Ongoing case · 2023
Ongoing case: this file carries charge-sheet facts only. Anyone charged is presumed innocent unless convicted.
The short answer
Four African American residents of South Carolina were abducted by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico on 3 March 2023 after crossing the border for a medical procedure; two were killed, and a Mexican bystander also died in the attack.
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Suggest coverage for 2023 Matamoros kidnappingsOn 3 March 2023, four U.S. citizens from South Carolina — Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown, Eric Williams, and Latavia "Tay" McGee — traveled across the border into Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, so that McGee could undergo a cosmetic surgical procedure. Shortly after crossing, their minivan was intercepted in central Matamoros by armed gunmen, who forced the four into the bed of a pickup truck. During the abduction, a Mexican bystander, Arely Pablo Servando, was killed by a stray bullet. A U.S. official later said the group was likely mistaken by cartel members for Haitian drug smugglers.
According to Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal, the kidnappers moved the victims between locations, including a medical clinic, apparently to create confusion and hinder rescue efforts. On 7 March 2023, security forces located the four Americans in El Tecolote, an ejido about 10 km (6.2 mi) southeast of the abduction site. Woodard and Brown were found dead. Williams had sustained three gunshot wounds to the leg, and McGee was found uninjured; both survivors were taken to the border and hospitalized in Texas. A 24-year-old man from Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, who was allegedly found guarding the victims, was taken into custody and charged with aggravated kidnapping.
In the early morning of 9 March 2023, five men with their hands bound were found abandoned at the original abduction site in downtown Matamoros, along with a message purportedly from the Grupo Escorpión faction of the Gulf Cartel. The message identified the five men as the perpetrators and offered an apology to the victims' families and to the people of Matamoros. These five men were subsequently charged by the state prosecution service with aggravated kidnapping and homicide.
The case drew significant political attention in the United States. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called for drug cartels to be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and urged pressure on the Mexican government, including potential U.S. military intervention. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador rejected any suggestion of foreign interference, calling it "an offense to the people of Mexico," and threatened a campaign urging Mexican and Latino voters in the U.S. not to support Republican officials who threatened intervention. Some opposition politicians and human rights activists in Mexico noted the speed of the investigation compared to the many unresolved cases among the country's thousands of forced-disappearance victims.
Tamaulipas was already on the U.S. State Department's "Do Not Travel" advisory list prior to the incident. Following the kidnappings and the separate disappearance of three women from Texas in the same region in late February 2023, the Texas Department of Public Safety advised residents to avoid travel anywhere in Mexico during the spring break period due to ongoing cartel violence.
Four Americans are kidnapped by gunmen in central Matamoros after crossing the border for a medical procedure; a Mexican bystander, Arely Pablo Servando, is killed by a stray bullet.
The four Americans are located by security forces in El Tecolote; two, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, are found dead, while Eric Williams and Latavia McGee are found alive and hospitalized in Texas.
Five bound men are found abandoned at the original abduction site with a message purportedly from the Grupo Escorpión faction of the Gulf Cartel identifying them as perpetrators; they are later charged with aggravated kidnapping and homicide.
The Texas Department of Public Safety urges residents to avoid travel to Mexico during spring break, citing the Matamoros kidnappings and the disappearance of three women from Texas in the region.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Mexican bystander killed by a stray bullet during the abduction in Matamoros.[3]
U.S. citizen from South Carolina, abducted 3 March 2023; found alive with three gunshot wounds to the leg and hospitalized in Texas.[3]
U.S. citizen from South Carolina, abducted 3 March 2023; found alive and uninjured, hospitalized in Texas.[3]
U.S. citizen from South Carolina, abducted 3 March 2023 and found dead on 7 March 2023.[3]
U.S. citizen from South Carolina, abducted 3 March 2023 and found dead on 7 March 2023.[3]
24-year-old man from Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, allegedly found guarding the victims; taken into custody and charged with aggravated kidnapping.[3]
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
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Image recordEditorial useSourceSOLVEDListenMatamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico · 1980s
Mark Kilroy, a University of Texas at Austin student, was abducted during spring break in Matamoros, Mexico, in March 1989 and killed at a ranch used by a drug-trafficking cult led by Adolfo Constanzo; several cult members were convicted in 1993-1994 of homicide and other charges.
Credit: Brownsville herald November 15, 1922 Casper daily tribune November 15, 1922…Public domainSourceUNSOLVEDListenWeslaco, Hidalgo County, Texas · 1920s
Elias Villarael Zarate, a 22-year-old Mexican immigrant, was abducted from an unguarded temporary jail in Weslaco, Texas, by an armed mob on November 9, 1922, and found dead days later. The case was documented as one of dozens of lynchings recorded in the U.S. that year and prompted diplomatic protest from Mexico.
SOLVEDListenMcAllen, Texas · 1960s
Irene Garza, a McAllen, Texas schoolteacher and former beauty queen, was raped and killed by suffocation in April 1960 after going to confession. The priest who heard that confession, John Feit, was convicted of her murder in December 2017 — nearly 58 years later.
Credit: Clarke County Sheriff's OfficePublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenOconee Forest Park, Athens, Georgia · 2024
Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student, was killed while jogging at the University of Georgia on February 22, 2024; José Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national living in the country illegally, was convicted of her murder in November 2024 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Credit: pixel8000Editorial useSourceSOLVEDListenClapham Common area, south London (abduction site) · 2021
Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman walking home in south London in March 2021, was falsely arrested, kidnapped, raped and murdered by Wayne Couzens, a serving Metropolitan Police officer who abused his position; he pleaded guilty and received a whole life prison sentence.
Credit: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MDCC BY-SA 3.0SourceSOLVEDListenMa and Pa Trail, Bel Air, Maryland · 2020s
Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was raped and murdered on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, on August 5, 2023. Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, a Salvadoran national who had illegally entered the U.S. earlier that year, was arrested in June 2024 and convicted in April 2025.
