Array
A week after the violent kidnappings of four Americans in Mexico, investigators are still working to piece together the details, including an apology letter from a cartel suspected of carrying out what one victim’s father has called the “senseless crime” that left two Americans and one Mexican woman dead.
Prosecutors in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas are not ruling out any line of investigation and are still gathering more information related to the kidnappings last Friday, an official familiar with the investigation told CNN. The source said the situation remains “very confusing.”
The Gulf Cartel, which is believed to be responsible for the kidnappings, issued an apology letter on Thursday and handed over five of its members to local authorities, according to images circulating online and a version of the letter obtained by CNN from an official familiar with the ongoing investigation.
CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the photos and has asked Mexican and US authorities for comment.
“The Gulf Cartel, Scorpion Group, strongly condemns the events of last Friday,” the letter reads, referring to a division of the cartel. “For this reason, we decided to hand over those directly involved and responsible for the acts, who at all times acted under their own determination and indiscipline and against the rules in which the [Gulf Cartel] always operates.”
Though investigators believe the letter to be authentic, Mexican and US law enforcement officials participating in the investigation strongly doubt the sincerity of the group’s apology, the official who shared the letter with CNN said.
The bodies of two Americans killed in the kidnapping – Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown – were delivered to US diplomatic authorities Thursday after undergoing forensic examination, Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios said in a tweet.
The two survivors – Latavia Washington McGee and Eric Williams – returned to the US on Tuesday to be treated in a hospital. Williams, who had been shot three times in his legs, has since undergone two surgeries and had rods placed in his legs, his wife said on a GoFundMe page to raise money for Williams’s medical and living expenses.
A fifth American group member, Cheryl Orange, planned to travel with the group on the day of the kidnapping but had to stay behind because she did not have proper identification to cross the border. She told CNN that she has battled the guilt of narrowly missing the attack.
