El Paso woman is abducted in Júarez, city official says

by Adriana Gómez Licón \ El Paso Times
Posted: 03/12/2011 12:17:23 AM MST

A woman believed to be from El Paso was kidnapped Friday morning in a commercial area of Juárez , officials said.

Chihuahua attorney general officials would not confirm where the victim is from, but a Juárez official said the woman, 34, lived in El Paso.

Arturo Sandoval, spokesman of the Chihuahua attorney general, said his office launched an investigation in the Fuentes del Valle neighborhood along Manuel Gómez MorÃ*n Avenue.

Sandoval said armed men abducted the woman, who was with her mother and was leaving a vehicle about 10:20 a.m. Sandoval did not want to identify the woman or say whether she was of El Paso because the kidnappers would assume she is wealthy if she lived in the United States.

The woman was a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.

"UTEP has no information concerning this matter and has had no contact from law enforcement officials," said Chester Jacinto, associate vice president for University Communications.

U.S. Consulate officials in Juárez did not immediately say whether the woman was a U.S. citizen.

Kidnappings of professionals occur often in this city of 1.3 million.

Adriana Gómez Licón may be reached at agomez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6129.

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