10 things you need to know about the Mexico kidnapping and the 4 SC victims
LaTavia Washington McGee had an appointment last Friday morning for cosmetic surgery in Matamoros, Mexico on the southern bank of the Rio Grande across from Brownsville, Texas.
Along for the 24-hour ride from South Carolina were Eric Williams, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, so close knit, people in their hometown of Lake City, said they rarely saw one without the others.
They crossed into Matamoros at 9:18 a.m. Friday, according to Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal, and were abducted under gunfire, minutes later. They were not seen until Tuesday morning.
Here’s what we know so far.
McGee, known as Tay, and the others met in Lake City, near Florence in South Carolina’s Pee Dee region, known for agriculture. At various times, prime crops were snap beans, tobacco and strawberries. It’s population of about 7,000 is mostly Black. Among its most famous citizens are Ron McNair, one of the astronauts killed in 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger blew up, and Darla Moore, a billionaire and partner of the private investment firm Rainwater, Inc, for whom the University of South Carolina’s business school is named.
Matamoros is located in one of six Mexican countries that has been designated “do not travel” by the United States government due to violence from drug cartels. McGee had tried to comfort her mother about the trip, saying nothing bad had happened on an earlier trip. Her cousin Woodard worked at Monterey Bay Suites in Myrtle Beach, according to his Facebook page. He and McGee both lived in Myrtle Beach most recently. McGee is the mother of six children.
Williams is married and lives in North Carolina with his wife and child. His mother still lives in Lake City. Brown’s sister, Zalandria Brown, told various news outlets he was apprehensive about the trip. She remembered him saying, “we shouldn’t go down,” the Associated Press reported. The friends range in age from 20s to mid-30s. McGee had had surgery in Matamoros before, friends and family members told various news outlets. They did not specify the surgery.
On Friday morning they were lost and attempting to communicate with the doctor’s office to find their way when men wearing tactical vests opened fire on their rented van. They loaded McGee, unharmed, into the back of a white pickup truck. Williams, too, was put in the truck bed and Woodard and Brown, shown seemingly lifeless in a video, were dragged across the pavement and dumped in the back.
No firm details have been released on why the foursome was targeted. One report says they were caught in the crossfire of rival drug cartels. Another that they were mistaken for Haitian drug smugglers. Law enforcement officials in Mexico contacted the U.S. government, which traced the tags on the van, and set out to find the South Carolinians, who apparently were moved several times between Friday and Tuesday morning, when they were rescued.
They were found in a wooden house on the outskirts of the city. Woodard and Brown were dead; Williams suffered gunshot wounds to his legs, and McGee was uninjured. McGee and Williams were taken to a hospital in Brownsville, Texas. The bodies of the others were kept for examination. One person, charged with watching the group, has been arrested so far. Officials identified him as Jose Guadalupe N., a 24-year-old Mexican national. They have not said if he is affiliated with the Gulf Cartel, one of the oldest drug trafficking organizations in Mexico with ties to crime groups in Europe, West Africa, Asia, Central America, South America, and the United States.
Zindell Brown’s sister, Zalandria Brown, watched the video that has been posted on social media and news websites around the globe before the group was found and could pick out each individual. “This is like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from,” she told ABC News, adding, “it is just unbelievable.”
Barbara Burgess, McGee’s mother, told television station WPDE she had talked with her daughter, who was distraught, especially watching her friends die. Burgess said she expected her daughter would fly into the Myrtle Beach airport Wednesday.
Williams underwent surgery in Texas. His wife, Michele, told CBS News that he said he’s “just glad to be alive.” “To hear his voice, it was just a lot of crying,” she said
The U.S. State Department has vowed to see justice is done, but has offered few details, deferring to the criminal investigation. The FBI is working on the case alongside Mexican law enforcement agencies.
