On September 15, 2017, at 11 a.m. in a working-class neighborhood of Monterrey, a scream was heard that paralyzed all the residents on Juárez Street—a scream that contained 15 years of pain, hope, and a persistence that had defied all odds.

María Teresa Morales had just found her daughter Ana after a decade and a half of tireless searching. Ana Morales, who disappeared when she was 19 and is now 34, was alive in a hidden room inside the house of Rogelio Fernández, the neighbor who lived just 50 meters from her family home. The same man who, during all those years, had offered help with the search, inquired about the progress of the investigation, and comforted María Teresa during her most difficult moments.

Ana was emaciated, disoriented, with prematurely gray hair and a gaze that reflected years of confinement. But when she saw her mother, her eyes filled with tears, and she murmured the words María Teresa had dreamed of hearing for 15 years: “Mom, I knew you were going to find me.”

The news spread across Mexico in a matter of hours. Questions immediately arose. How had it been possible to hold a person hostage for 15 years in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other? Why had the investigation never suspected the nearest neighbor? The Morales case would become one of the most shocking in Mexico’s criminal history, not only for the length of the captivity, but for its demonstration that maternal love can transcend any obstacle, even when all authorities and society have lost hope.

But to understand this extraordinary story, we need to go back to the moment it all began.

A seemingly ordinary afternoon in September 2002, when Ana Morales left her house to buy milk and never returned. The Santa María neighborhood in the northeast sector of Monterrey was, in 2002, the kind of neighborhood where the doors remained open during the day.

Children played freely in the streets and mothers knew each other by their first names, a place where the disappearance of any neighbor immediately became a problem for the entire community. It was precisely this atmosphere of proximity and mutual surveillance that made it unthinkable that someone could disappear without a trace.

Ana Morales had grown up in that neighborhood since she was 5 years old, when María Teresa moved there after separating from her children’s father. The family home occupied a quiet corner of Juárez Street, a modest two-bedroom building where María Teresa grew medicinal plants that she sold at the local market to supplement her income as a domestic worker.

By 19, Ana had developed a reserved but responsible personality. She preferred to spend her afternoons helping her mother with household chores, sewing clothes on request for neighbors, or caring for her younger siblings, Jorge, 15, and Patricia, 12.

Her routine was predictable and reassuring for a single mother who worked long hours outside the home. Ana would get up early to prepare breakfast for the family. She would accompany her siblings to school, return to do housework, and in the afternoons she would dedicate herself to sewing projects that generated additional income.

Neighbors described her as a serious, hardworking young woman who greeted people politely but did not participate in neighborhood gossip or conflicts. She was the type of person who disappeared without generating theories about secret boyfriends, dangerous debts, or hidden enmities. María Teresa had built a solid reputation in the neighborhood during almost 15 years of residence. She worked as a domestic worker for three middle-class families, cleaning large houses with the meticulousness she had learned during her childhood.

The income was not abundant, but it was enough to keep her children fed, clothed, and educated. Her relationship with Ana was particularly close. As the eldest child and only girl in the family, Ana had assumed maternal responsibilities toward her siblings from an early age. María Teresa relied on her not only for household chores but also as a confidant and emotional support.

“Ana is my right arm,” María Teresa used to tell the neighbors. Without her, she wouldn’t know how to handle everything on her own. This healthy codependency made it completely unthinkable for Ana to voluntarily leave the family home. She knew the financial difficulties her mother was facing.

She knew that Jorge and Patricia needed constant supervision and understood that their absence would leave María Teresa in a desperate situation. September 18, 2002, began like any other Tuesday at the Morales home. María Teresa said goodbye to her children at 6:30 a.m., as she had done for years. She kissed Ana on the forehead, reminded her to take good care of her siblings, and promised to return before 7 p.m.

It was the last time she saw her daughter walking freely around her own home. The routine of September 18th proceeded normally until 4:30 p.m., when Ana realized there wasn’t enough milk to make the coffee with milk Jorge and Patricia were having for their snack.

It was a minor issue, but one that required an immediate solution. Ana put away the sewing project she’d been working on. She took 20 pesos from the money María Teresa had set aside for the day’s expenses and headed for the front door. “I’m going to get some milk from Don Aurelio’s store,” she called to her brother Jorge, who was playing in the backyard. “I’ll be back in 10 minutes.” Jorge responded with a distracted gesture.

Later, those would be the last words he would hear from his sister for 15 years. Don Aurelio’s store was located four blocks from the Morales House, on a busy corner where three public transportation routes converged. It was a family business that had been serving the Santa María neighborhood for more than 20 years.

The route from the house to the store was completely familiar to Ana. She had traveled that route hundreds of times, both day and night, without ever experiencing any security problems. Don Aurelio would later recall that Ana arrived at his store at approximately 5:15 p.m. She bought a liter of whole milk, paid with a 20-peso bill, and received 8 pesos in change. The transaction took less than 3 minutes, and Ana showed no signs of concern.