U.S. District Court employee killed in Juárez

By Alejandro MartĂ*nez-Cabrera / EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 07/20/2011 03:41:40 PM MDT

Chihuahua state authorities said Wednesday they arrested three people in connection with the kidnapping and slaying of a U.S. District Court employee.

The victim's name was not released by Mexican authorities, but federal courthouse officials in El Paso said the FBI had informed them that Jorge Dieppa, 57, a court interpreter for more than seven years and a part-time lecturer at University of Texas at El Paso's department of language and linguistics, had been killed recently in Juárez.

UTEP officials also confirmed that Dieppa was killed in Juárez recently, but neither the federal courthouse officials nor UTEP disclosed further information.

Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman with the state prosecutor's office, said he was not authorized to release the victim's name or whether the victim was Dieppa.
The U.S. Consulate in Juárez could not confirm either that the kidnapping victim was a U.S. citizen or that he had died.

"At this point we cannot confirm if this person was a U.S. citizen. We first have to verify the information with Mexican authorities," said U.S. consulate spokeswoman Olga Bashbush. "If he's a U.S. citizen, and he's a victim of crime, we will first contact the family before we make any information public."

Bashbush said the consulate might release more information by the end of today.

According to a press release from Chihuahua's prosecutor's office, state authorities arrested three suspects, Lisbeth "La Liz" Nayeli RodrĂ*guez Alanis, 22; VĂ*ctor Alfonso "El Gordo" Cano Molina, 24 and Antonio Tarango Montes, 60. One more suspect is being sought.
Rodriguez Alanis and Cano Molina, who were wanted by the prosecutor's office kidnapping unit, were arrested Tuesday by state authorities who were responding to a fight among five people in the city's south side. Tarango Montez was arrested later.

According to the state prosecutor's office, the suspects were wanted in connection with the kidnapping of a man on July 5. A prosecutor's office press release said the alleged kidnappers were demanding $10,000 ransom from the victim's family.

The suspects allegedly decided to kill the man because he recognized RodrĂ*guez Alanis, with whom he had held a five-year relationship, the press release said. It said the victim had met RodrĂ*guez Alanis at a bar where she worked as a dancer.

Alejandro MartĂ*nez-Cabrera can be reached at a.martinez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6129. El Paso Times reporter Aaron Bracamontes contributed with this story.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_18515678