reality of bodies turning up near luxury hotels is difficult to reconcile.
Canales's allegation, that state prosecutors are rushing to dismiss connections between the killings in order to protect that image ahead of the World Cup, is a serious charge. It is also, at this point, her claim alone. The Jalisco State Attorney General's office has offered its conclusion that certain deaths are unrelated, but has not publicly detailed the evidence behind that finding.
What is not in dispute is the body count. Five women dead in Puerto Vallarta in five months, against a baseline of three for all of last year. Two victims still unidentified. No suspect named in five of the seven cases statewide.
The Jalisco region has long been a flashpoint for organized criminal violence, but the pattern Canales describes is different, targeted, intimate, and directed at women.
No suspect has been publicly named in the potential serial killer investigation. It is unclear whether Jalisco state prosecutors have opened a formal serial killer inquiry or whether they are treating each case as isolated. The basis for their Wednesday conclusion, that the two unidentified women's deaths are unconnected to Elizabeth Galindo's, has not been made public.
The blouse detail, which Canales calls the "common denominator," has not been confirmed or denied by the attorney general's office. Whether the pattern extends beyond the two or three cases Canales identified is unknown.
And the World Cup is weeks away.
When officials have stronger incentives to protect a city's brand than to protect its women, the truth tends to arrive late, and at someone else's expense.
