Five more arrested in deadly Mexico kidnapping of four Americans

An additional five people have been arrested in connection to the deadly kidnapping of four Americans in Mexico last week, officials said Friday — just one day after cartel members handed over those they deemed responsible alongside an apologetic note.

Five individuals were apprehended and charged with aggravated kidnapping and simple intention homicide related to the broad daylight abduction in Matamoros on March 3, Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica wrote on Twitter shortly before 11:30 a.m. local time.

In addition to the five new suspects, Barrios Mojica confirmed that another person arrested earlier this week remains in custody.

News of the arrests comes one day after the Scorpion squad of the region’s notorious Gulf Cartel surrendered five members they said were responsible for the brutal attack on Latavia “Tay” McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown, and Eric James Williams.

In a letter to law enforcement obtained by The Associated Press, the Scorpion group said they “decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the [kidnapping].”

The letter also claimed the five members “acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline” when they ambushed the victims.

McGee and Williams were found injured but alive in a dingy shack on Tuesday after a four-day search. Woodard and Brown, however, had been shot dead.

A bystander killed during the initial shootout in the crime-ridden city was also later identified as Arely Servando, 33.

The abduction remains “very confusing” to officials, a source in the Tamaulipas Prosecutor’s Office who has ties to the ongoing investigation told CNN.

While the Scorpion letter is believed to be authentic, the source explained, Mexican and US law enforcement is skeptical of the sincerity of the group’s apology.

On Thursday, Barrios Mojica confirmed on Twitter that Woodard and Brown’s bodies had been returned to US diplomatic authorities following forensic examination.

Woodard, who grew up with the other victims in Lake City, South Carolina, would have turned 34 on Thursday.

“I’ve tried to make sense out of it and tried to be strong about it,” his father said Thursday.

“It just was a senseless crime.” 

McGee and Williams were transported back to US soil on Tuesday, where they were subsequently treated at a medical center in Brownsville, Texas.

Williams had been shot three times in the leg and required two surgeries, according to CNN.

As of Friday, rumors are also swirling about what led the four childhood friends to travel to Mexico in the first place.

Relatives of the group said they headed south so that McGee, 33, could receive a tummy tuck operation.

“[McGee] simply went for a cosmetic surgery, and that’s it. That’s all, and this happened to them,” Cheryl Orange, a fifth friend who traveled with the foursome as far as the Texas border, told the AP this week. 

Even so, Mexican law enforcement documents obtained by Reuters said that officials “cannot be ruled out” that the kidnapping was linked to drug trafficking, which the assailants may have believed the group was carrying out.