The mothers of two Americans missing for more than five years after being kidnapped in Mexico have spoken out in interviews to advocate for their safe return.
Ernesto Garnica Jr., 28, and Roberto ‘Robert’ Franco Jr., 27, were both abducted in separate incidents in 2017 and have not been seen or heard from since, leaving their families haunted.
“I feel like Robert has been let down by his government because he’s a US citizen,” Franco Jr.’s mother, Lisa Torres, said. New York Post on Monday. “I feel like they left him there in a country he doesn’t know. Robert is not represented in any way, shape or form.”
Garnica Jr. and Frank Jr. are among an estimated 550 Americans currently missing in Mexico, an issue that gained new attention after the very well known case four Americans were kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel after entering the country for cosmetic surgery.
In that case, two of the victims were killed by the kidnappers and the other two were rescued alive – but for Garnica Jr. and Franco Jr., and many others, the fate of their loved ones remains painfully unclear.
Ernesto Garnica Jr., 28, and Roberto ‘Robert’ Franco Jr., 27, were both kidnapped in separate incidents in 2017 and have not been seen or heard from since, leaving their families haunted
Garnica Jr. was last seen on August 31, 2017 in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, just across the border from his home in Brownsville, Texas, where he was visiting family to celebrate his 23rd birthday.
Days later, his burnt-out Jeep Liberty was found on the side of a highway connecting Matamoros to nearby Rio Bravo. Inside was a body that wasn’t Garnica Jr.’s. was, but has never been identified.
Days later, the missing American’s bank accounts were emptied, but his mother Jeannette Cerecer Ruiz told the Post she is convinced he is still alive.
‘It’s a horrible nightmare. Only God knows when it will end,” she told the newspaper.
Frank Jr. was last seen on July 28, 2017 as he left his home in Pasadena, Texas to visit relatives in Agualeguas, Nuevo Leon, a town less than 50 miles from the Mexican-Texas border.
Border officials confirmed he had crossed into Mexico, but he never made it to his destination. Days later, his mother received a ransom call, and she wired thousands of dollars to the kidnappers, but never saw her son again.
“Somewhere between the border crossing and his destination, something definitely happened, and that’s what we don’t know,” his mother Torres told the Post.
Torres said she felt her son’s case was not receiving the same attention and response as the four Americans kidnapped earlier this month.
“I don’t know why, I want answers to that,” she said. ‘Why didn’t he get the same answer? I’d like someone to tell me.’
Franco Jr.’s mother Lisa Torres is seen with her two sons. He was last seen on July 28, 2017 as he left his home in Pasadena, Texas to visit relatives in Agualeguas, Nuevo Leon.
These are the current travel advisories for Mexico from the US government. Only two states – Yucatan and Campeche – are completely advisory-free
On March 3, South Carolina resident Latavia McGee, her cousin Shaeed Woodward, and her friends Zindell Brown and Eric James entered Matamoros and were attacked about two hours later.
Video showed Gulf Cartel accomplices forcing McGee into the back of a pickup truck and dumping the bodies of Woodward, Brown, and James inside the vehicle.
The three men would accompany McGee on the road trip from South Carolina across the border for McGee’s surgery.
The surgery was initially described as a tummy tuck, but a police report citing interviews with friends and family later described it as a “gluteal augmentation,” better known as a Brazilian buttock lift.
Mexican law enforcement officials are investigating the possibility that cartel members kidnapped the Americans because they believed they were trespassing on their territory, according to an internal government document viewed by Reuters.
DailyMail.com revealed lengthy criminal records for the four abducted US citizens, with authorities stating that ‘drug trafficking’ cannot be ‘ruled out’.
McGee, a mother of five, and James, who was shot in the leg, were rescued Tuesday morning from a cartel house six and a half miles away in the rural town of El Tecolote. Brown and Woodward were found dead in the house.
Arely Servando, 33, the Mexican national and resident of Matamoros, was hit by a stray bullet and killed on the spot.
So far, six people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping after the Gulf Cartel apologized and handed over five of its own members to local authorities.
Orange’s journey came to a sudden halt when she was denied entry for not having proper identification – the four continued on to Matamoros where they were caught in mob crossfire before being kidnapped. Only Williams and McGee survive the ordeal
Members (pictured) of the Gulf Cartel’s Scorpions Group were left behind on a street in Matamoros and accused by the criminal organization of being behind the kidnapping of four Americans on March 3
A note from their bosses, written in Spanish, was left with the accomplices apologizing for the killings and claiming they would like to hand over those responsible.
They claimed the hitmen – who were part of the infamous Scorpions splinter group – were operating outside “cartel rules” and “condemn” the attack, adding “the CDG has always respected the life and integrity of the innocent.”
Each suspect stares down the course of 80 years in prison for kidnapping and 60 years for murder if given the highest sentence.
Last weekend, a Texas resident was charged with buying one of the weapons used in the US kidnapping and supplying it to the cartel.
Roberto Lugardo Moreno made his first appearance in federal court in Brownsville on Monday after prosecutors said he admitted buying firearms he knew were going to a Mexican drug cartel from the US.
Moreno is charged with knowingly conspiring to export or ship a “multi-caliber AR-style handgun” from the United States for use by the Gulf Cartel, according to the indictment
His arrest hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
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