SUNDOG - 9-14-2006 at 12:46 PM
Former investigator found slain
Severed finger may serve as warning
By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 14, 2006
TIJUANA – In what appears to be a warning to snitches, the body of a former state investigator was found yesterday morning with an index finger cut
off and attached to a wire that was wrapped around his neck.
A note left by the naked body of Roberto Cedillo Vega, 37, who had been abducted several days earlier, referred to him as a “dedo,” according to
Mexican authorities.
The Spanish word for finger also refers to a snitch in the parlance of drug traffickers here.
Jaime Niebla, the regional commander of the state investigations unit, said yesterday the killing appeared to be the work of organized crime. The body
had been dumped near a major thoroughfare.
Mexican authorities said no arrests had been made, and they wouldn't comment on any possible connection with the region's Arellano Félix drug group.
Since last month's detention by U.S. authorities of suspected drug kingpin Francisco Javier Arellano Félix and his suspected right-hand man Arturo
Villarreal, observers of drug trends have been waiting to see if there is an upswing in violence between rival drug groups or against Mexican police,
some of whom are involved with organized crime.
Cedillo worked with the state investigations agency from 1995 to 2003, when he was forced to leave his post because he failed to fulfill certain
requirements or tests required to remain with the agency, Niebla said.
He said he didn't know how Cedillo had been earning a living since then.
Niebla said he didn't interpret the killing as a warning to police.
“Here we are talking of people who were involved in some illicit activities, and we are just doing our job and I don't see it as a threat against our
agency,” he said.
Niebla paraphrased portions of the note left near Cedillo's body, which appeared to serve as a warning against others considering betraying the group
behind the killing. It included the phrases “so that others know” and “there are more,” he said.
A group of about 20 armed men broke into Cedillo's home in the eastern section of the city about 4:30 p.m. Sunday. They forced his children into a
bedroom and took him in front of his wife, Niebla said. His body was found several miles away. Niebla said it was recovered in the El Florido section
of the city, near the main thoroughfare known as the Via Rapida Poniente.
Niebla said Cedillo appeared to have been asphyxiated. There were no gunshots or other notable marks of violence, he said, except for some bruises.
Someone had bound Cedillo's wrists and ankles with wrapping tape. Investigators said his face had been completely taped.
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Anna Cearley: (619) 542-4595; anna.cearley@uniontrib.com
BajaNews - 9-14-2006 at 12:49 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060914-9...