Victim’s cousin one of 4 arrested in student’s kidnapping-murder

Mexico City police are closer to solving a high-profile kidnapping case that has tarnished the department’s reputation and forced the city’s top anti-kidnapping agent to resign.

Four people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and murder of 22-year-old student Norberto Ronquillo last month.

On Saturday, police arrested Daniel “B,” a cousin-in-law of the victim through his father, in Xochimilco. Police say Daniel is the owner of a grey Ford Topaz that was linked to the kidnapping and the receipt of a ransom payment.

Daniel “B” admitted to being the owner of the car but said he rents the car to a Uber driver and that when the crime took place, someone else was driving it. The driver, Óscar “N,” was arrested on Wednesday night.

Daniel “B” was also implicated in the 2015 kidnapping and murder of Édgar Carrasco Hernández, a distant cousin to Ronquillo. In a series of events similar to the Ronquillo kidnapping, Carrasco was kidnapped from his home in Morelos and his family received a call asking for a ransom.

Kidnapping-murder victim Norberto Ronquillo.
Kidnapping-murder victim Norberto Ronquillo.

After the family paid 500,000 pesos (US $26,300), Carrasco was found dead. Investigators suspected that the kidnapping was committed by relatives of the victim, but could not find enough evidence to make an arrest.

Police have arrested two other people and are searching for three others.

The city’s Attorney General’s Office said today there was evidence that Ronquillo’s murder was related to a personal debt he owed.

Ronquillo, who was a student at Pedregal University, was kidnapped on June 4 as he was leaving the school. After his parents received a phone call demanding a ransom, a 500,000-peso payment was delivered by Ronquillo’s cousin, identified as Osvaldo “F,” to an unknown individual in a grey Ford Topaz. On June 8, Ronquillo was found dead in Xochimilco.

Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp), La Jornada (sp), La Silla Rota (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
tubes for smuggling queen ants

Mexico intercepts a trafficking scheme smuggling native ants to SE Asia

0
The ant traffickers hid the queens in plastic children's toys to be shipped off to Southeast Asia where they'd be bought by collectors who would use the reproducing contraband to start ant farms.
Oaxaca journalist Francisco Alejandro Leyva Aguilar

Oaxaca journalist, known for criticizing governor, shot dead; Feds takes over the case

0
Francisco Alejandro Leyva was gunned down at an Oaxaca street food stand, becoming the seventh journalist killed in Mexico this year, days after his final column criticized state corruption.
Spectators wave Mexican flags at a 2022 Mexican Independence Day parade in New York City.

Report: Mexico-born population of US drops to 11.1 million

0
The Mexican-born population in the US has fallen by over 500,000 since 2007 — and heightened immigration enforcement could push the numbers down further, a new report finds.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity