I looked and couldn't find this one, if it is a duplicate let me know.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/g ... pping.html

Three Texans among five kidnapped from Mexico ranch near border
PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico — Three men from Texas and two Mexican citizens were kidnapped from a hunting ranch near the U.S. border over the weekend, local prosecutors reported on Tuesday.

Witnesses told police that 30 to 40 armed men entered the La Barranca ranch late Sunday and took the five men away.

Erik Vasys, an FBI spokesman in San Antonio, late Tuesday confirmed witness reports identifying the American victims as Librado Pina Jr., 49, and his son Librado Pina III, 25, both of Laredo, Texas; and David Mueller, 45, of the Sweetwater, Texas area.

The ranch is located near the Coahuila town of Hidalgo, about 40 miles northwest of Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo and is used for deer hunting.

Santos Vasquez Estrada, the local head of the Coahuila state attorney general's office, said the ranch's owner, identified as the elder Pina, may have been the main target of the attack. U.S. authorities identified him as a businessman from Laredo, Texas.

The ranch's cook, Marco Ortiz, was also kidnapped.

The two other men seized, Mueller and Fidel Rodriguez Cerdan, of Monterrey, were apparently on a hunting trip at the ranch, which stocks deer for that purpose.

Vasquez Estrada said the witnesses — two other ranch employees who weren't kidnapped — said the attackers handcuffed the elder Pina and kept him apart from the others.

The assailants locked one of the ranch employees in a room and told him not to come out for two days, or they would kill him.

United Baptist Church in Laredo scheduled all-night prayer vigils for the five men.

"We live in a beautiful place but there's danger here on the border whether we want to admit it or not," Pastor Mike Barrera said in Wednesday editions of the Laredo Morning Times. Barrera said he is a close childhood friend of the elder Pina, who is a member of the church.

Mexican police got the first report of the kidnappings on Monday, said Vasquez Estrada, who also said the assailants stole five all-terrain vehicles, two pickup trucks, furnishings, appliances and even food and wine from the ranch.

The kidnappers do not appear to have made any ransom demand, he said.

Vasys said American authorities were conducting some work north of the border, but most of the investigation "is in Mexico because that's where the crime occurred."

Vasys wouldn't release details of the pursuit but characterized it as "ongoing, intense." He said the FBI has confidence in Mexican authorities.

"We're working very closely with our Mexican counterparts," Vasys said. "We're doing everything we can to get them back safely."


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