CNN
—
Two Americans have returned to the US from Mexico and are being treated at a hospital after an armed kidnapping left two of their friends dead and spurred a days-long search for the US travelers who had crossed the border for a medical procedure, officials say.
The four Americans were found in a “wooden house” in or near the Mexican border city of Matamoros, where they were kidnapped on Friday, Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal announced Tuesday.
In the days they were missing, he said, the group had been taken to several places “to create confusion and avoid rescue efforts.”
Victims Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were found dead at the scene, a US official familiar with the ongoing investigation told CNN. Their remains are expected to be repatriated to the US after a Mexican medical examiner completes a forensic examination to determine their causes of death, the source added.
The surviving travelers, Latavia Washington McGee and and Eric Williams, were found alive, and Washington McGee had not been injured, Villarreal said.
Williams, however, had been shot three times – once in one leg and twice in the other – and was brought to a hospital in Texas to undergo surgery, his wife, Michele Williams, told CNN. The FBI confirmed Tuesday that Williams and Washington McGee had been transported to a hospital in the US.
Williams was emotional as he spoke to his wife on the phone, Michele Williams told CNN, explaining that her husband considered Woodard and Brown to be like his “brothers.” Their 11-year-old son was also happy to hear from his father, she said.
The tight-knit group of friends had driven to Mexico from South Carolina so Washington McGee – a mother of six – could undergo a medical procedure in Matamoros, two family members told CNN.
But the group never made it to the doctor’s office on Friday, the family members said. Their car was intercepted by unidentified gunmen who fired upon the Americans, loaded them into a vehicle and took them from the scene, according to the FBI. A Mexican bystander was also killed at the scene by a stray bullet, Villarreal said.
Investigators believe the Americans were targeted by a Mexican cartel that likely mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers, a US official familiar with the investigation told CNN.
One person has been detained in connection with the two deaths who was undertaking “surveillance functions of the victims,” Villarreal said, but officials would not confirm whether the person is related to a criminal organization.
The four friends had booked a hotel in Brownsville, Texas, and were planning on driving across the border to Matamoros for Washington McGee to undergo a cosmetic surgery on Friday, Washington McGee’s close friend who did not want to be identified told CNN.
The group crossed into Matamoros at about 9:18 a.m. Friday, Villarreal said.
After becoming lost on their way to the clinic, the friends tried to communicate with the doctor’s office for directions but were struggling with the communication because of a poor phone signal, the close friend said.
At some point as the friends were driving, unidentified gunmen fired upon their minivan and then loaded the Americans into their vehicle and took them away, according to the FBI. A Mexican official said Tuesday that the gunmen were driving a pickup truck.
A video obtained by CNN that matches the incident shows a woman and other unidentified people being roughly loaded into a white pickup truck. The video shows the woman being pulled or pushed onto the bed of the truck by two unidentified people as a third visibly armed man watches before the men appear to drag at least two limp people onto the truck bed. CNN has not independently confirmed it is the four Americans shown in the video.
When Mexican authorities arrived on the scene, they noticed the Americans’ van had North Carolina license plates and reached out to US officials, who were able to run the plates, according to Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica.
Investigators began processing vehicles, obtaining ballistics and fingerprint data, taking biological samples for genetic profiles and gathering surveillance camera footage, Mexican officials said.
Police were able to identify the gunmen’s truck, Barrios Mojica said. Officials then initiated “several searches” with different agencies, he said.
After days of searching, the Americans were finally found at a house outside Matamoros on Tuesday Morning, the attorney general said. At the scene, two of the friends were dead – identified by a source as Woodard and Brown – while Washington McGee and Williams were still alive.
Though US law enforcement were not involved in the search on the ground, federal and local agencies in Mexico were cooperating in the effort and a joint task force was created to communicate with US officials, Barrios Mojica said.