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Mexico journalist seeking refuge in capital never felt safe

A photograph of murdered photojournalist Ruben Espinosa sits among flowers and candles in front of his casket inside a funeral home before his wake begins in Mexico City, Monday, Aug. 3, 2015. With an investigation barely underway, Mexican journalist protection groups are already expressing fears that authorities won't consider Espinosa's brutal killing as being related to his work - even though he fled the state he covered fearing for his safety. Espinosa, 31, worked for the investigative magazine Proceso and other media in Veracruz state. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A photograph of murdered photojournalist Ruben Espinosa sits among flowers and candles in front of his casket inside a funeral home before his wake begins in Mexico City, Monday, Aug. 3, 2015. With an investigation barely underway, Mexican journalist protection groups are already expressing fears that authorities won't consider Espinosa's brutal killing as being related to his work - even though he fled the state he covered fearing for his safety. Espinosa, 31, worked for the investigative magazine Proceso and other media in Veracruz state. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

By Associated Press 6 min read

MEXICO CITY (AP) – Everything was fine as of 2:13 p.m. Friday.

Ruben Espinosa got a text from a friend. The two had made a pact to stay in touch when Espinosa moved to Mexico City in self-exile. A news photographer for eight years in Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz state, he had left in early June after being followed and harassed by three men in a state where 11 journalists have been killed just since 2010.

“What’s up?” the friend, a fellow photographer, wrote.

“I went out with two people. I ended up staying the night and now I’m going home,” Espinosa answered a minute later.

It was the last time anyone heard from Espinosa. He was found tortured and shot to death along with four other victims, all women, Friday night in an apartment in a middle-class neighborhood.