A fifth person traveling with the four Americans kidnapped in Mexico was detained at the border for not carrying their photo ID. While the names of the four abductees are known, two of whom have died, the name of the woman who is apparently a citizen of South Carolina is unknown.

Latavia ‘Tay’ McGee traveled to Mexico with her friends Eric Williams, Zindell Brown and her cousin Shaeed Woodard for a cheap tummy tuck. The group was caught in gang crossfire and abducted by the notorious criminal syndicate and drug trafficking organization the Gulf Cartel as they drove through Matamoros on Friday. Brown and Woodard did not survive the harrowing ordeal.

Two Americans were found dead in Mexico on Tuesday, four days after they were kidnapped along with two compatriots in the border town of Matamoros. in the northeast of the country.

Here’s what is known about the case, which authorities believe is a drug cartel.

What were they doing in Mexico?

The victims, identified by US media as Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown (deceased), Eric James Williams, found injured, and Latavia McGee entered Mexico last Friday because one of them was planning to undergo cosmetic surgery.

This version, based on statements made by his relatives to the American press, is confirmed by documents found in his vehicle.

“What was found (…) were medical laboratory tests with the intent that one of the Americans had come to have cosmetic surgery at one of the border clinics,” said Tamaulipas governor Américo Villarreal.

“That is the reason (…) for their presence in Matamoros,” he added.

Villarreal ruled out versions on social networks that the victims worked for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI.

“There is no basis to believe they have any relationship with the FBI,” he said.

His visit to Matamoros, a Tamaulipas town that is one of the most affected by organized crime in Mexico, came as a U.S. government warning is in effect for its citizens to refrain from traveling to that state because of kidnappings and other crimes. .

kidnapped Friday

The Americans entered Mexican territory at 09:18 local time (15:18 GMT) on March 3 in a white van with North Carolina license plates.

Video surveillance footage records their journey through the streets of downtown Matamoros as of 11:12 local time. Minutes later they are followed, first by a sedan and then by three trucks.

At 11:45 local time (17:45 GMT), the cameras show the US vehicle being intercepted by the three trucks. Four armed men descend from one of them.

Shortly afterwards, three other cars arrived at the scene, including a white van in which, according to images posted on social networks, the Americans were being coffined by their captors.

“The line (investigation) is being strengthened that it was confusion (of the criminals), it was not direct aggression” against the visitors, State Attorney Irving Barrios noted, clarifying that all hypotheses remain open.

escape attempt

After being forced into the truck, the four Americans got out and tried to flee, but the kidnappers shot at them and knocked them to the ground, the prosecution said in a printed presentation, illustrated with some video footage.

A 33-year-old Mexican woman died near the crime scene, possibly the victim of a stray bullet.

After the attack, the kidnappers approached and dragged the injured, as well as the unharmed woman, back into the truck and quickly left, while another vehicle guarded the attackers.

The prosecutor’s office does not specify whether the escape attempt took place in the same place where they were intercepted or in a different part of the city.

complex search

Villarreal reported that during the three days following the kidnapping, the hostages were transferred to various places in the city, including a clinic, to “create confusion and prevent rescue attempts”.

The search was unsuccessful from Friday to Monday, as part of the information received was intended for that purpose “mislead the work of the authorities”accredited prosecutor Barrios.

Agents from this agency have visited at least six hospitals in the city without finding any injuries.

Reward

He The FBI offered a $50,000 reward. the one who gave information about the whereabouts of the hostages.

The latest discovery, derived from an operation in a peripheral neighborhood, took place in a wooden house near a lagoon.

There lay the bodies of two men, while the survivors, one of them injured in the leg, were repatriated on Tuesday.

The authors

So far, the only detainee “red-handed” for the kidnapping is a 24-year-old man from Tamaulipas, identified as José Guadalupe “N”, who was guarding the detainees when authorities arrived.

Barrios insisted there are still no elements to determine which criminal organization it belongs to, but indicated that “the criminal group known to operate there is the Gulf Cartel.”

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar also highlighted his administration’s concerns about “the control exercised by the Gulf Cartel in the area known as the small border,” referring to the Tamaulipas border.