Authorities in north-central Mexico confirmed Wednesday that a US resident was among four people who were killed in the state of Zacatecas around Christmas time.
The state prosecutor’s office confirmed the identity of the man as José Melesio Gutiérrez.
The man’s employer, the Cincinnati, Ohio firm Champlin Architecture, said in a social media post that he “tragically died while visiting his fiancée, Daniela Pichardo, in Mexico while on vacation.”
DEPARTMENT OF STATE WARNS TRAVELERS OF CRIME AND KIDNAPPING IN MEXICO
Relatives and friends of Irma Paola Vargas Montoya, Daniela Márquez Pichardo, Viviana Márquez Pichardo and José Gutiérrez Montoya, who have disappeared since December 25 in the state of Zacatecas, demand that the governments of Zacatecas, Jalisco and Mexico find them alive during a protest in Mexico City, Mexico, on January 5, 2023.
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Gutiérrez, her fiancé, her sister and a cousin set off in a car at Christmas to visit a nearby town. His skeletal remains were found in January in a clandestine grave.
It was not clear if Gutierrez was a US citizen.
Local media said Gutierrez was in Mexico to set a date for the couple’s wedding and that there were indications that a criminal gang had been operating around the ranch where the bodies were found.
The area is near the border between Zacatecas and the neighboring state of Jalisco, both of which have been rocked by turf battles between drug cartels.
