Death of a beauty queen in hail of gunfire

Susy Flores sashayed across the stage in a sequined black dress, showing the judges of the Sinaloa beauty contest the smile and the strut she had perfected in pageants since preschool. The judges were dazzled, and before long she was bowing her head to accept the 2012 crown. If you had asked her that February weekend, she would have said the future she'd chosen was clear: pageants as far away as China, a chance to compete for the coveted Miss Mexico title, and then, maybe, Miss Universe. But Susy had chosen a fateful path at the crossroads of power and beauty in a state known for its drug lords and pageant queens. In November, she died like a mobster's moll, carrying an AK-47 into a spray of gunfire from Mexican soldiers.