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A Mexican influencer is kidnapped on camera, a sign that social media is another battlefront in cartel wars
Nicole Pardo Molina, an online influencer known as La Nicholette, didn’t run when the white car pulled up beside her Tesla Cybertruck, which was parked in an upscale neighbourhood in Culiacán, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
When the driver, who was unmasked, stepped out of the car, Pardo Molina turned around and attempted to get back into her truck.
But it was too late for the 20-year-old OnlyFans model, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.
The rear passenger door burst open and another man, his face partly covered and armed with a rifle, pulled Pardo Molina from her vehicle and shoved her into the back of the white car with the driver’s help.
The afternoon kidnapping on Jan. 20 took about 40 seconds. It was all captured by the camera on Pardo Molina’s Cybertruck.
Influencer Nicole Pardo Molina’s kidnapping in Culiacán, Sinaloa, was caught on video by one of the cameras on her Tesla Cybertruck. CBC obtained the video from a private Telegram account.
When the video began to circulate that day across social media apps like TikTok, Telegram and X, speculation swirled that it could have been a stunt.
But at 10:11 p.m. local time that same day, the Sinaloa Attorney General’s office issued a missing persons alert for Pardo Molina with her photograph.
“It’s believed her physical safety could be at risk,” said the notice.
‘This makes me afraid’
Pardo Molina’s kidnapping added to a grim tally that’s been slowly growing over the past five years across Mexico, where at least 21 social media influencers have been kidnapped or killed.
Bullets have cut most of them down. And organized crime killers are often the ones pulling the trigger.
TikTok and Instagram influencer Gerardo Moya, nicknamed “El Jerry,” showcased high-end vehicles and designer brands, and was shot dead in a suspected hit in November 2025 while driving through Culiacán in a late-model pickup truck.
In September, Miguel de la Mora, a beauty influencer known as “Micky Hair,” was gunned down outside of his hair salon in Mexico City. Another hair and beauty influencer, Valeria Márquez, was shot dead in May while livestreaming to her 200,000 followers in the Zapopan, Jalisco, hair salon where she worked.
In May 2023, Tania Guzmán, an influencer who shared makeup tips, was found in a grave with six other bodies along a highway in the state of Michoacán. She had been missing for a month.
Real-world violence stalks the virtual world in Mexico.
“As an influencer, yes, this makes me afraid,” said Nelly Peña, an Instagram lifestyle influencer who lives in Culiacán.
Peña said discussing the violence in the city and its impact on businesses could draw attention from the wrong people, who could misinterpret comments or be offended by a post and respond with a bullet.
Peña said she sometimes has to ask herself, “Should I post this type of content, will it draw the wrong attention, will I get threats?”
She said other influencers who produce content that has nothing to do with politics or the cartels share the same fear.
“You always tell yourself that anything can happen, because there is a lot of uncertainty in many of our cities,” she said. “As a content creator, your image is more exposed, and this can bring you fear.”
A hostage video
Sometime around Jan. 23, a day after Security and Public Protection Secretary Omar Harfuch said during a press conference that Mexican authorities were working with Sinaloa law enforcement to find Nicole Pardo Molina, a video purporting to be of the kidnapped influencer — in the style of a hostage confession — surfaced.
CBC News independently confirmed the authenticity of the video.
In it, Pardo Molina stated that she was reading from prepared text. She said that she had bribed police officers, collected extortion money and moved money and guns for the faction of the Sinaloa drug cartel loyal to Ismael (El Mayo) Zambada, who was betrayed and handed over to U.S. authorities by one of Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzmán’s sons in July 2024.
This betrayal sparked a civil war between supporters of Zambada and his son and those loyal to El Chapo’s sons. The conflict, which continues today, has led to the death and disappearance of thousands across Sinaloa.
Just this Wednesday, two state-level lawmakers with the Citizen’s Movement party came under gunfire in Culiacán while travelling in a vehicle. One of the lawmakers, Sergio Torres, was seriously wounded and hospitalized, according to local media reports.
The Mexican government sent 1,600 additional troops to the state on Thursday.
At least seven influencers have been killed in and around Culiacán since the conflict began.
It appears Pardo Molina’s kidnapping was another salvo in the Sinaloa cartel’s civil war, said Deborah Bonello, managing editor of Insight Crime, a think-tank and media organization focused on security and organized crime in Latin America.
“These kidnappings … are sort of a show of power,” said Bonello.
The image the cartels aim to project, including the allure of luxury, power and prestige, suffuses popular culture in Mexico, be it in music, fashion or the social media sphere.
“It’s a little bit like gangster rap in the U.S. during the 1980s and 1990s, and their association with criminal activities,” said Bonello, author of the book Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America’s Cartels. The fascination with the cartels draws in people who have no links to any criminal faction.
“Buying certain cars, wearing certain jewelry and perfumes, listening to certain music doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re part of organized crime. But it associates you with it.”
Mexico has faced ongoing violence involving organized crime groups since 2006, when then-president Felipe Calderon launched military operations to break up the drug cartels.
Bonello said the social media sphere has become another theatre in this conflict.
“You have dozens, if not hundreds, of influencers … who are associated with various parts of organized criminal groups, who are part of this communication and propaganda machine,” she said.
Some influencers use their content to brag about their connections to certain groups, or to promote music or jewelry designs aligned with a specific faction or cartel capo.
“And the way of silencing that propaganda or that messaging is to silence the messenger, right?” Bonello said.
‘Thank you for never losing faith’
On Jan. 24, the Sinaloa Attorney General’s office released Pardo Molina’s missing persons poster with the word “localizada,” meaning she had been found.
The next day, a video surfaced of a tearful Pardo Molina, standing next to a priest, and thanking the congregation of a Catholic church for keeping her in their prayers.
“Thank you for never losing faith,” she said.
It remains unclear how Pardo Molina found her freedom, when so many others who faced the same ordeal did not survive.
CBC News reached out to Pardo Molina for comment.
“I’m not giving any statements at the moment,” she said in a message over Instagram.
Sinaloan Gov. Ruben Rocha didn’t provide any details during a press conference on Monday, saying only that state law enforcement was working on the case and that the U.S. Consulate had been following developments. Pardo Molina is a dual Mexican and U.S. citizen.
Bonello said the involvement of the U.S. State Department may have played a role in her release.
“Killing her was probably a headache the people who took her didn’t want,” Bonello said.
“She survived and a lot of influencers who are targeted … do not. That’s kind of exceptional about this story.”