2 Mexicans Said to Admit Killing U.S. Journalist
Two suspects have been arrested in Mexico and admitted killing an American reporter in a remote mountain region earlier this month, an investigator said Sunday.
The men were found with belongings of Philip True, the Mexico City correspondent for the San Antonio Express-News, said Jalisco state attorney general’s office investigator Mario Hernandez. He said they confessed to killing True.
True’s body was found Dec. 16 in a shallow grave in the west-central state.
True, 50, disappeared while hiking alone through the Sierra Madre Occidental, where he was spending vacation time and pursuing a story on the Huichol Indian culture.
An initial autopsy determined True was strangled as many as 10 days before his body was found. A second autopsy was conducted Dec. 19, and the Mexican attorney general’s office said it expects to announce its findings soon.
Hernandez said the suspects--Juan Chivarrer Lopez and Miguel Hernandez de la Cruz, both Huichol Indians--had True’s backpack, tent, passport and other belongings.
He said they were arrested by soldiers Saturday in the region where True was killed and then flown to the state capital, Guadalajara.
Hernandez did not give a motive for the killing. Local news reports said it was robbery.
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