 When Silva was arrested in October 2012 , he confessed to the murder of Martínez Pérez . Investigators and authorities in Veracruz concluded that the journalist was killed during a robbery . But when placed before a judge , Silva retracted his confession and stated that he had been tortured , held hostage for over a week , and threatened by Veracruz authorities in order to make him confess to the assassination . Silva said that officials had threatened to kill his mother , his last remaining family member . During a press conference , the Veracruz authorities relied solely on the confession of Silva as evidence against him . None of them made references to DNA , fingerprint , or blood samples from the murder scene . Sources close to the Committee to Protect Journalists stated that the samples collected at the crime scene do not match those of any of the criminals listed on the national database . This should rule out both Silva and Domínguez ( who is still at large ) from the murder , because both of them have extensive criminal records . Proceso news magazine immediately took a critical stance toward the investigation and said that they did not believe that the Veracruz authorities were capable of completing a clean investigation . The Committee to Protect Journalists believes that the murder case was possibly fabricated , and that Silva was likely used as a scapegoat by the authorities . Just a few items were stolen from Martínez Pérez 's house while valuable goods were left behind , so they allege that theft was not the real motive behind her murder . According to Mexican law , Proceso was allowed to participate in the investigation , so they appointed a top journalist to cover every detail of it . Proceso has complained that the Veracruz authorities have lied to them regarding possible developments in the investigation . 
