The wife of an American tourist who survived the horror kidnapping by a notorious Mexican drug cartel has revealed that she didn’t even know he had left the US.

Eric James Williams and his friend Latavia “Tay” McGee were rescued from a drug cartel “stash house” on Tuesday, four days after they were kidnapped by armed gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico, while on their way to a tummy tuck clinic.

Their two friends Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were killed in the horror attack.

Mr Williams’ wife Michelle has now spoken out to reveal that she hadn’t even known he was crossing the border into Mexico – and a border city largely ruled by the Gulf drug cartel.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the story:

Authorities on the scene of the cartel “stash house” where the bodies of the two victims were found:

Two FBI vehicles escort two Brownsville Fire Department EMS ambulances containing the two survivors to Brownsville, Texas:

The car in which the four Americans were kidnapped by armed gunmen:

Soldiers stand guard outside the Forensic Medical Service morgue building after the bodies of the two victims were recovered:

Four American citizens who were ambushed and kidnapped at gunpoint in Mexico have been found – two of them alive and two dead, according to officials.

Family members first identified the Americans as LaTavia “Tay” McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams, who had travelled from South Carolina so that Ms McGee could undergo a tummy tuck procedure.

Officials said the group crossed the US border into Mexico on 3 March. Not long after entering Matamoros – an area dominated by the Gulf cartel – they came under fire from a group of armed men and were bundled into the back of a pickup truck.

On Tuesday, Mexican authorities announced that two of the victims had been found dead, while two survivors, one injured and one unharmed, are now back in the US and in the care of the FBI.

At least one person has been arrested, according to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Here’s everything we know about the terrifying case so far.

The family of Zindell Brown has shared a GoFundMe page to help them pay for expenses in the aftermath of his death.

“Hi, my name is Zalayna Brown Grant. I am the older sister of Zindell Brown who was among the 4 Americans who were kidnapped and later found in Mexico. We just received information from the FBI that Zindell passed away,” the campaign reads.

“On March 3, 2023, my brother and three other friends entered Matamoros, Mexico. My brother went as support for his friend Latavia McGee who was going to get surgery in Mexico. Shortly after entering Mexico from Brownsville, Texas, their vehicle was caught up in the crossfire of two different cartels at war. After what appears to have been a car accident, the 4 Americans were then loaded onto the back of a white GMC pickup truck and taken away. Our family waited for any news about my brother’s return, but he won’t be coming home alive.

“My family is trying to raise funds for the final expenses of my brother Zindell Brown. We are still working with the authorities to understand when Zindell’s body will be released and sent to us here in South Carolina. From there, we were told that we may have to pay for a second autopsy ourselves. As a family, we are not prepared for all of the unexpected costs due to this sudden tragedy.

“Zindell was a loving son, brother, uncle and friend. We hope to give him the goodbye that he deserves. Our family is grieving and we appreciate any prayers and support from the community during this time.”

The wife of one of the two Americans who survived the kidnapping in Mexico has revealed that she didn’t even know he had left the US.

Eric James Williams and Latavia “Tay” McGee were found alive at a drug cartel “stash house” on Tuesday. Their two friends Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were killed.

Mr Williams’ wife Michelle told WBTV that she hadn’t even known he was crossing the border into Mexico – and a border city dominated by the Gulf drug cartel.

“I didn’t know that he was traveling to Mexico,” she said.

“I just knew he was going somewhere to help two friends.”

Michelle said that she had last heard from her husband on Friday morning when he texted her.

She said she replied to his message “immediately” but got no response.

Now, she believes that was when he was kidnapped.

“He didn’t respond. He didn’t respond to our son either, so I’m going to assume that’s when they were ambushed,” she said.

“I highly doubt they thought this could have happened to them.”

Now, she said he is recovering in hospital in Texas from gunshot wounds to his legs.

“Ma, I’ll be okay.” That was what 33-year-old Latavia “Tay” Washington McGee told her mother on Wednesday 1 March before setting off on the roughly 1,500 mile journey to Mexico to visit a medical clinic.

Two days later, Washington McGee and the three friends accompanying her were ambushed and kidnapped in the border town of Matamoros by gunmen believed to be part of a Mexican criminal cartel.

The trip ended in tragedy, with one Mexican bystander and two of the Americans killed while Washington McGee and the other survivor were returned safely to the US. Mexican police have arrested at least one suspect who allegedly surveilled the victims before the attack.

It is a stark warning to the early one million Americans who are estimated to visit Mexico for medical care every year, often in border towns where violence between rival cartels is particularly dire.

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The Independent’s Io Dodds reports:

Governor of Tamaulipas Américo Villarreal said during a press conference that the group was moved from different locations, including a clinic, during the three days that their kidnapping lasted in an attempt to throw off investigators.

Mr Villareal said that the “Clan del Golfo” is the cartel known to operate and control the area. Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica also said that Mexican officials believe members of the Gulf drug cartel are behind the attack.

A member of the Mexican security forces stands next to a white minivan with North Carolina plates and several bullet holes

At an early press conference on Tuesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed that the tragedy will be seized by the American media to portray Mexico as a dangerous country, in stark contrast with their “silence when Mexicans are killed in the US.”

He went on to say that GOP politicians will also use the crime as an opportunity to push “their agenda.”

“We continue to work every day towards peace and are very sorry that this has happened in our country,” President López Obrador said. “We send our condolences to the victims’ friends and family and the American people. And we will continue to work towards peace.”

The recent kidnapping of four Americans in Mexico highlighted a common practice for many people in the US: traveling to other countries for medical care that either is not available at home or costs a lot less

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Fox News that he would introduce legislation to “set the stage” for using military force in Mexico to combat the drug cartel.

Mr Graham made the remarks on Jesse Watters’s show on Monday evening, saying he would “introduce legislation to make certain Mexican drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations under US law and set the stage to use military force if necessary.”

The Independent’s Eric Garcia has the story:

A video widely shared on social media, allegedly filmed in the city on Friday, shows people being dragged and dumped into the rear of a white flatbed truck parked in the middle of a busy street by armed men wearing bulletproof jackets.

The video has not been officially verified and the FBI has made no public comment on it.

Matamoros is notorious as a centre for gang violence and illegal migrant smuggling.

Tamaulipas state police said on its social media channel that people had been killed and injured in two shootouts in Matamoros on Friday in which neither the military nor police had been involved but did not offer any further detail on the shootings or say whether the kidnappings were connected.

“There have been two armed incidents between unidentified civilians,” it said. “The exact number of the fallen is being corroborated.”

Photographs of the abandoned car, with visible bullet holes, have since been released.