Thread: American Woman kidnapped in Júarez safe with family

Updated: Woman kidnapped in Júarez safe with family

by Alex Hinojosa and Adriana Gómez Licón \ El Paso Times
Posted: 03/12/2011 05:04:30 PM MST

The woman kidnapped in Juárez Friday is safe with family members, officials said.

Officials identified the victim as Veronica Perez Rodriguez, 34, an anthropology professor at Northern Arizona University. She was kidnapped in the Fuentes del Valle neighborhood along Manuel Gomez Avenue.

"Our law enforcement officers in Flagstaff have been working with the FBI and have reported that she is safe with her family in Juarez," Tom Bauer, spokesman at Northern Arizona University. "As far as we know, she's been emailing her colleagues."

Rodriguez was returned to her family on Saturday after an express kidnapping Friday morning, officials said.

An express kidnapping is a method of abduction in which the victim is forced to withdraw money from his or her account or the family is asked to pay a small ransom for the victim's return.

Friends and colleagues suspect that she went to Juarez to visit her family.

"She would go there often," said Joshua Edwards, archeology professor at NAU. "She would visit her mom, dad and sister."

According to her biography, her main focus was the study of social complexity, urbanism and its environmental impact on the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Preliminary reports stated that Rodriguez was a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_17596097

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