What was supposed to be a fun road trip to Mexico was a post-pandemic adventure for a group of childhood friends.
One was treating herself with cosmetic surgery after having six children. It was a 34th birthday celebration for the other.
They rented a white van in South Carolina and set out on the nearly 22-hour trip, shooting silly videos and driving straight through Brownsville to the tip of Texas.
“Good Morning America!” Eric Williams said into the camera early in the morning after an all-night drive. “Mexico, here we come.”
But once they reached Mexico, the journey took a terrifying turn. Two members of the group never returned home after falling prey to the ruthless Gulf Cartel, a drug cartel tied to ruthless killings and kidnappings in the violent border city of Matamoros, a city of half a million people that has long been a Building strong. Powerful cartel.
There could hardly be a worse border town for a fun adventure.
It all started when Latavia McGee booked cosmetic surgery for 2021 with a doctor she’s previously had. Dr. Roberto Chavez Medina’s ads on Facebook and TikTok have a significant following among American women.
It’s a common story — people often travel to the U.S. for all kinds of medical treatment. let’s leave; Costs in Mexico can be less than half of what someone would pay in the United States.
McGee’s appointment came within days of his cousin Shad Woodard’s 34th birthday. Friends Zindell Brown and Cheryl Orange rounded out the group of five, most of whom grew up together in Lake City, South Carolina, a town of less than 6,000 people.
Once they reached the border, they rented rooms at a Motel 6 off the highway in Brownsville, a green town with a high poverty rate on the Rio Grande where parrots flutter from palm trees.
The friends set out on Friday morning to cross an international bridge that spans the two countries, thinking they were on their way to see a doctor on the other side. Orange stayed at a motel in Brownsville because she forgot to bring her ID to cross the border.
Orange said, “They had gone to drop her off and were due back within 15 minutes.”
But the clinic had moved to a new location several blocks away.
What happened next is unclear: perhaps the group got lost. The Mexican state of Tamaulipas is the subject of a U.S. State Department warning to avoid travel because of violent crime and kidnappings, but friends might not know — Williams’ mother said she doesn’t think her son will ever visit the U.S.
Hours passed, and on the American side of the border, Orange contacted Brownsville police, worried something bad had happened.
His worst fears will come to pass.
A few miles across the border, around noon, a vehicle crashed into the group’s van. According to Mexican police reports, several men wearing tactical vests and assault rifles arrived in another vehicle and surrounded them. Bullets fired.
Brown and Woodard were hit by bullets and appeared to have died instantly. Williams was shot in the leg.
Videos on social media showed people carrying McGee to the bed of a pickup truck, then dragging the bodies of an injured Williams and two of his friends down the street and back into the truck as onlookers in their cars in traffic Sitting silently. An eyewitness said that no one wanted to attract the attention of the gunmen.
The truck overturned. A Mexican woman, 33-year-old Areli Pablo Servando, who was hit by a stray bullet, was left to die in the street.
When Mexican authorities arrived at the scene, they found Social Security cards and credit cards belonging to the group of friends inside the van, marked by a bullet hole in the driver’s side window. US The consulate, only blocks away, issued an alert, warning its employees to avoid the area until further notice due to the fatal shooting downtown.
The clinic’s doctor later told investigators that he thought it strange that his patient didn’t show up for the procedure, which can run up to $3,000, but that his office had only communicated with him electronically. The clinic was about a four-minute drive from where their van met with an accident.
The crash would be the beginning of some of the most terrifying days in the lives of the surviving friends.
The cartel members escorted him from place to place around the city in a harrowing ride, stopping at a medical clinic shortly after the shooting.
A doctor told investigators that two men with assault rifles entered through the back door and threatened to kill the staff if they did not treat the injured man. The gunman and his hostage stayed at the clinic for three hours and then left, according to Mexican investigative documents seen by The Associated Press.
Orange was worried, trapped in a Motel 6 on the other side of the border, without a clue as to what had happened. On Saturday morning, she spoke with a Brownsville officer at the motel. Within an hour, a detective was assigned to the case and shortly thereafter the Brownsville police turned it over to the FBI.
On Sunday, the FBI reported them missing and offered a $50,000 reward for their return and the arrest of their kidnappers, and US Ambassador Ken Salazar said US officials were reaching out directly to help locate the missing Americans. Contacted President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Back home, his family and friends in the United States watched the video of his capture in horror and prayed. Waiting, the silence became unbearable.
Zalandria Brown, Jindal Brown’s older sister, said Monday night, “All I want is for him to come home.” “Dead or alive, just bring them home.”
Jerry Wallace, Williams’ cousin, could neither eat nor sleep.
Wallace said, “It’s really something that’s just trying to wait and hear what’s happening and not hear anything”.
The next day, the pain of not knowing was gone, but with the news came more heartache.
An anonymous tipster reported seeing blindfolded people in a shabby, orange shack with blue trim and a corrugated metal roof in a small rural community on the outskirts of Matamoros. According to Mexican investigative documents, a white pickup parked outside was matched to the pickup loaded by the Americans on March 3.
The shack was near Playa Baghdad – or “Baghdad Beach”, a remote strip of sand where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico that the U.S.
Mexican authorities, following the lead, searched the dirt roads. Then they heard shouts and the words: “Help!” He led them to the shack, where he found McGee and Williams inside blindfolded. According to Mexican investigative documents, they were being placed next to the bodies of their friends, which were wrapped in blankets and plastic bags.
A 24-year-old man in a tactical vest who had been guarding them exited through a back door, who was quickly apprehended.
Both Americans were taken to Brownsville Hospital.
Eric’s brother Robert Williams said he couldn’t wait to tell her “how happy I am that she made it and I love her.” His 11 year old son was very happy.
On Thursday, as the bodies of the two friends were returned to the US to stand trial, calls grew for action to crush the Gulf Cartel. The Scorpions faction of the cartel apologized in a letter and announced that it had handed over five members who were responsible for kidnapping innocent Americans. The letter was obtained by the AP through Tamaulipas state law enforcement officials.
Woodard’s father said he was speechless.
“I’ve been trying to make sense of this for a whole week. Just restless, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. It’s crazy to have your own child taken away from you in such a violent way,” James Woodard told reporters. “He didn’t deserve it.”
Orange was also speechless. She told an AP reporter on Friday in a voice message that she and her friends who survived the attack were not ready to talk about their fateful journey.
“We just want to start recovering,” she said.