A teenager disappears just blocks from home, and a taxi driver’s story keeps changing. Follow Diana’s case, the missed clues, and the questions that still haunt her family. Watch this gripping investigation to the end.
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👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@paul_lando
0:01 - Diana Disappears
1:05 - Who Diana Was
2:41 - The Day She Vanished
6:45 - A Delayed and Flawed Search
10:39 - The Taxi Driver and a Stalled Investigation
17:08 - New Testimony and Phone Evidence
20:56 - Arrest, Trial, and Sentence
22:19 - An Unanswered Disappearance
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/033MgMUOXQEOYvZBJxmxir
Subscribe for more stories like this.
Comment what you found most striking in this video.
#TrueCrime #Investigation #MissingPersons #Mystery
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@paul_lando
0:01 - Diana Disappears
1:05 - Who Diana Was
2:41 - The Day She Vanished
6:45 - A Delayed and Flawed Search
10:39 - The Taxi Driver and a Stalled Investigation
17:08 - New Testimony and Phone Evidence
20:56 - Arrest, Trial, and Sentence
22:19 - An Unanswered Disappearance
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/033MgMUOXQEOYvZBJxmxir
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:01One afternoon, the cell phone of a teenage girl from Tijuana lost signal just a few blocks from her own
00:07home in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other and yet no one could say what happened to her. Her
00:12name was Diana Piggyanan and she was only 15 years old on the morning of June 8th, 2018. She left
00:20her house with two backpacks like every day she had swimming practice, heading to high school where she also had
00:25a very important exam that same afternoon.
00:28Around noon, she said goodbye to her classmates, telling them that she had to go help a friend who was
00:33in trouble. Hours later, several people claimed to have seen her walking downtown and later getting into a shared taxi
00:41on a fixed route back to her neighborhood.
00:43But Diana never came back home. It took two years for someone to end up in handcuffs for this case
00:49and even so, the most important question in this story still remains unanswered.
01:05To understand what happened that June 8th, 2018 in Tijuana, Mexico, it's worth taking a few minutes to talk about
01:13who Diana was.
01:15Diana was born on September 24th, 2002 and lived in the Colonia Divina Providencia area in Tijuana, the city in
01:23the state of Baja California that borders the United States.
01:27At 15, she led a pretty quiet life. Her father had passed away some time before, so in that house,
01:33the family revolved around her mother, Maria Gomez and her siblings.
01:37Diana was especially close to her older sister Lucero, according to Lucero herself. Diana had no problems at home and
01:44had never run away.
01:45Her friends and family described her as a cheerful teenager who was also responsible and had very clear goals.
01:53At school, her teachers considered her a dedicated student with very good grades, who used to help her classmates and
02:01almost never missed classes.
02:03Diana studied at the Lazaro Cardenas Federal High School, known as La Lazaro in Tijuana.
02:08It was, and still is, the most emblematic and prestigious public high school in the city, with around 5,000
02:16students enrolled.
02:18And at that same school, Diana practiced swimming, so on training days she always carried two backpacks,
02:24one with her books and another with her swimsuit, towel and the rest of her gear.
02:30Nothing in her routine suggested she was in danger, and that's why what happened that Friday was so hard to
02:36understand.
02:37For those who knew her, on Friday, June 8, 2018, Diana left her house after 10 in the morning with
02:44her two backpacks.
02:47At school, she first had her swimming class and at 4 in the afternoon a social studies exam that was
02:53worth half of her grade.
02:56Around 12, before her group's classes started, she met a classmate at the entrance ramp of the school and told
03:03him she had to leave.
03:05That a friend was going through something difficult and she needed to see her.
03:09He saw her acting completely normal.
03:12Before leaving, Diana gave her books to another classmate so he could turn them in for review
03:17and promised she would try to come back in time for the exam.
03:21With so many students coming and going at all hours around the school,
03:26it was normal to see groups of students waiting for public transportation.
03:31In Tijuana, that mainly means two options.
03:35On one hand, there are the Calafias, which are the city's shared minibuses,
03:39and on the other, the route taxis, which, instead of taking you wherever you want,
03:44follow a fixed route, picking up and dropping off passengers along the way and charging a fare per person.
