Dolores Guadalupe García Escamilla (c. 1966 – 16 April 2005) was a Mexican crime reporter and anchorwoman for Punto Rojo, a radio show on XHNOE-FM radio based in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. She had experience in a number of news platforms and was a radio personality and crime reporter since 2001.

On 5 April 2005, a lone gunman caught her by surprise outside her workplace and shot her 14 times, critically wounding her. After spending twelve days in the hospital, García Escamilla died of liver failure as a result of her injuries. The gunman was never arrested, and the motives behind her murder are unknown.

Since 2001, García Escamilla had been a radio station personality and crime reporter for XHNOE-FM "Stereo 91" in the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.^[1] During her tenure at XHNOE, García Escamilla hosted a program known as Punto Rojo, where she covered topics on public safety.^[2] She also spoke about the rising drug-violence in Nuevo Laredo and denounced the corruption that besets the city.^[3]

In a possible reprisal for her work, García Escamilla's house was once shot, and, on 5 January 2005, her car was set on fire by alleged drug traffickers.^[1][4] She eventually presented a formal complaint to the Public Ministry office but no measures were taken.^[5]

In February 2005, García Escamilla reportedly received death threats from the radio frequencies of the Nuevo Laredo police.^[6][7]

Nearly half an hour after broadcasting her radio show, a lone gunman surprised García Escamilla (aged 39) at the parking lot outside the radio station where she worked and shot her 14 times, hitting vital organs.^{[1][8][A 1]} She was seriously wounded and was immediately taken to the nearest hospital in Nuevo Laredo to undergo surgery, but García Escamilla died twelve days later from liver failure in the morning of 16 April 2005.^[4][10][11] The attack came just less than an hour after García Escamilla had aired a report on the murder of a Mexican lawyer, Fernando Partida Castañeda, who was linked with a drug trafficking organization.^[11][12] The shooting of García Escamilla was also captured by a surveillance camera and has been used for the investigation.^[10]

The murder of García Escamilla occurred just a few days after the killing of Raúl Gibb Guerrero (8 April 2005), another Mexican journalist who owned a newspaper that covered information relating to Gulf Cartel and the illegal drug trade.^[13]

With a round of applause, García Escamilla was bid farewell at the Catholic church of San Judas Tadeo in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas by a number of businessmen, journalists, public workers, politicians, and family and friends of her, who attended the religious ceremony on 18 April 2005.^[22] After the ceremony, reporters, journalists, photographers, and caricaturists went to the downtown Nuevo Laredo and gave a minute of silence at the city's plaza (directly in front of the city hall) as a sign of respect for García Escamilla's death and as a symbolic protest for press freedom.^[23]

To fulfill the last wish of García Escamilla, her body was cremated, made into ashes, and given to her mother Beatriz Escamilla, brother, and son.^[22][24]

After García Escamilla was murdered, a number of media outlets speculated that she was involved with a drug trafficking organization based in Nuevo Laredo. Several sources indicated that she received bribes and collaborated with the Gulf Cartel by handing out drug money to other journalists to silence the press.^[25][26][27] The Committee to Protect Journalists believes, however, that the evidences presented for these claims are "inconclusive."^[1]

• Mexican Drug War
• List of journalists killed in Mexico