Advertisement

Two Bodies Unearthed in Mexico Forest

Share
United Press International

Bodies thought to be those of two Americans missing for four months and believed the victims of narcotics traffickers, were found today in a shallow grave near Guadalajara, police said.

The two are believed to have been slain by the same man alleged to have killed U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena Salazar and his pilot, whose bodies were found outside Guadalajara earlier this year.

“The bodies were found less than 200 feet from a forest path in the woods of San Isidro Mazatepec Park” in the northern Guadalajara suburb of Zapopan, a judicial police spokesman said.

Advertisement

Authorities said they believe that the bodies are those of Americans John Walker and Alberto Radelat. The two disappeared Jan. 31 in Guadalajara.

The tip that led to their discovery was provided by Francisco Tejeda, who has been held for questioning in their disappearance.

No U.S. Confirmation

“I know investigations are now being carried out to confirm whether or not the bodies are of the two Americans,” said Patricia Cedeno, a spokeswoman for the Jalisco state police.

A U.S. Embassy official said he could not immediately confirm that the bodies--badly decomposed--are those of Walker and Radelat.

Rafael Caro Quintero, a drug trafficker jailed in February in the slaying of Camarena, was indicted earlier this month in the killings of Walker and Radelat. The indictment was based on information provided by Tejeda, a bodyguard for Caro Quintero.

Radelat, 33, of Fort Worth, Tex., and Walker, 35, of Minneapolis apparently were slain after they accidentally walked in on a private party attended by Caro Quintero and other narcotics kingpins, U.S. officials said.

Advertisement

U.S. Ambassador John Gavin told reporters earlier that Walker and Radelat were reportedly “tortured and killed” after they entered a restaurant “where inadvertently they apparently saw Mr. Caro Quintero and some of his group.”

Gavin said Caro Quintero may have mistaken the men for U.S. drug agents.

Advertisement