So far this year there have been at least six cases of foreigners who have disappeared or been murdered in the Yucatan Peninsula. The most recent is that of Frenchmen Michel Amado and Assya Madjour, whose absence was reported last September in Valladolid. Below is a chronology of the cases that occurred in 2022.
Canadians killed at Hotel Xcaret
(Diario Yucatán).- On Friday, January 21, 2022, two Canadians were shot to death in a restaurant at the Xcaret Hotel. A third person was injured. The deceased men were found to have an extensive criminal record and links to a Vietnamese gang that traffics ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana in Canada and the United States. One of them, Robert James Dinh, was wanted by the DEA. The 34-year-old man was considered to be the right-hand man of Cong Dinh, a drug lord for whom 50,000 Canadian dollars were offered in December 2019.
Two people were arrested for the murder of the foreigners, Mexican Cristian “R” and Canadian Nhu “T”. Cristian was part of a group of kidnappers from Mexico City, who was hired for the “job”. Finally, he was the driver of the perpetrator, who is at large. The foreigner arrested was the nanny of the group of Canadians who were attacked: seven adults and three children. The woman would have provided information to the assassins. The motive for the murder was a debt for selling drugs, informed the Attorney General’s Office of Quintana Roo.
Manager of Mamita’s Beach Club, shot dead in Playa del Carmen
On January 25, Federico Mazzoni, the Argentinean manager of Mamita’s Beach Club in Playa del Carmen, was shot dead. Two people entered the beach club and shot the restaurateur in the head. The body was found in one of the bathrooms.
Regarding the motives for the crime, the Attorney General’s Office of Quintana Roo pointed to drug dealing as the most solid line of investigation. Wilber, “El Molusco”, and Luis, “la Changa”, have been arrested for the crime. The former was captured on March 1 and the latter on September 25.
Federico Mazzoni arrived in Mexico in 2002. He lived in Mérida, Yucatán, for at least three years, where he worked as executive chef at the Hyatt Regency hotel. It was about 10 years ago when he became manager of Mamita’s Beach Club. His boss was businessman Jorge Marzuca Fuentes.
British businessman shot dead in Playa del Carmen
On Saturday, March 12, a 54-year-old British businessman was murdered on the road between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. He was traveling with his 14-year-old daughter, who was injured. Their car, an Audi, was ambushed by two men on a motorcycle, who were later arrested. They were identified as Lenin and José, aged 18 and 30.
According to investigations, the victim had a bar and had already received threats through a “narcomanta” that was left at the place a year ago. As background, the partner of the European businessman was murdered on March 21, 2021. According to the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office, drug dealing is their main line of investigation.
Australian woman missing in Yucatan: daughter found alone in Cancun
Tahnee Shanks, a 32 year old Australian woman who has lived in Merida for two years, disappeared in Yucatan on April 30. That day she sent photographs to her family of a walk on the beaches of El Cuyo, accompanied by her partner Jorge Luis Aguirre Astudillo, also 32, and their daughter, Adelynn, a two-year-old Merida native.
On May 2, Cancun authorities reported finding Adelynn outside a church. She was walking alone and barefoot. Hours later, the vehicle in which the couple was traveling was found burned near Puerto Morelos. One of the lines of investigation indicates that the couple had been illegally deprived of their freedom when they were on their way to Yucatan from Cancun and that the alleged criminals made them return to abandon the minor.
Aguirre Astudillo is also missing. The Shanks family suspects him. The man was deported from the United States for attacking a police officer and was reported for domestic violence by an ex-girlfriend. In addition, the Quintana Roo prosecutor, Óscar Montes de Oca Rosales announced that they are investigating Aguirre Astudillo’s links with organized crime, who, he said, was part of a cartel, without specifying which one. The Mexican had a history as a swindler in the sale of false vacation packages, in addition to other crimes.
To date, the couple’s whereabouts are unknown. The family in Australia is desperate. They hired a private investigator to assist in the investigations. “Our private investigator keeps telling us they are getting closer to being able to question persons of interest and search locations, but they have been saying this for weeks…. The system is broken and the process sucks,” they posted last Oct. 10 on the Bring Tahnee Home Facebook page.
Canadian wanted by Interpol killed in Playa del Carmen
A Canadian couple was murdered last June 20 in a condominium in Playa del Carmen. The Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office reported that the man was Raphael Huppe, 44, who was wanted by Interpol. He had cyber fraud charges in Canada since 2015. He and his companion, Fannie Lorrain, 38, were attacked with a knife.
The crime occurred inside the “Oasis 12” condominium in downtown Playa del Carmen. Fake IDs and sophisticated computer equipment for monitoring and financial operations were found in the place. Huppe entered the country in 2016, so his immigration status was irregular.
French couple missing in Valladolid
On October 5, the French Embassy confirmed the disappearance of a French couple in Mexico, amidst confusion about the date and place where they were last seen. Initially, search reports began in Chiapas. However, the investigations reached Yucatan, where the investigations led to the discovery of two bodies in Valladolid.
They are Michel Amado, 57, and his wife, Assya Madjour, 50, both from the French Basque Country. The couple lived in Valladolid. They managed the “Catrina” hostel and other lodging facilities in that city and in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, where they lived before.
As we reported, the Attorney General’s Office of Yucatan confirmed the discovery of two bodies in the hostel where the couple lived, in the Candelaria neighborhood of Valladolid. To date, the identity of the remains found has not been confirmed, however, it is suspected that they are the foreigners.
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1 comment
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