Doctor Linked to Drug Lord Found Dead

One of the doctors believed to have operated on top Mexican drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes just hours before his death has been found stuffed into a cement-filled barrel, authorities said Wednesday.

The remains of Jaime Godoy were discovered with two other bodies Monday inside oil drums along the Mexico City-Acapulco highway. In a sign of a mob hit, their fingernails had been yanked; their blindfolded bodies bore burn marks. Two were strangled and one shot.

The identification of Godoy’s body late Wednesday solved one of the many mysteries surrounding the bizarre July 4 death of Mexico’s No. 1 drug trafficker following plastic surgery.

The three doctors believed to have performed the botched operation had disappeared. News reports speculated that the other two tortured bodies might be Carrillo’s medical team, but there was no confirmation.

Authorities could not say Wednesday who might have killed the doctor and his companions. Mexico’s former anti-drug czar, Francisco Molina, said allies of the dead drug lord may have been responsible.

“In these things, they don’t risk leaving any witness alive,” he said.

Vengeance could have been a motive. Carrillo died shortly after his surgery when someone gave him an inappropriate dose of Dormicum, a sleeping medication. Authorities have never established who administered the drug, or whether the death was intentional.

Carrillo, 41, known as “Lord of the Skies” because of his habit of transporting cocaine in jets, was blamed for sending tons of Colombian cocaine into the United States. He apparently sought plastic surgery to change his appearance so that he could more easily evade authorities.

Officials have said three doctors mysteriously turned up at a Mexico City maternity hospital last summer to perform the operation on Carrillo, who registered under a false name.

Since Carrillo’s death, dozens of people connected to his Juarez cartel have been killed, authorities say.

Godoy, 37, an ear, nose and throat specialist, disappeared from his Mexico City home Oct. 17, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office in Guerrero state, where the body was found.

His family “searched for him through different channels, until on Nov. 3, watching the news, they learned about the bodies found in the barrels . . . and realized the characteristics coincided with those of their brother,” the statement said.

When Godoy’s father was shown photos of the bodies Wednesday morning, he fell ill, the statement said. Godoy was later identified by his brother, Roberto, it said.

Godoy’s family told authorities that he was with two friends, identified only as Ricardo and Jorge, when he vanished, according to the statement.

Godoy, who was from the state of Sinaloa, moved to Mexico City a year ago for work opportunities, the statement said. “He was recognized in his field and had frequent contact with different kinds of personalities, [those in] show business and the wealthy,” the statement said.

Robert Randolph, a researcher in The Times’ Mexico City Bureau, contributed to this report.