In a TikTok video that captivated and horrified viewers, a user shares the chilling story of a couple’s tourist trip to Mexico that went horribly wrong.
TikTok user David Nurminem (@donurm) starts the video by saying he has a true story about a girl’s nightmare vacation. He titled the video, “The worst story that makes my skin crawl every time I think about her. Do not go to Mexico unless you really know where you’re going and who you’re going with.” It has amassed 11 million views since Nov. 25.
Nurminem begins his tale by setting the scene: “You’re a guy. You finally found a girl that you wanna settle down with and be with forever. You’re extremely happy with her. You go on a trip with her and some of your friends to Mexico, OK? You’re at a bar, things are going great. Tequila’s flowing, mariachi music’s playing. You’re having tacos or whatever, and everything’s great.”
The story takes a nightmarish turn when the girlfriend goes missing. “She goes to the bathroom. You don’t really hear from her, um, for a few minutes. So you go look, and she’s not there, and you can’t find her. You spend the next couple days searching, cause you can’t find her anywhere in Mexico,” Nurminem says. The horrifying climax occurs at the border: “You’re in line at the border and you see her, like, sitting in the back seat of an SUV. She’s just sitting there, kind of sitting down, sitting face forward, not moving. They realize she’s dead, and her entire body is filled with drugs.”
The TikTok community reacted with a mix of shock, sympathy, and advice. One user wrote, “I would never have guessed that ending in a million years.” Another expressed horror and sorrow, writing, “The way I would literally never recover from this.” And another user wrote, “We live among demons… truly terrifying. I can’t even imagine what she went through. I’m so sorry mama rest in peace angel.” One user emphasized the importance of safety. “For those saying ‘I would’ve never guessed’ I can it’s so insanely common, so please please please be safe on trips and don’t go anywhere alone EVER,” they wrote.
@donurm The worst story that makes my skin crawl everytime i think about her. Do not go to mexico unless you really know where youre going and who youre going with. #greenscreenvideo ♬ original sound – Nurm
Tragically, incidents akin to the one Nurminem shared in his video have occurred before. The Guardian reported in May of 2000 that a “small girl” was “abducted and killed” only for her body to be used as a carcass suitcase to be filled with drugs. The intent was to have her narcotics-filled corpse transported across the border to then be cut open to extricate said narcotics to be disseminated for stateside sales.
Update 1:54pm CT, Dec. 4: While the majority of viewers took Nurminem’s story at face value, a TikToker who said he’s lived right by the Mexico–United States border his whole life questioned it. “Has anyone fact checked this story ?” @juan_sushii asked, arguing he’s “never heard of this.” Viewers credited the story not being well-known to the lack of mainstream news coverage some stories like these get.
However, the claim that drug dealers use hollowed-out bodies to smuggle drugs has been around since at least 2000. Snopes fact-checked the claim at the time and found it to be “false.” Snopes reported that there is no evidence of this “being a common practice in the drug trade” and chalked up a story similar to Nurminem’s as an “urban legend.” “The tale is sickeningly fascinating (thus ensuring it will be told and re-told), and it plays right into what we want to believe about those in the drug trade,” Snopes reported.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Nurminem via Instagram DM for further comment.