Two Americans in a group of four friends who were kidnapped during a trip to Mexico last week have been found dead.
The group was taken hostage on Friday (3 March) after entering the state of Tamaulipas in Matamoros – an area dominated by the Gulf cartel. The Americans, who had driven from South Carolina, came under fire from a group of armed men and were bundled into the back of a pickup truck.
Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal revealed on a call during a Tuesday evening press conference that two of the victims, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown had been found dead. Eric James Williams was wounded on his leg while LaTavia “Tay” McGee was unharmed — they are back in the US, according to the Tamaulipas Attorney General.
Ms McGee’s mother Barbara Burgess told ABC News that her daughter had travelled from her home in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to get a tummy tuck in Mexico, and that her cousin Mr Woodard and their two friends were accompanying her on the ride.
US officials familiar with the investigation told CNN that authorities believe a Mexican cartel mistook the victims for Haitian drug smugglers.
A suspect, 24-year-old Jose “N,” has been arrested. The man was tasked with making sure the victims didn’t escape during the three-day kidnapping and he was captured at the scene on Tuesday, Mr Villareal said.
An unnamed state authority told the Associated Press that the missing American citizens were found in a rural area east of Matamoros called Ejido Longoreño on the way to the local beach known as Playa Baghdad.
Investigators reportedly received word of the victims’ location before dawn on Tuesday. Ambulance crews were sent to assist the surviving victims, according to Mr Villareal.
“We continue to work every day towards peace and are very sorry that this has happened in our country,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said during an earlier press conference on Tuesday.
“We send our condolences to the victims’ friends and family and the American people. And we will continue to work towards peace.”
Mr Lopez Obrador also claimed that the tragedy will be seized by the American media to portray Mexico as a dangerous country, in stark contrast with their “silence when Mexicans are killed in the US.” He went on to say that GOP politicians will also use the crime as an opportunity to push “their agenda.”
White House Press Secretary Karine noted during a briefing that the Biden administration remains committed to “disrupting transnational criminal organizations including Mexican drug cartels and human smugglers.”
“We remain committed to applying the full weight of our efforts and resources to counter them,” Ms Jean-Pierre said.
“Right now, our immediate concerns are for the safe return of our citizens, the health and well-being of those who survived this attack, and the support which must be rendered to the families of those who need it.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also decried the attack on the American citizens and vowed to get justice for their families.
“We appreciate the hard work of the Justice Department the FBI and the DEA and the Department of Homeland Security … we’re grateful for their swift response to this dreadful incident and for their continued collaboration with Mexican authorities,” Mr Kirby told reporters.
“We’re going to work closely with the Mexican government to ensure that justice is done in this case.”
When asked whether the White House was considering policy changes in response to the attack, Mr Kirby said that there were no immediate remedies but insisted US authorities are working extensively to get the fatal victim’s bodies and the survivors back on American soil.
”Right now our focus is very squarely on these four Americans and the families that have been affected by the attack and I think you’ll hear more from the Justice Department as they learn more and can have more to share,” he added. “But it’s just too soon for me to be able to speak to any policy changes or, or vectors as a result of this attack.”
The group of four were travelling in a white minivan with North Carolina licence plates when they crossed the US border into Mexico on 3 March.
Ms McGee’s mother Barbara Burgess said she was worried about her daughter going and warned her it might not be safe. But, her daughter brushed off her concerns telling her: “Ma, I’ll be okay”.
Ms Burgess last heard from Ms McGee on Friday when she called to say that they were just 15 minutes from the cosmetic surgeon’s office where she was scheduled to have the procedure that day. She never heard from her daughter again.
Ms Burgess said she tried calling Ms McGee later that day but her phone went straight to voicemail.
Not long later, she said she received a visit from an FBI agent, revealing what had happened.
Mr Brown’s sister Zalandria Brown told the AP that the situation felt like a “bad dream” as she revealed that her younger brother had voiced concerns about travelling to such a dangerous place.
“Zindell kept saying, ‘We shouldn’t go down,’” she said.
But Mr Brown, a 28-year-old living in Myrtle Beach, still went on the trip with his three friends – in part because they had all agreed to help share driving duties.
“This is like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from,” said Ms Brown. “To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable.”
Mr Brown’s mother Christina Hickson told WPDE she “immediately” recognised him in the disturbing video circulating on social media.
The video, which has not been verified, shows armed men loading four people into the bed of a white pickup truck.
While one individual is moving and sitting upright, the other three are merely dragged limp into the vehicle.
Mr Williams’ North Carolina diver’s license was found at the scene of the abduction, reported ABC News.
The US State Department is advising Americans not to travel to Tamaulipas due to the risk of crime and kidnapping. The region is on the “Level 4: Do Not Travel” list.
The border city of Matamoros is largely controlled by the Gulf drug cartel, with violence and migrant smuggling rife.
A reward of $50,000 had been offered for information leading to the return of the victims and the arrest of the kidnappers.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI San Antonio Division at 210-225-6741 or to submit tips anonymously online at https://tips.fbi.gov