03:51So seeing a teenager like Diana get on one of these vehicles didn't catch anyone's attention.
03:57Diana went toward the downtown area.
04:00At 12.24, a security camera caught her talking on the phone, right in the center of the city.
04:06And a minute later, at the corner of 1st Street and Coahuila,
04:10she got into route taxi number 0228 on the route that was heading toward the Vista Encantada neighborhood,
04:18very close to where she lived.
04:20In the recordings, she was seen with her two backpacks on her shoulders,
04:24a detail that wouldn't seem strange to anyone who knew her.
04:27But later, the authorities used it to build their own theory.
04:31At 12.39, a classmate called her to ask why she was going to miss such an important exam.
04:38Diana answered that if it weren't for something really important, she wouldn't miss it.
04:43She said she didn't think she'd make it in time and said goodbye.
04:46Later, she let her classmates know that she wouldn't make it to the exam on time,
04:50and that was the last message she sent them.
04:52That day, several people claimed to have seen her.
04:55A vendor from the Plaza de la Tecnología, a shopping center in the downtown area,
05:00said that she had served her,
05:02and several employees from the place said that Diana was accompanied by a young woman
05:06whom no one could identify.
05:08A neighbor of the family saw her leaving a pharmacy downtown,
05:12and later, in her neighborhood, another neighbor saw her in front of a local store.
05:17At 8.00 p.m., the time when Diana usually returned home,
05:21her family started to worry.
05:24At first, the family tried to stay calm and not overthink the situation,
05:29but as the night went on, the teenager's mother started to worry.
05:36She tried calling her many times, but the phone had no signal,
05:40and the messages didn't even go through.
05:43Then they started calling Diana's friends.
05:45At 9.00 p.m., Lucero spoke with one of her sister's classmates,
05:49and that's when she found out that Diana hadn't even gone to class.
05:54Fearing the worst, in a country where thousands of young women disappear every year,
05:58the family went out to look for her that same night,
06:01and early in the morning, on Saturday, they went to report her disappearance.
06:06They probably still hoped that everything would be cleared up in a few hours,
06:11and that Diana would show up with some explanation,
06:14but the first clue the investigators found pointed in the exact opposite direction.
06:20When they checked the location of Diana's cell phone,
06:23they discovered that the last signal had been registered
06:25around 4.00 in the afternoon in the area near her own home.
06:29Diana had been just a few steps from her door,
06:32but she never made it inside.
06:45In cases of disappearances,
06:48especially when it involves minors,
06:50the first hours are the most valuable
06:52because witnesses still clearly remember what they saw,
06:56and the phone's trail is much easier to follow.
06:59And in Diana's case, those hours were almost completely wasted.
07:04One of the most important tools for these cases
07:07is the Amber Alert, an emergency system
07:10that immediately broadcasts the photo and information of a missing minor
07:15when it's believed their life may be in danger.
07:18With Diana, the alert was only activated on Monday afternoon,
07:22June 11th, about 72 hours after she went missing.
07:27And in the meantime, the authorities did the bare minimum,
07:30as if they just wanted to be able to say that they were working on the case.
07:36Instead of going out to look for her,
07:38the investigators' first idea was that Diana had left her home of her own free will
07:43and that sooner or later she would show up.
07:46And what was this based on?
07:48On the footage from the cameras,
07:50in the videos you couldn't see anyone forcing her to get into the taxi,
07:53and besides, Diana was carrying two backpacks,
07:56something that for them was proof that she had her departure all planned out.
08:00They even went so far as to say
08:02that on that day she had put things in one of the backpacks
08:06that she normally didn't carry,
08:08although her own sister clarified that nobody knew for sure
08:11what was inside it.
08:13Her family and her teachers explained over and over again
08:16that there was nothing strange about that,
08:18that Diana always carried two backpacks on swimming days,
08:22one for her school supplies and another for her gear.
08:25Unfortunately, Diana's case is not the only one
08:28in which this kind of negligence occurs.
