Thread: La Mesa woman among four bodies found in Baja

La Mesa woman among four bodies found in Baja

By Angelica Martinez and Jose Luis Jimenez
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERs

7:36 p.m. May 19, 2008

ROSARITO BEACH – The body of a La Mesa woman with ties to Mexico was among four discovered Sunday in a rural canyon east of the city.
All had been shot to death.

Two young men hunting rabbits found the body of Libey Gianna Craig, 28, about 7:30 p.m. in an area known as Morro Canyon about nine miles east of the toll-free road that connects Tijuana and Ensenada, Rafael Gonzalez Cervantes of the state Attorney General's Office said Monday.
Craig's body was about 80 feet from a dark green 1999 Cadillac STS with California plates. The other three victims, one of whom was found about 30 feet from Craig, were identified as Mexican citizens. The two other bodies were found in the back seat of the Cadillac, which had about a dozen bullet holes, Mexican authorities said.

One of the men has an arrest record in San Diego County and had been deported to Mexico three times, Gonzalez said.

Craig's purse was found nearby with her passport, her driver's license and a hypodermic needle, which led Mexican authorities to believe she was not kidnapped.

The men were identified as Antonio Virgen Castañeda and Juan Jose Olivares Cervantes, both between the ages of 30 to 35; and Francisco Javier Garcia Savala, about 45.

Violent crime, some of which has taken place in residential areas and on busy streets, has surged in Baja California even as President Felipe Calderon has pledged to crack down on lawlessness by sending troops and federal police to the state. Law enforcement officials and analysts say drug cartels have been weakened through arrests and killings, and the surge in violence may be a sign of a power struggle.

Meanwhile, criminal groups have responded to the federal crackdown by targeting law enforcement officials throughout the country. Mexico's national police chief was assassinated earlier in May.

Mexican officials reported declines in tourists visiting the region and blame, in part, the bad publicity from the wave of violent crime.

Gonzalez declined to state a motive for the killings, but said the drug trade is one of several leads police are following.

The four people probably were killed about 10 to 12 days ago, based on the decomposition of the bodies, Gonzalez said. An earlier report that all the victims were U.S. citizens and that the men were African-American was incorrect.

“They were not African-Americans, nor were they tourists,â€

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