A former mayor of a western Mexican town was found beaten to death.

Maria Santos Gorrostieta's body was found after her family reported her being missing for three days. The discovery was made last week by farm workers in San Juan Tararameo who found her body beaten and a severe blow to Gorrostieta's head, according to CNN.

Mexican authorities are investigating the case but it's still unclear who is responsible for the crime.

Gorrostieta was the mayor of Tiquicheo, a city in the western Michoacan state, for three years from 2008 to 2011. She survived two previous assassination attempts. One attempt in October 2009 involved an ambush by gunmen that left her with bullet wounds, but her husband Jose Sanchez did not survive the attack. She was attacked again three months later and injured during the second ambush.

While she didn't know who was responsible for the attacks, it's a common tactic for drug cartels to target government officials.

After the second attempt on her life, she released a statement saying, "I have a clear conscience, I have never had any issues of any kind, be it money, family or crime related, and I have never had any fights with any neighbors or residents of my town, or any other town."

Gorrostieta published pictures of her body with the scars after her two attacks.

She continued saying the following: "I wanted to show them my wounded, mutilated, humiliated body, because I'm not ashamed of it, because it is the product of the great misfortunes that have scarred my life, that of my children and my family. Despite my own safety and that of my family, what occupies my mind is my responsibility towards my people, the children, the women, the elderly and the men who break their souls every day without rest to find a piece of bread for their children."

Tags
Mexico