08:31In Mexico, there is a very clear pattern
08:34in investigations of women's disappearances
08:36where it is assumed that the girls left their homes
08:39because of family or romantic problems
08:41and that they probably left with some boyfriend.
08:45Those explanations didn't make any sense.
08:49So much so that one of Diana's sisters
08:52had to go to the media to deny them
08:54and to complain that the authorities only kept saying
08:58they were working without giving them any answers.
09:01And even with that,
09:03the investigators kept relying on very weak assumptions
09:06and didn't speed up the search.
09:09The information from the cell phone,
09:11whose last signal was recorded near her house
09:14at four in the afternoon before
09:15it shut off for good,
09:17left a lot of questions.
09:19No one knew if Diana had turned it off herself
09:22or if someone else had it in their hands at that moment.
09:26They didn't really make much effort
09:28to talk to the people who knew her either.
09:30One of her teachers later said
09:32that they never interviewed the classmates
09:33who spent the most time with Diana
09:35and no one from the prosecutor's office
09:38went to the school to investigate.
09:39They didn't even take a statement
09:41from Diana's grandmother
09:43who lived in the same area.
09:45And when they finally asked for the videos
09:47from the Plaza de la Tecnología
09:48where several employees had seen Diana,
09:51the recordings had already been erased.
09:54On Tuesday, June 12,
09:56about 4,000 people,
09:58including students, teachers,
10:00and parents from the high school
10:01marched from the school
10:03to the prosecutor's office in Tijuana.
10:07They carried signs with Diana's photo
10:09to make it clear that every second counted,
10:11even though a lot of time had already been lost.
10:14What they were demanding
10:15was that more officers be assigned to the case
10:18and that they truly search for her.
10:20Even so,
10:21the first search on the ground
10:23didn't happen until June 22,
10:25two weeks after the disappearance.
10:27Personnel from the prosecutor's office,
10:29along with a group of rescuers
10:31and trained dogs
10:32searched hills and vacant lots
10:34around the Divina Providencia neighborhood
10:36and they found nothing.
10:38Something similar happened
10:39with that much-talked-about friend
10:41whom Diana went to see
10:42when she disappeared.
10:43The classmate to whom Diana left her books
10:46and who was also her boyfriend at school
10:48said he had no idea who that girl was.
10:51During the first week,
10:53his statement hadn't even been
10:55formally presented to the authorities.
10:57And even though more than a year later,
10:59the prosecutor's office claimed
11:01that they did speak with him
11:03and with Diana's best friend,
11:04that troubled friend
11:06was never publicly identified.
11:08But from the first week,
11:09a name was already circulating
11:11among Diana's friends.
11:18When the family started calling
11:20Diana's friends to ask
11:21if they knew anything,
11:23several of them answered the same thing,
11:26that they should ask Juan Manuel,
11:27the driver,
11:29because sometimes he took Diana to school.
11:32Juan Manuel de Mateo Uribe
11:34was a 26-year-old taxi driver
11:36who worked the route from downtown
11:38to the Divina Providencia neighborhood
11:40and lived just a few blocks
11:41from Diana's house.
11:43The same night of the disappearance,
11:45the family contacted him.
11:47He told them he didn't know anything,
11:49but offered to borrow a taxi
11:51to go out and look for her.
11:53And after that,
11:54he said he would call them.
11:55But that call never came.
11:57On June 11th,
11:58he was interviewed for the first time.
12:00He said he found out
12:01about the disappearance on Facebook
12:03and that he had no idea
12:04where Diana was.
12:06About that Friday,
12:08he said he hadn't worked,
12:09that he spent a day
12:09with his girlfriend,
12:11named Myra,
12:12that they went to the gym,
12:13had a meal,
12:14took a walk downtown,
12:15and then went back to his house.
12:17In July,
12:18with several testimonies against him,
12:20he changed his story a bit.
12:22He admitted that he knew Diana
12:24from his job as a driver,
12:26that they used to talk,
12:27and that they had a relationship,
12:29although he denied
12:30that anything intimate had happened.
