Kidnapped Congressman’s Body Found in Western Mexico

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – The burned body of a kidnapped congressman was found on Tuesday inside his SUV on the border between the western Mexican states of Zacatecas and Jalisco, officials said.

Gabriel Gomez Michel, a member of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was abducted on Monday, Jalisco Attorney General Luis Carlos Najera Gutierrez said in a press conference.

Gomez Michel was kidnapped as he drove to the airport in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, the AG said.

Prosecutors in Zacatecas contacted their counterparts in Jalisco early Tuesday to inform them of the discovery of “a burned vehicle ... in which two bodies were found and had tags corresponding to the vehicle of the lawmaker who was deprived of his liberty,” Najera Gutierrez said.

The body of one of Gomez Michel’s assistants was also found in the SUV, Najera Gutierrez said, adding that the remains “were left unrecognizable.”

The motive for Gomez Michel’s kidnapping and murder has not been determined and the federal Attorney General’s Office may join the investigation because he was a member of Congress, Najera Gutierrez said.

The emergency services center received two calls Monday about the kidnapping of the occupants of an SUV in Guadalajara by men riding in two vehicles, the AG said.

Prosecutors confirmed the kidnapping using video from security cameras and opened an investigation, while the congressman’s family reported his disappearance at 10:00 p.m., Najera Gutierrez said.

There is no record of threats being made against Gomez Michel, who represented Autlan in Congress and was the former mayor of El Grullo, two cities located on the southern coast of Jalisco, Najera Gutierrez said