Maggie met Guillermo Hidalgo in Chicago, United States, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic began. She is a stylist and saw him on the street wearing a “super cool” outfit. She asked to take his photo for her fashion journal and they hit it off. She says he was a “beautiful” person. Their friendship endured over time.
However, on May 27, while having dinner with a friend, she was asked: “Did you hear about the Chicago couple who are missing in Mexico City?” “No, how could that be?” she replied. The friend showed her a photo, and she was shocked to see Guillermo Hidalgo and Zafar Padamsee, his partner. “My heart dropped. I couldn’t believe it,” she says by phone.
Guillermo was a U.S. citizen but originally from Acayucán in the Mexican state of Veracruz. He had told Maggie that he wanted to leave the United States because of the “pain” he felt over Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies. He and his partner decided to leave the United States in October. They came to Mexico out of love for his homeland. However, seven months later the dream turned into a nightmare. After being missing for nearly a month, both were found dead on June 19 in a grave in the State of Mexico.
The couple’s bodies were buried together behind a cabin in La Marquesa Natural Park along with two other bodies. The discovery was made during search operations conducted jointly by the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office and the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office, official sources told EL PAÍS.
Seven people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the couple’s disappearance and murder. A woman named Yesenia N, a former police officer — according to unofficial information — is believed to be the ringleader of a gang involved in robbery, extortion and kidnapping. She was apprehended with two Venezuelan men, Gabriel N and Roberick N. At the same time, Adán N, Selena N, Jesús N and Daniel N were also taken into custody, all believed to be linked to the four bodies found. According to local media, the detainees were carrying high‑powered weapons, ammunition, bags of drugs and a black suitcase at the time of their arrest.
Hidalgo, 57, and Padamsee, 56, disappeared on May 20. According to friends and family, the couple lived in Interlomas, an area in the municipality of Huixquilucan in the State of Mexico, where they were last seen. Both were U.S. citizens and had lived in Chicago until October, when they decided to move to Mexico along with Padamsee’s mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. According to acquaintances, they were going to buy a stairlift for her with two purported local contractors when they headed south toward Mexico City.
Hidalgo was a hairstylist and fashion designer. Claudia, a friend who met him in Chicago, says he radiated joy. As their friendship grew, Hidalgo — or Memo, as his loved ones called him — began to express how saddened he was by the Trump administration’s treatment of Latinos, who are targeted for deportations and ICE operations. Last year Hidalgo told Claudio that he and his partner were thinking of leaving, either to Hawaii or Mexico. She advised him to think it over because the situation south of the border was complicated by violence and insecurity. Claudia suggested Mérida, Yucatán, as a calmer option in the country’s south.
“He told me, ‘The thing is I left Acayucán when I was very young. I practically never knew my country and I want to live it as a Mexican. Ride the metro, the buses. We were thinking about Mexico City.’ I told him, ‘Just take care and make the best decision,’” she recalls of their conversation.
In October, Hidalgo and Padamsee drove from the United States and arrived in Mexico. They initially stayed in short-term rentals booked through Airbnb while looking for a permanent home where they could live with Padamsee’s mother. They met three or four times in the capital; the last time Claudia saw Memo was in April. Padamsee was not with him, as he had traveled to the United States to bring his mother to Mexico.
Maggie says that during the days the couple was missing — she and Claudia, from Chicago and Mexico respectively — tried to spread the word as widely as possible. Each time she heard news about missing men being found, she feared the worst, though she still held on to hope they would be located alive.
However, on the night of Wednesday, June 17, rumors began to circulate about the discovery of two bodies matching the description of Hidalgo and Padamsee. Distressed, both contacted the family, but they were unaware of the news. Local crime outlets began to break the story on the social network X. On Thursday morning, a contact of Maggie’s at the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office told her: “I have bad news.” “It’s them, right?” she asked. “Pending family identification, they’ve been found. The news is going to be everywhere,” the official warned.
“The family confirmed it to us. The sister went to identify the bodies. That happened on Thursday and only yesterday [June 21] were they able to recover the body,” Maggie says.
Maggie says Hidalgo was a deeply kind person. “Just as he was pained by what they are doing to our people here, he was in love with Mexico,” she says. “He threw parties with Mexican themes. I helped him decorate. For Day of the Dead, he loved showing his white friends Mexican culture. And when they went there, Guillermo was enchanted with Mexico. He said he was living his telenovela life because he wanted to take his husband everywhere. They made friends with everyone; they were in love with life.”
According to some accounts, the couple was last seen in a vehicle with two men on the Periférico Sur before contact was lost. Friends of Hidalgo told a U.S. outlet that he managed to share his location with one of his contacts shortly before disappearing. They believe he did so because he felt uneasy and suspected something was wrong in the car. Their phones stopped transmitting location data hours later.
Relatives later discovered unusual activity in the couple’s financial accounts. According to reports, banks detected new transfers and noted withdrawals made after their disappearance.
Claudia says Hidalgo’s family told her that his remains will be taken to Acayucán, while she is unsure whether Padamsee’s relatives have already arrived in Mexico to repatriate him to Chicago. “That’s something that also made me sad, because he would have wanted to be laid to rest alongside Zafar,” she says.
Authorities continue to investigate the suspects’ connection to the case. Meanwhile, family and friends are demanding that the facts be clarified and justice be served for Guillermo Hidalgo and Zafar Padamsee.
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