12:33He claimed that he hadn't spoken to her
12:35for more than 15 days,
12:36and that the last time he saw her,
12:38a week before,
12:39Diana had gotten into another taxi
12:41very angry,
12:42after finding out that he had a girlfriend,
12:44and that he had an ex-wife,
12:45and three children.
12:46To confirm his alibi,
12:47the investigators spoke with Myra,
12:49Juan Manuel's girlfriend.
12:51She stated that on June 8th,
12:53they had been together
12:54from 8.15 in the morning,
12:56until 6 in the afternoon.
12:59The investigators were struck
13:01by how coldly Juan Manuel spoke about Diana,
13:04and the arrogance he displayed
13:06during the interrogations.
13:08We have to say that he wasn't a stranger
13:10to the police either,
13:12because he had prior records for theft,
13:14in 2008 and 2015,
13:15as well as two reports
13:17for threats in 2017.
13:19They even considered him
13:20a suspect in the disappearance,
13:22but without a body,
13:23and with an alibi in place,
13:25the case against him
13:26did not move forward.
13:28The logical thing would have been
13:30to thoroughly check
13:31the geolocation of his phone
13:32to verify if he had really
13:34spent the whole day
13:35with his girlfriend,
13:36but that analysis
13:37was not done at that time.
13:40At the same time,
13:41the prosecutor's office
13:42was ruling out
13:43other possibilities
13:44without giving much explanation.
13:46One of the most talked
13:47about possibilities
13:48was human trafficking,
13:50something that kept
13:52Diana's grandmother
13:53up at night,
13:53because she even thought
13:55that someone might have
13:56made her fall in love
13:57with them
13:58just to sell her later.
14:00And this wasn't a crazy idea.
14:02Tijuana is right next
14:02to the border
14:03with the United States.
14:04And according to
14:05the National Human Rights Commission,
14:06between 2012 and 2017,
14:10Baja California
14:11and Tilak Scala
14:12accounted for almost 80%
14:14of the cases of trafficking
14:16that were investigated
14:17at the state level
14:18in Mexico.
14:21Even so,
14:22just a week
14:23after the disappearance,
14:24the authorities
14:25had already ruled out
14:26that possibility,
14:27saying there was no evidence
14:29pointing in that direction.
14:32It's true
14:33that there was
14:33no evidence
14:34that Diana
14:34had fallen
14:35into a trafficking ring,
14:37but closing that door
14:38without thoroughly
14:39investigating it
14:41was a hasty decision.
14:44Meanwhile,
14:44Diana's parents
14:45started receiving
14:46very distressing calls
14:47and decided
14:48to stay away
14:48from the media
14:49to protect
14:50their emotional well-being.
14:51That's why
14:52the ones
14:53who spoke out the most
14:54were Diana's sisters,
14:56the teachers,
14:56and also
14:57her high school classmates.
14:59Despite all the attention
15:01the case drew,
15:02the authorities
15:02still fell short.
15:04There were no
15:05thorough interrogations
15:06or a serious analysis
15:08of where everyone
15:09had been that Friday.
15:10As the months went by,
15:12the case started
15:12losing momentum.
15:14Until in November 2018,
15:16five months
15:17after the disappearance,
15:18a clue appeared
15:19that for a few days
15:20gave hope
15:21back to many people.
15:22On social media,
15:24it started circulating
15:25that someone
15:26had seen a young woman
15:27who looked a lot
15:29like Diana
15:29in Playas de Rosarito,
15:32a neighboring town
15:33south of Tijuana,
15:34and that the girl
15:35seemed to be pregnant.
15:37The authorities
15:38went to the place
15:39to verify the information,
15:41but they discovered
15:42that it was someone else.
15:44After that disappointment,
15:46the case was practically
15:48frozen for almost
15:49two years.
15:50Diana disappeared
15:51just a few months
15:52before turning 16,
15:53and by that point
15:54she was getting closer
15:55and closer to turning 18.
15:58The media eventually
16:00stopped talking
16:01about the case,
16:02and the file
16:03just sat on some desk
16:05while the family
16:06learned to live
16:07without answers.
