The true story behind Netflix's The Search (2024)

The tragic disappearance and death of a four-year-old Mexican girl in 2010 is now the subject of The Search, a new Netflix show.

As a dramatisation, starring Regina Blandón and Darío Yazbek Bernal among others, some of it was modified and fictionalised. But the show has garnered a lot of attention and curiosity over what really transpired in the case.

On March 22, 2010, four-year-old Paulette Gebara Farah was reported missing from her house in Huixquilucan, Mexico. Just the night before, she had returned with her family from a vacation and her mother had put her to bed. In the morning, when one of her nannies went to wake her, she was nowhere to be found. There was no evidence of her having left the house – her parents claimed that she could not have left on her own, owing to her language and motor disabilities.

The case was quickly taken over by Alberto Bazbaz, the State Attorney General, and garnered national attention as it spread like wildfire via print and social media. Subsequently, several inconsistencies began emerging in Paulette's family's statements to the police. The parents, Lizette Farah and Mauricio Gebara, were detained with the nannies for further investigations.

Related: Are we right to have an obsession with true crime?

Nine days after her disappearance, Paulette's body was discovered in her room, tucked between mattresses and sheets in her own bed. This led to a widespread controversy, with people questioning how the body was huddled in the bed all these days while hundreds of people, including officials and even dogs came and went by in the room. In fact, Lizette's friend Amanda de la Rosa slept on the very bed and claimed there were no signs of her being there.

Paulette's death was initially believed to be a homicide, with Lizette the main suspect (although she was not charged, and has always stated her innocence), but the Attorney General (and even the coroner) revised their statements, and Paulette's case was declared an unfortunate accident and closed (via LA Times). There were no signs of physical or sexual violence (via Decider).

The Search, however, takes some liberties in depicting the reality on screen. Several facts about the case were not a part of the show. For instance, Lizette had appealed on television to the suspected kidnapper, asking him to leave Paulette in a public place and assuring him that there would be no consequences.

A video of the officials discovering the body was released, where they loudly proclaim that Paulette seems to have been "severely beaten" and there were blood stains on the bed, though the timing of their claims on the tape as they relate to their actions raised questions about the truth of the "discovery".

The show hypothesises that Mauricio's powerful relatives might have had a hand in the mess of the investigations, implying that they even had the body planted in the bed. It makes little mention of Mauricio's involvement in the case, instead focusing on Lizette and the Attorney General's work.

Besides, in reality, Paulette's funeral was headed by Lizette and not attended by the Gebera family "due to an agreement". Finally, in 2017, Paulette's body was exhumed and cremated, since nothing else remained in the investigation and the case was long closed.

Back when the case was at the forefront of controversy, a discovery involving Paulette's pyjamas was made public, attracting further scrutiny. It was alleged that Paulette was wearing the same pyjamas when her body was discovered as the ones that appear in her room during an interview with Lizette a few days after her disappearance. The pyjamas were dismissed as belonging to Paulette's sister (also called Lizette), but the mystery around them continued to confound.

The show does not depict many of these matters, intertwined though they are in this mystery. It does portray several fictionalized aspects (such as Carolina, a journalist who uncovers several truths about the case). Instead of the fact that Paulette and her family had returned from a vacation just the day before, it's shown that Lizette and Amanda went on a trip to Los Cabos with several men, something used to pile up further suspicion on Lizette.

The Attorney General resigned after this case, citing its poor handling; Paulette's parents moved on, and so did everyone else involved in the case.

Conspiracy theories continue to abound, though, over what really happened to Paulette, and whether the details provided by the officials could be taken at face value at all. The Search shows the unfortunate end to the life of a four-year-old, and how many lives went spiralling along with the case.

The Search is available on Netflix.

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