Thread: Phoenix kidnapping victim shot to death in Mexico

Phoenix kidnapping victim shot to death in Mexico

Man turned down witness protection

by Michael Ferraresi and Samuel Murillo -
May. 25, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

A suspected drug smuggler rescued from a violent kidnapping in Phoenix was shot to death last month in Mexico - months after he turned down a chance at entering a witness-protection program, according to local investigators probing the case.

The April murder was reported in graphic detail by Mexican media, which raised concern with Phoenix police investigators who believe the slaying is connected to organized crime in both the United States and Mexico.

Renan Beltran-Leon, 32, was initially considered a witness in the October case, in which he was beaten and held captive for a week at a house. His captors threatened to kill him and bury him in a 5-foot-deep grave dug into a bedroom at a home near Indian School Road and 75th Avenue.

Phoenix investigators eventually determined Beltran-Leon was working in the United States and moving drugs across the country as a long-haul trucker, although he denied any involvement in the drug trade.
"He didn't exactly come clean about the ransom demands (the kidnappers) were asking for him," said Lt. Lauri Burgett, who oversees the Phoenix Home Invasion Kidnapping Enforcement unit.

"We did what we could to help him, offered options, but he chose his own - to stay in Mexico where he felt safe."

Beltran-Leon escaped his kidnappers on Oct. 7 by loosening duct tape and fleeing through a bedroom window to alert neighbors to call 911. He told Phoenix police the men who beat and burned him used pickaxes and concrete-cutters to dig the grave in the foundation of the home where he was held.

Doroteo Estrada-Perez, 38, and Mariano Perez-Gonzalez, 27, were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder and other charges. Phoenix police said others were involved, although they declined to elaborate on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.

Mexican authorities said Beltran-Leon was gunned down at a house in Mexicali, Baja California Norte, on April 19 by two men who arrived in a gold Lincoln with Arizona license plates.

Mexican investigators recovered several 9mm shell casings from the scene, in the area south of the California border.

Mexican homicide detectives are still searching for the assailants in the slaying, which is considered "drug related," according to Jose Manuel Yepiz, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office in Baja California Norte.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoe ... exico.html

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http://www.alipac.us/article5299.html

I believe in live by the sword, die by the sword so I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the victim who chose a life inside a drug cartel. That career choice will some day get you killed.

However, it could have easily of been the wrong person abducted so none of us are safe.

Also, I'm sure they didn't legally cross into the US or back into Mexico with the victim.

Dixie