Gabriel Trujillo, a 31-year-old University of California, Berkeley graduate student, was shot and killed in Mexico while conducting field research, according to friends and family.
Trujillo went missing in mid-June month while collecting plant samples in the Mexican state of Sonora, his family said on a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral services. Trujillo's father, Anthony Trujillo, told The Associated Press his son was shot seven times.
His body was discovered June 22, days after his fiancée reported him missing.
Trujillo was a botanist in his fourth year of a doctoral program in the UC Berkeley Department of Integrative Biology. University officials said they learned of Trujillo's death June 23.
"Local police authorities are investigating," UC Berkeley said in a statement. "This is heartbreaking news and campus officials have reached out to his family to offer support and assistance."
Faculty members in the Department of Integrative Biology called Trujillo "a passionate ecologist, field biologist, and advocate for diverse voices in science."
"He was a member of a tightly knit group of graduate students in ecology and his partner is also a member of our campus community. We all face a world that is less bright for this loss," faculty members said in an email to students and staff.
In an obituary prepared by his family, Trujillo is described as having a "passion for nature and culture and a relentless drive for science. His deep appreciation for the natural world guided him to explore the wonders of the outdoors. He found solace in the beauty of nature, always eager to learn and protect the environment he held so dear."
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department confirmed that a U.S. citizen was killed in Sonora, but did not identify the person as Trujillo. The U.S. government said it was in contact with the person's family and providing assistance, but would not offer any additional information.
The U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs has advised travelers to reconsider travel to Sonora, which borders Arizona, due to crime and kidnappings. The agency's travel advisory says the border state is a key location for drug cartels and human trafficking networks, with widespread violence.
About 1,000 miles east of Sonora in another border town, four Americans were caught in a drug cartel shootout in the city of Matamoros earlier this year. The four Americans were kidnapped shortly after they crossed the border, according to Mexican officials. Mexican authorities rescued two of the Americans and found the bodies of the two other victims in a wooden shack in the outskirts of Matamoros.
The group said they traveled from South Carolina to Mexico for cosmetic surgery.
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