http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4407572.html

Dec. 17, 2006, 12:22AM
Another abducted hunter set free on border

Associated Press

NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO — A Texas man kidnapped by up to 40 gunmen at a hunting ranch in Mexico last month has been released, Mexican officials said Saturday. Two others remain missing.

Librado Pina III, 25, of Laredo, was set free in reasonable health although he was dehydrated, said Jesus Torres, state prosecutor of Coahuila, where the kidnapping took place. Torres did not comment on whether there had been any negotiations or ransom payment to secure his release.

Pina was on a hunting trip with four other men at a ranch near the U.S. border when they were abducted Nov. 26.

David Mueller, 45, of the Sweetwater area in Texas, and Fidel Rodriguez Cerdan, of Monterrey, were released unharmed three days later.

Still missing are Librado Pina Jr., 49, who is the father of Librado Pina III, and the hunting ranch's cook, Marco Ortiz, Torres said.

Witnesses told police that 30 to 40 armed men entered the elder Pina's La Barranca ranch and took the five men.