María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa is the former first lady of Iguala , a city in Guerrero , Mexico . Pineda Villa and her husband , José Luis Abarca Velázquez were accused by Attorney General of Mexico Jesús Murillo Karam of the " probable masterminds " behind the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping and disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers ' College . Pineda Villa and her husband fled hours after the reported abductions and were arrested by federal authorities on November 4 , 2014 . The prosecution 's investigation indicates that Mayor Abarca ordered local police to stop the students from protesting a political event and speech Pineda Villa was scheduled to hold . The police allegedly attacked the students ' buses when they entered Iguala and then delivered them to members of the local drug gang , Guerreros Unidos . Along with her familial ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and Beltrán-Leyva Cartel , confessions by detained gang members and police officers have revealed Pineda Villa as the " principle operator " of the Guerreros Unidos
2014 Iguala mass kidnapping
2014 Iguala mass kidnapping
María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa