Authorities reported that three women who had been to Mexico for shopping from Texas have been missing for two weeks.
According to missing person posters put up by the Local Commission for the Search of Persons in the Mexican state of Nuevo León, the group, which includes Dora Alicia Cervantes, Saenz Marina Perez Rios, and Maritza Trinidad Perez Rios, has been missing since February 25.
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Who are Maritza Trinidad Perez Rios, Marina Perez Rios, Dora Alicia Cervantes Saenz?
According to Peñitas Police Chief Roel Bermea, Marina Perez Rios, 48, and Maritza Trinidad Perez Rios, 47, are sisters and hail from Peñitas, a Texas town on the U.S.-Mexico border. Saenz is a friend of the Rioses.
According to Roel Bermea, the trio left on February 24 for a flea market in Montemorelos, a city in Nuevo León. They had been driving to a flea market in the city in a green Chevy Silverado from the mid-1990s, according to Bermea. The travel from the border takes roughly three hours.
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According to Bermea, the spouse of one of the missing women notified the Peitas police, who then began an investigation into their disappearance. The husband claimed to have spoken to his wife on the phone while she was out, but that he became worried when he was unable to reach her again.
The FBI was contacted by his investigator “to see what they could do” after several days of no communication, the chief claimed.
According to Bermea, they “did contact the FBI to let them know the ladies were considered missing,” adding that “not much we can do ourselves” in a missing persons case involving people in another country.
In a statement, the FBI acknowledged that it is aware of the situation but said that “no information is being provided at this time.”
Their families have since gotten in touch with Mexican officials, who are probing their disappearance.
This disappearance comes after four Americans were abducted shortly after crossing the border into Matamoros, Mexico. The Americans were involved in a shootout with a drug cartel while traveling to Mexico for cosmetic surgery.
Two survivors were discovered in a wooden hut near the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday. Since then, aggravated kidnapping and murder charges have been brought against five accused Gulf Cartel members.
