3 Missing Siblings Found Dead in Mexico

Mexican police suspected of killing Texas siblings
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 31, 2014 2:15 AM CDT
Updated Oct 31, 2014 3:49 AM CDT
3 Missing Americans Found Dead in Mexico
Raquel Alvarado is comforted as she talks about her three children, Erica Maria Alvarado Rivera, Alex Rivera, and Jose Angel Rivera.   (AP Photo/The Monitor, Joel Martinez)

Three US citizens missing for more than two weeks have been found shot to death in Mexico near the border city of Matamoros, and authorities are questioning a local police unit about possible involvement. The father of the three siblings identified Erica Alvarado Rivera, 26, and her brothers, Alex, 22, and Jose Angel, 21, from photographs. They had been visiting their father in Mexico and disappeared Oct. 13 along with Erica's boyfriend. Each of the four was shot in the head and the bodies were found burned, most likely from lying in the hot sun for so long, the attorney general in northern Tamaulipas state says.

Their parents have said witnesses reported they were seized by men dressed in police gear identifying themselves as "Hercules," a tactical security unit in the violent border city. The attorney general says nine of the unit's 40 officers are being questioned. The three siblings, who were last seen in a small town near Matamoros, shared their mother's home in a Texas town less than 3 miles from the border. Erica, who has four children between the ages of 3 and 9, had been scheduled to begin studying to become a nursing assistant next month. "They were good kids," an aunt says. "I don't know why they did that to them." (More Mexico stories.)

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