Two Americans kidnapped in Mexico found dead, officials say

Two of four Americans kidnapped in northern Mexico have been found dead, authorities said on Tuesday, while their two compatriots were found alive, bringing to an end the frantic search that had captivated media attention on both sides of the border.

The four Americans were discovered inside a wooden house on the outskirts of Matamoros, the governor said, adding that they had been moved around the city several times by their captors in order to evade the authorities.

The governor also said that a woman who was unhurt and a man who had been injured had been handed over to US authorities in Texas earlier in the day. The two survivors have been identified as Latavia McGee and Eric James Williams.

The four Americans had traveled from Brownsville in Texas across the border to Matamoros in Tamaulipas, where one of them reportedly planned on having a tummy tuck procedure. They were driving a white minivan with license plates from North Carolina. Not long after, they were fired upon and abducted by unidentified gunmen.

A Mexican woman was also killed during the kidnapping, according to authorities.

A video apparently captured at the scene which was shared on social media showed the gunmen, some wearing what look like bulletproof vests, escorting one of the hostages over to a white pickup truck. Two more people can be seen being dragged across the street and thrown into the truck.

ABC News identified the fourth member of the group as Shaheed Woodard.

The incident, which sparked a firestorm of coverage in US media, has once again drawn attention to the violence that has swept through Mexico in recent years. In 2021 alone, more than 35,000 people were killed across the country, government figures show.

Late last month, Mexican soldiers killed five young men traveling home in a pickup truck, in the city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, according to a local human rights group. At least two of the young men were shot in the back of the head while lying facedown on the pavement, according to witnesses, the organization said.

Violence against Americans in Mexico is relatively rare, but there have been a series of grisly killings in recent months, including a California lawyer who was killed while on vacation with his wife in northern Mexico in January. A subsequent autopsy found that his skull had dozens of fractures.

The latest kidnappings in Matamoros drew widespread attention in the US, including from the White House.