Following confirmed reports that two Americans were found dead after crossing the border into Mexico for a medical procedure, three more women are believed to be missing in the country.
CNN reported Saturday that the women were traveling from Texas to Mexico to sell clothes at a flea market when they disappeared. They have yet to be found.
Both US and Mexican authorities are investigating the disappearance of the women, identified as Marina Perez Rios, 48, her sister Martiza Trinidad Perez Rios, 47, and their friend Dora Alicia Cervantes Saenz, 53.
According to reports, the women traveled to Mexico on February 24 and headed to a flew market in Nuevo León, about three hours away from the US border.
The news comes just days after the bodies of Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were found by Mexican authorities in the country. Their remains were recently sent to the US. Two other Americans – Latavia Washington McGee and Eric Williams – were kidnapped along with Woodard and Brown, but they survived. They have been taken to a local Texas hospital where they are being treated and evaluated.
“The victims were found in a wooden house in Matamoros and had been transferred to various places over the days in order to create confusion and avoid rescue efforts,” Villarreal further stated.
Six people have been arrested in connection to the killings of the two Americans earlier this month, Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica said Friday, although he would not reveal the suspects’ identity nor confirm whether they are affiliated with a criminal organization.
The group of abductees had traveled to Mexico from South Carolina so that McGee could perform a medical procedure in the country, family members told CNN. Authorities believe they were kidnapped under what appears to have been a mistaken identity.
“The group crossed into Matamoros in the state of Tamaulipas, at about 9:18 a.m. Friday, Villareal said, but they got lost while trying to locate the medical clinic, McGee’s close friend told CNN. “They reached out to the doctor’s office for directions on Friday but were struggling to communicate with the office because they had a poor cellphone signal.”
Once they crossed the border shooters struck them with bullets and were “placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” according to the FBI, which believes the group was targeted by a Mexican cartel who thought they were Haitian drug smugglers.
Many Mexican cities have been focal points of violence in what has been a long-running Mexican drug war that has plagued the country in recent years.
