Mexican officials have arrested one person allegedly tied to the violent kidnapping of 4 US residents that left two dead.
Jose Guadalupe N., a 24-year-old Mexican national, was guarding the home where cartel members held captive for days and tortured the American friends Latavia “Tay” McGee, Eric James Williams, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown.
Authorities haven’t yet said whether Guadalupe is a component of the violent Gulf Cartel — the gang suspected of kidnapping the group — that operates within the region.
The captives were found Tuesday in a picket shack in a rural area east of Matamoros called Ejido Tecolote on the strategy to the Gulf coast often called “Bagdad Beach,” in accordance with Tamaulipas state chief prosecutor Irving Barrios.
By the point the group was discovered, Woodward, 33, and Brown, in his mid-20s, had been killed.
The survivors, McGee, 35, and Williams, 38, were rushed to Brownsville, Texas. Williams had been shot within the left leg, but his injury was not life threatening, Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal said.
The 4 pals from South Carolina had traveled across the southern border so McGee could undergo a tummy tuck operation, relatives have said.
Shortly after entering the crime-ridden city of Matamoros, they found themselves within the crosshairs of a shootout between rival cartel gangs.
Their kidnappers held them at gunpoint and compelled them into the back of a pickup truck in a violent, caught-on-camera abduction.
The group was moved multiple times throughout Tamaulipas in an effort to evade authorities. They were even taken to a medical clinic at one point “to create confusion and avoid efforts to rescue them,” Villarreal said.
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Police are still working to uncover a motive for the kidnapping, but theorize the buddies were confused with Haitian drug smugglers.
Guadalupe is the one person arrested to date within the case — investigators are still looking out for other assailants.
The FBI had offered a $50,000 reward for the victims’ return and the arrest of the abductors.
With Post wires
Mexican officials have arrested one person allegedly tied to the violent kidnapping of 4 US residents that left two dead.
Jose Guadalupe N., a 24-year-old Mexican national, was guarding the home where cartel members held captive for days and tortured the American friends Latavia “Tay” McGee, Eric James Williams, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown.
Authorities haven’t yet said whether Guadalupe is a component of the violent Gulf Cartel — the gang suspected of kidnapping the group — that operates within the region.
The captives were found Tuesday in a picket shack in a rural area east of Matamoros called Ejido Tecolote on the strategy to the Gulf coast often called “Bagdad Beach,” in accordance with Tamaulipas state chief prosecutor Irving Barrios.
By the point the group was discovered, Woodward, 33, and Brown, in his mid-20s, had been killed.
The survivors, McGee, 35, and Williams, 38, were rushed to Brownsville, Texas. Williams had been shot within the left leg, but his injury was not life threatening, Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal said.
The 4 pals from South Carolina had traveled across the southern border so McGee could undergo a tummy tuck operation, relatives have said.
Shortly after entering the crime-ridden city of Matamoros, they found themselves within the crosshairs of a shootout between rival cartel gangs.
Their kidnappers held them at gunpoint and compelled them into the back of a pickup truck in a violent, caught-on-camera abduction.
The group was moved multiple times throughout Tamaulipas in an effort to evade authorities. They were even taken to a medical clinic at one point “to create confusion and avoid efforts to rescue them,” Villarreal said.
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Police are still working to uncover a motive for the kidnapping, but theorize the buddies were confused with Haitian drug smugglers.
Guadalupe is the one person arrested to date within the case — investigators are still looking out for other assailants.
The FBI had offered a $50,000 reward for the victims’ return and the arrest of the abductors.
With Post wires
