Foul Play Ruled Out in Car Crash Killing U.S. Secretary in Mexico

Authorities Wednesday ruled out foul play in a weekend car crash that killed a U.S. drug agency secretary.

Susan Hoefler, 32, an American secretary at the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Guadalajara, was killed Saturday evening when she apparently lost control of her car and it smashed into a utility pole, U.S. officials said.

The accident occurred three days after DEA agent Victor Cortez Jr. was detained and allegedly tortured by police in the same city, 300 miles northwest of Mexico City, and U.S. authorities asked for a complete investigation. Hoefler, from Arlington, Va., a longtime Mexico resident who was hired locally by the U.S. Consulate, worked with Cortez and other DEA agents.

But U.S. and Mexican authorities said an investigation revealed no evidence of foul play.

“A blowout on the tire appeared to have been the cause of the accident,” said a statement from the U.S. Consulate. “As far as we can see it is a car accident,” U.S. Consulate spokesman John Roney said.

A coroner’s report from the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office showed that Hoefler had an alcohol concentration level of .26%. A blood alcohol level higher than .10% is often used to cite driving impairment.