Suspected kidnapping in Mexico: an architect from Ohio, his fiancee and her family have been missing since Sunday
The four went missing on their way back from Christmas dinner, and their car was found abandoned. Locals reported that they witnessed panic and screaming, and are sure that it was a kidnapping
An Ohio architect, his fiancee and two other family members have been missing in Mexico since Christmas Day, and relatives fear they may have been kidnapped.
Jose Gutierrez traveled to Zacatecas, Mexico with his future wife Daniela Marquez to visit her family. On Sunday they went out to eat at a restaurant, and since then their traces have disappeared.
Gutierrez, Marx, her sister Viviana and their cousin Irma Vargas did not return to Marx’s home in Colotan at 10:00 p.m. as planned, said Marx’s mother, Rosa Picardo. Almost two hours later, the mother received word that her daughter was in Wyboras, about 20 miles north of Colotan.
According to media reports, the SUV she was driving was found abandoned in the Viveras neighborhood. Pichardo said: “There were people who saw that they were being kidnapped, there was a lot of panic, screaming. But they didn’t take them out, they took the car. They took the girls and my daughter’s fiance.”
Gutierrez’s family said he traveled from Cincinnati on Dec. 22 to visit his fiancee’s family, a trip he makes often.
His sister, Brandi Gutierrez, said the last time she spoke to her brother was on Christmas, before they went out to eat. Later that night, she read news reports of trouble in the area. “People actually heard screams. Something wrong happened there,” she said.
The US Department of State has issued a travel advisory for many areas in Mexico, where Zacatecas is one of the countries that the US warns not to visit at all due to many crimes and kidnappings. The travel warning reads: “Violent crime, extortion and gang activity are common in the state of Zacatecas,” adding that “United States citizens They were victims of kidnapping.”
Meanwhile, the Mexican government is reportedly searching for the missing family, and a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News that it is working with local authorities to help in the effort.
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