16:08What no one imagined
16:10was that in 2020
16:11a woman ended up
16:12changing her statement,
16:13and that the person
16:15responsible for
16:16Diana's disappearance
16:17had been very close
16:18all that time.
16:25By 2020,
16:27Diana's case
16:27seemed doomed
16:28to be forgotten.
16:29Two years had passed.
16:31The authorities
16:32had wasted
16:32the first hours,
16:35which are always
16:36important
16:37in these cases,
16:38and the investigation
16:39had left
16:40much to be desired.
16:42But at the end
16:43of 2019,
16:44a new state administration
16:45took office,
16:46and the case file
16:47was handed over
16:47to a specialized unit
16:49of the prosecutor's office.
16:52With the pressure
16:53from the high school
16:53community on them,
16:55that new team
16:55basically rebuilt
16:57the case from scratch.
16:59And the first person
17:00they looked at again
17:01was Juan Manuel,
17:02the taxi driver
17:03who had slipped out
17:04of investigator's sights
17:05almost unscathed
17:07two years earlier.
17:08Juan Manuel
17:09had always said
17:10that his relationship
17:11with Diana
17:12had never become physical.
17:13But Diana's closest friends
17:15told a very different story.
17:17According to them,
17:19Diana and Juan Manuel
17:20saw each other
17:22almost every day.
17:23He would take her home
17:24in the taxi
17:25and wait for her
17:26to take her out again.
17:28They would go
17:28for walks downtown,
17:29and when Diana
17:31was alone at home,
17:32she would go
17:33to his place
17:34to watch movies.
17:35Diana had also
17:36told her friends
17:37that the first week
17:38of May,
17:39Juan Manuel
17:40and she had had sex
17:41without protection,
17:42and that he had bought
17:43her the morning
17:44after pill.
17:45But on May 27th,
17:48just two weeks
17:49before she disappeared,
17:50she confessed to them
17:52that she was worried
17:53because her period
17:54hadn't come,
17:55although she thought
17:56it could be
17:56because of the pill.
17:58An even more important
17:59account was added
18:00to the friend's testimony
18:01that of Mayra,
18:03Juan Manuel's girlfriend.
18:04In this new stage
18:05of the investigation,
18:07Mayra testified again
18:08and admitted
18:09that she had lied
18:10in 2018.
18:12She said that
18:13on June 18th
18:14of that year,
18:1510 days after
18:16the disappearance,
18:17Juan Manuel asked her
18:18that if anyone
18:19asked her about Diana,
18:21she should say
18:21that they had been
18:22together the whole time.
18:24She was afraid
18:27that he would hit her,
18:30as had already happened
18:31on other occasions.
18:33In her new statement,
18:35she admitted
18:35that there were hours
18:36that day
18:37when she was not
18:38with him.
18:39Mayra also mentioned
18:41something that had
18:42left her very worried
18:43days after the disappearance.
18:45Juan Manuel had told her
18:46that he was not going
18:47to go to jail
18:48for a stupid girl.
18:51And these were her words.
18:54With all this
18:55on the table,
18:56the experts closely
18:58examined the phone records
18:59from that June 8th,
19:01that is,
19:01the call history
19:02from Diana's
19:03and Juan Manuel's
19:04cell phones,
19:05and the cell towers
19:07they connected to
19:08throughout the day,
19:09and what they found
19:10disproved Juan Manuel's
19:12lies one by one.
19:14That Friday,
19:16Diana started communicating
19:17with him
19:18at 9.16 in the morning,
19:20and before leaving
19:21her house,
19:21they had already spoken
19:23three times.
19:25When she left school
19:26saying she was going
19:27to help a friend,
19:28she called Juan Manuel,
19:30and he called her back
19:31a minute later.
19:34When Diana called him,
19:36Juan Manuel was downtown,
19:37but when she got downtown,
19:39he had already gone
19:40to the Divina Providencia
19:41neighborhood,
19:42and Diana went after him.
19:45Everything pointed
19:46to her following him
19:47and to him avoiding her.
19:49Between 12.20
19:50and 1 in the afternoon,
19:51they communicated
19:52again several,
19:54tres veces.
19:55After one o'clock,
19:57both phones were already
19:58in the same place.
19:59The analysis also showed
20:01that Juan Manuel and Mayra
20:02were in different places
20:03at the time of the events.
20:06And contrary
20:07to what he swore,
20:08since March,
20:09he had become
20:10Diana's main contact,
20:11and in the 15 days prior,
20:13they had talked a lot.
20:16With this evidence,
20:17a judge ordered his arrest
20:19on July 10, 2020,
20:21when they went
20:23to look for him
20:23at his house
20:24in Divina Providencia.
20:26He was no longer there,
20:27and no one
20:28could say
20:29where he had gone.
20:30Days later,
20:32the agents located him
20:33in the Rancho Las Flores neighborhood.
20:35And around 2 a.m.
20:37on Wednesday,
20:38July 15, 2020,
20:40they finally
20:41arrested him.
20:56For the family,
20:57the capture of Juan Manuel
20:58was only
20:59a partial relief.
21:00One of Diana's sisters
21:01said in those days
21:02that,
21:03for them,
21:04everything remained
21:05the same
21:06because they still
21:07didn't know
21:07where Diana was
21:08or what had happened
21:09to her.
21:10Despite the evidence
21:11against him,
21:12Juan Manuel
21:13never cooperated
21:14with the authorities.
21:15At no point
21:16did he say
21:17what happened
21:17that Friday,
21:18nor did he give
21:19a single clue
21:20about where Diana
21:21could be.
21:22He was charged
21:23with disappearance
21:23committed by private individuals,
21:26aggravated by the fact
21:27that the victim
21:27was female
21:28and underage,
21:29a crime that could
21:30cost him between
21:3037 and 87 years
21:32in prison.
21:33The process dragged
21:34on for more
21:35than two years.
21:36On November 19,
21:372022,
21:38he was found guilty
21:40and at the hearing
21:41to determine
21:42his sentence,
21:43the prosecution
21:43asked for 75 years
21:46in prison
21:46with the promise
21:47to reduce it
21:48if he said
21:49where Diana was.
21:50He didn't say anything.
21:52His defense
21:53asked for the minimum sentence,
21:54which was 25 years
21:56and even said
21:58that Juan Manuel
21:58was a scapegoat.
22:00On November 25,
22:012022,
22:02four years
22:03and five months
22:04after the disappearance,
22:05the judge sentenced him
22:07to 56 years
22:08and six months
22:09in prison
22:09for the crime
22:10of disappearance
22:11committed by private individuals
22:13and ordered him
22:14to pay 725,400 pesos
22:16as compensation
22:17for damages.
22:19And even though
22:19you would think
22:20that an ending like this
22:21should give us
22:22peace of mind,
22:23with this man
22:23behind bars
22:24for practically
22:25the rest
22:26of his life.
22:28After
22:29Diana's disappearance,
22:31the Municipal
22:32Public Security
22:33Secretariat
22:34set up a police booth
22:36next to the school
22:37and the high school
22:39opened self-defense
22:40workshops
22:40to teach their students
22:42how to react
22:43in risky situations.
22:47One of her teachers
22:48even advised
22:49her female students
22:50that if someone
22:51tried to take them,
22:52they should throw themselves
22:53to the ground,
22:54bite and kick.
22:55Incurrently,
22:56in the year 2026,
22:58we have to say that.
23:00It's been more than
23:01eight years
23:02since Diana left
23:02her school.
23:03With her two backpacks,
23:05just a few months
23:06before turning 16,
23:07and even today,
23:09Diana's ultimate fate
23:10remains unknown.
23:11What did this man
23:12do to Diana?
23:13Or if Diana
23:14is still alive?
23:16These are questions
23:18that remain unanswered.
23:20And the worst part
23:21is thinking that,
23:22maybe,
23:23if things had changed,
23:25been done right
23:25from the very first day,
23:27the ending of this story
23:29could have been different.
23:32That's it for this
23:33unfortunate case.
23:34I look forward
23:35to your comments
23:36down below.
23:36And with that,
23:37I'll see you
23:38in the next story.
23:39Yeah.
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