3 U.S. citizens among 4 people killed mysteriously in Mexico
On Sunday, Raquel and Pedro Alvarado buried three of their children -- Erica, Alex and Jose Angel -- in the Mexican village of El Control, just five miles south of the Texas border.
The final resting place for the youths -- all in their 20s -- is the place where their family originated. But this small community, administered by the larger border city of Matamoros, merely provides bookends to the lives these three Americans had north of the Rio Grande.
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The siblings were born in the United States, grew up in Progreso, Texas, and continued to make their lives there.
Mother grieves over kids killed in Mexico
They disappeared on October 13 -- kidnapped, witnesses say -- as they returned to Texas from a trip to visit their father in El Control.
Their bodies were found last week. Each was bound at their hands and feet, the Tamaulipas State Attorney General's Office said, and each had a gunshot wound to the head. A fourth victim, Jose Castaneda, met the same fate. Castaneda was Erica's boyfriend, her family said.
All four were killed the same day they disappeared, a spokesman for the State Attorney General's Office said, without elaborating.
Some witnesses told investigators that the armed men who confronted and took the youths belonged to a new security force known as "Grupo Hercules," State Attorney General Ismael Quintanilla Acosta told reporters.
Grupo Hercules was created one month before the disappearance of the youths. It is touted as an elite security force under the direction of the mayor of Matamoros, 37-year-old Leticia Salazar.
In parts of Mexico like this stretch of border, where drug cartels battle each other and law enforcement, things aren't always what they seem. Drug gangs have been known to pose as cops. Cops have been known to be on cartel payrolls. Cases of mistaken identity have had deadly consequences.
But what troubles Pedro and Raquel Alvarado is that no one has offered a motive or theory about why their children and Castaneda were killed.
No one has accused the Alvarado siblings of being involved in criminal activity. And while nine members of Grupo Hercules were interrogated by investigators, no arrests have been made.
Salazar, the Matamoros mayor, has neither defended nor disciplined her security forces -- at least publicly.
Contacted by CNN, Salazar referred questions to the city's public affairs team, which earlier said it did not have any comment on the allegations against Grupo Hercules and could not confirm why the group was created or even its size.
The U.S. Consulate in Matamoros has been assisting the family.They disappeared on October 13 -- kidnapped, witnesses say -- as they returned to Texas from a trip to visit their father in El Control.
Their bodies were found last week. Each was bound at their hands and feet, the Tamaulipas State Attorney General's Office said, and each had a gunshot wound to the head. A fourth victim, Jose Castaneda, met the same fate. Castaneda was Erica's boyfriend, her family said.
All four were killed the same day they disappeared, a spokesman for the State Attorney General's Office said, without elaborating.
Some witnesses told investigators that the armed men who confronted and took the youths belonged to a new security force known as "Grupo Hercules," State Attorney General Ismael Quintanilla Acosta told reporters.
Grupo Hercules was created one month before the disappearance of the youths. It is touted as an elite security force under the direction of the mayor of Matamoros, 37-year-old Leticia Salazar.
In parts of Mexico like this stretch of border, where drug cartels battle each other and law enforcement, things aren't always what they seem. Drug gangs have been known to pose as cops. Cops have been known to be on cartel payrolls. Cases of mistaken identity have had deadly consequences.
But what troubles Pedro and Raquel Alvarado is that no one has offered a motive or theory about why their children and Castaneda were killed.
No one has accused the Alvarado siblings of being involved in criminal activity. And while nine members of Grupo Hercules were interrogated by investigators, no arrests have been made.
Salazar, the Matamoros mayor, has neither defended nor disciplined her security forces -- at least publicly.
Contacted by CNN, Salazar referred questions to the city's public affairs team, which earlier said it did not have any comment on the allegations against Grupo Hercules and could not confirm why the group was created or even its size.
"We have been in contact with Mexican officials both in Washington and in Mexico to find out further details of the case, and will take appropriate action (if necessary) once more is known about the circumstances," a State Department official said.
An FBI spokeswoman said the agency is assisting Mexican officials with any part of the investigation on the U.S. side of the border.
Read the full detail here: Edition.cnn.
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