Cartel drug lord ‘hired hitman to execute beauty influencer during TikTok livestream’
Prosecutors say a cartel boss ordered the TikTok livestream murder of 23-year-old beauty influencer Valeria Márquez in her Zapopan salon after she split from his son
Valeria Marquez(Image: Valeria Marquez/Instagram)
A cartel boss allegedly hired a hitman to shoot a beauty influencer dead during a TikTok livestream after she dumped his son, Mexican authorities have claimed.
Valeria Márquez, described as a popular 23-year-old TikToker, was live streaming from inside her beauty salon in May 2025 when a gunman on a motorbike opened fire through a window. The horrifying video shows her collapsing to the floor after being shot in the chest and head.
The footage from Blossom the Beauty Lounge, in Zapopan, Western Mexico, quickly went viral. Prosecutors are now accusing Ramón Ángel Álvarez Ayala – known as “El R-1” – a senior figure in the feared Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), of ordering the killing.
A sign from the Attorney General office is pictured at the beauty salon where influencer Valeria Marquez (23) was murdered(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
He is also accused of ordering the assassination of a local Jalisco mayor who refused to comply with the cartel’s extortion demands. The case took a dramatic turn after a major raid in Zapopan.
On July 26, Mexican Special Forces carried out a heavily armed operation which captured Álvarez Ayala in Jalisco. Officials say forensic data and encrypted phone records helped link him to the live-streamed killing, ABC7 Chicago reported.
Public Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch announced details of the investigation a day after the arrest, describing Álvarez Ayala as a key operator in the organisation. “‘El-R-1’ is identified as the main leader of ‘Los Rs’, one of the most violent criminal cells linked to the CJNG, with operations in Apatzingán, Uruapan, and Morelia, Michoacán, as well as in Jalisco,” García Harfuch said in a social media post.
Interior view of the beauty salon (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
He added that investigators tied the same cell to Márquez’s death. He said: “This criminal cell allegedly participated under his orders in coordinating multiple violent acts in the region.
“Among them is the tragic feminicide of Valeria Márquez, which occurred in May 2025 in Zapopan, Jalisco, a crime linked to Francisco, the victim’s former partner and Ramón Ángel’s son.” García Harfuch also laid out the alleged motive: “With yesterday’s arrest, we learned that R-1’s son had a romantic relationship with Valeria.
“He had threatened her on several occasions and everything indicates, and this will be proven, that the son asked his father, R-1, to carry out the feminicide.” He said the influencer probe is separate to the mayor case, but the arrest produced fresh leads.
“It is a separate investigation from that of Mayor Manzo, but with this arrest we also have leads and evidence to locate the other person involved in the homicide, who is this subject’s son,” he said, adding Álvarez Ayala’s son “is free, and we are searching for him”.
The suspected shooter remains at large, while Jalisco has reportedly been put on high alert amid fears of cartel retaliation.
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