'The Search' aka 'La Busqueda': Chilling true story of Paulette Gebara Farah's disappearance that shook Mexico
A girl vanishes from her room in her home. Her parents, her family and her caretakers in the house cannot seem to locate her anywhere. And so begins one of Mexico's most chilling cases — the disappearance of four-year-old Paulette Gebara Farah. Featuring real-life footage, Netflix's chilling crime thriller, 'The Search' aka 'La Busqueda', digs deeper into the case by examing it from different angles. As the investigation into her case continues, administrative failure and corruption come to light which puts forth the question: what really happened on the night of Paulette's disappearance?
On the evening of March 21, 2010, Paulette returned to her house in Huixquilucan, State of Mexico, after a weekend trip with her father, Mauricio Gebara and seven-year-old sister. Her mother Lizette Farah then put her to bed and went to sleep in her own room. By the next morning, Paulette was nowhere to be found.
Who was Paulette Gebara Farah?
Paulette was a miracle child. Lizette had given birth to her prematurely after only 25 weeks and she wasn't expected to survive. Defying all odds, however, Paulette was alive and breathing but suffered from numerous developmental disabilities, which caused significant impairment on the left side of her body and her speech (she was able to recite individual words, but could not form complete sentences).
In order to help with her, the Gebaras had employed a pair of sisters named Ericka and Martha Casimiro as live-in nannies. On the day of the disappearance, it was the nannies who discovered that the girl was missing. The two searched throughout the house and the entire building, but they could not find her. Soon, the police were summoned. With her motor deficiency and language disorder, it could be presumed that Paulette wouldn't have ventured far out, but the police discovered no signs of forced entry or struggle to indicate a kidnapping. Thus ensued a massive search campaign across social media to find Paulette.
It was on May 31, nine days after she was first reported missing, that her body was discovered in her own bedroom. Wrapped in blankets underneath the foot of the bed, wedged in between the mattress and the wooden footboard, investigators found the decomposing body of the four-year-old. An autopsy concluded that the cause of her death was "asphyxiation that obstructed her respiratory airways and compressed her abdominal thorax".
Were the parents to blame?
In no time, the media became obsessed with the disappearance and as a result, many conspiracy theories were going around. One such theory pointed to the parents as suspects. In fact, the two nannies would later claim that Mauricio and Lizette did not help them with the initial search for Paulette and appeared unconcerned about her disappearance. In reality, the parents were quick to turn against each other. They were not excluded by the investigators either. Attorney General of the State of Mexico Alberto Bazbaz publicly announced his suspicions about Mauricio Gebara and Lizette Farah, and the two nannies — Ericka and Martha Casimiro — on March 29, almost a week into the investigation. He cited inconsistencies in their stories and that they knew more about Paulette's disappearance than they were saying, but the police did not have enough key evidence.
Paulette's parents hardly tried to contain themselves turning into a media spectacle. Lizette was cold and off-putting. During one of her media appearances, she joked, "Maybe she was taken by aliens, or perhaps even Harry Potter." After her body was discovered, the two gave separate interviews blaming the other. However, this was not an easy open and shut case of accidental death. There was plenty of skepticism on the official account. How could the police dogs not find the girl? With almost 200 people visiting that room in the duration of the investigation and with friends sleeping in the bed, how could the body not be discovered?
Netflix digs into these investigations in the second instalment of the anthology series — 'Historia De Un Crimen'. There are, however, reports that suggest that Netflix's series is not going to be factually correct. "It is the fictional version of Paulette's story. I must anticipate that it has millions of historical errors, it has the timeline scrambled and it makes dangerous conclusions. The real story, in which a team and I have worked for years, is MUCH more interesting (and dark)," Oscar Balmen, a journalist at MVS Noticias and Emeequis, was reported saying.
The limited series starring Dario Yazebk, Diana Bovio and Regina Blandón will be available on Netflix on June 12, 2020. 'The Search' aka 'La Busqueda' is the second part in Netflix's scripted crime anthology series 'Historia de un Crimen' that chronicles crimes that "generated social turmoil and triggered charges of corruption and a search for justice" in countries across the world. The first part explored the 1994 murder of Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio.