A man from Texas has gone missing after bragging about stealing $50,000 from a Mexican drug cartel, according to reports. Per the Laredo Morning Times, Erik Tadeo Ramirez was at a house party on March 23 in Laredo, Texas, which is just miles away from the border crossing Mexico, when he was overheard talking on his phone about getting away with the large sum of money. Sources say that within two hours, a group of heavily armed men kidnapped Ramirez and took him to Mexico — and he hasn’t been seen ever since.
The FBI is currently investigating his disappearance and is still gathering details about the case, but based on the affidavit, they have reason to believe Ramirez is no longer in the U.S. and it remains unclear whether he’s even still alive. According to witness statements, at about 12.45 am on March 24, around three masked men pulled up to the house party and searched for Ramirez before assaulting him and forcefully placing him into a blue Dodge pick-up truck.
Surveillance footage obtained by law enforcement officials showed a man believed to be Ramirez bruised and bloodied as he attempted to exit the moving vehicle, but he was pulled back inside as the truck made its way to cross the border. The car in question belonged to the mother of Jonathan Cavriales – a member of the Cartel del Noreste – who has since been arrested after attempting to re-enter the U.S. with the truck at the same port of entry a few days later. Cavriales said he was aware that Ramirez had stolen $50k from the cartel but didn’t share any details about his whereabouts as the other men related to the kidnapping remain at large.
News of the kidnapping comes just one month after four U.S. citizens crossed the border and were ambushed by a cartel group in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
The two victims killed in the attack were identified as Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown. Latavia Washington McGee and Eric Williams, who are the two survivors, were being treated in a hospital in Texas after being found by police days after the kidnapping. The incident took place in Matamoros, an area that is under a “Do Not Travel To” advisory by the U.S. Department of State due to the prevalence of kidnapping, shootings, and other crimes.
A 24-year-old male, known as “Jose N”, was detained by Mexican authorities, with reports stating at the time that he was safeguarding the house where Williams and McGree were being held hostage in a wooden residence located in the Lagunona area, outside of Matamoros.
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Irving Barrios Mojica, the Attorney General for Tamaulipas, posted a tweet suggesting that the kidnapping incident may have been a result of a case of mistaken identity, wherein the group of Americans was mistaken for a rival Haitian gang.
The drug cartel responsible for the killings and kidnapping later apologized in a letter obtained by The Associated Press, saying the men responsible for the attack had violated the group’s rules by failing to respect the well-being of the innocent.