Murillo is believed to be behind the explanation of the course of events put forward by former president Enrique Peña Nieto’s government in 2015.
Current Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero said in 2020 that Murillo was involved in “orchestrating a massive media stunt” and leading a cover-up of the case.
The day before the arrest, the commission appointed to determine what happened said the army was partly responsible for the events. It is stated that a soldier had infiltrated the student group and that the army did not stop the abductions even though they knew what was happening.
The 43 student teachers disappeared in September 2014. It has previously been claimed that corrupt local police handed the students over to a criminal gang. They are then suspected to have been killed – possibly because they were mistaken for drug traffickers – and the bodies burned before the remains were dumped in a river.
But the investigation has been surrounded by a series of question marks. The bodies of the students have not been found, although remains of burned skeletal parts have been found linked to three of the missing.
The case turned into one of the worst crises for former President Enrique Peña Nieto’s government. His successor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in late 2018 appointed a truth commission to review how the case has been handled.
The PRI party, to which both Peña Nieto and Murillo belong, signs on Twitter that the arrest of Murillo “is more a matter of politics than justice. This action does not help the victims’ families get answers”.