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FBI reports two Texas sisters and friend missing in Mexico after crossing border last month

The group has not been heard from for two weeks after heading to flea market in city of Montemorelos

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Saturday 11 March 2023 04:04 GMT
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Related video: FBI looks for answers after Americans killed in Mexico

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Two sisters from Texas and a friend are missing after crossing the border into Mexico last month to sell clothes at a flea market, say the FBI.

The three women, who are from the border town of Peñitas near McAllen, have not been heard from for two weeks, officials said on Friday.

The FBI has named the women as Maritza Trinidad Perez Rios, 47, Marina Perez Rios, 48 and their friend, Dora Alicia Cervantes Saenz, 53.

(AP)

It comes a week after four Americans were kidnapped by gunmen after crossing the border from Texas into Mexico, an incident which saw two friends shot and killed.

Peñitas police chief Roel Bermea told the Associated Press that their families have been in contact with Mexican authorities, who are investigating their disappearance.

US Customs officials said the three women crossed into Mexico on 24 February and that the husband of one of the women grew concerned when he could not get in contact with her.

“Since he couldn’t make contact over that weekend, he came in that Monday and reported it to us,” Bermea said.

The women were travelling in a green mid-1990s Chevy Silverado to a flea market in the city of Montemorelos in Nuevo Leon state, which is a three-hour drive from the border.

Officials at the state prosecutor’s office said they have been probing their disappearance since Monday.

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