On August 16, the day after the 2007 Peru earthquake, the dismembered body of Gómez Menéndez was discovered by fishermen in a large blue suitcase that washed up on a beach at the Barranco District of Lima. Smith left the country on the same day. Police believe that the suitcase, which was found attached to thick green cords, had been kept submerged by a weight and broke free by the force of the quake; the epicenter was located in the ocean 150 kilometers (93 mi) south of Lima. Patricia Menéndez identified her daughter's partially decomposed remains by a butterfly tattoo on the back of the neck and vowed to seek justice. The case attracted widespread attention in Peru and became known as "El Enigma de la Mariposa" ("The Mystery of the Butterfly").