A Bloody Monday in the Arizona-Sonora Border Region

According to Sonora, Mexico media reports there were 10 homicides on the afternoon of June 10, making it the bloodiest day in recent memory for the state. Nine of the homicide victims were gunned down in border towns along the border between Arizona and Sonora.

The carnage started in the Sonora border city of Agua Prieta, located south of Douglas, Arizona. There, four men and one woman were killed by gunfire early Monday afternoon.

Shortly after those murders, at approximately 1:30 p.m., four men in a Chevrolet HHR were gunned down in a hail of gunfire along the highway on the south outskirts of Naco, Sonora.

Naco is located on the Sonora border approximately seven miles south of Bisbee, Arizona and is a 23-mile drive from the scene of the earlier deaths in Agua Prieta. The highway through Naco is a route to the tourism area along the Rio Sonora.

The tenth victim of gun violence in Sonora on Monday afternoon was a man found shot in a house on the corner of Calle Sufragio Efectivo and Juarez in the state capital of Hermosillo.

Details of the last homicide were still sketchy, but they did mention that the shooting occurred during a kidnapping attempt.

Because of apparently escalating tensions in the eastern border between Arizona and Sonora, we advise travelers to exercise extreme caution if you plan to visit or pass through Agua Prieta or Naco, Sonora.

More Sonora news and insights

Tucson Couple Kidnapped in Nogales, Sonora

The Arizona Republic reported yesterday that an American couple from Tucson, ages 38 and 40, were kidnapped by several armed gunmen last week in Nogales, Mexico.

The pair was abducted by several armed men last Wednesday, April 24. They were bound and held in a house in southern Nogales as their abductors attempted to get $15,000 from relatives in Tucson.

The situation ended the following day when investigators from the Sonora Attorney General’s office located and freed them.

They were interviewed to provide evidence for the prosecution of the kidnappers before they were taken to the international border to return to the United States.

Read more about the Nogales international border kidnapping. 

Searchers Find 38 Bodies in Sonora Killing Fields

All-female search group seeks closure for families

Sonora Newspaper El Imparcial reports that in three outings that started on March 30, a group of female cadaver searchers calling themselves “Guerreras Buscadoras de Sonora” (Women Warrior Searchers of Sonora) has located the remains of 38 people in fields near Ciudad Obregon.

The group uses basic tools like poles and shovels as they scour open fields looking for clues. And in addition to their somewhat primitive tools they also utilize their human senses of sight and smell, and a sixth sense of intuition.

Group leader María Teresa Valadez Kinijara is quoted in El Imparcial saying that their goal is not to collect evidence for prosecution of crimes. They do not intend to harm anyone, nor do they expect justice. Rather, they seek to help families identify loved ones that have disappeared so they can have a proper burial. And as such, they do not fear retribution.

But evidence is collected where bodies are found. After the group has located bodies, a team of forensic criminology and ballistics experts, chemists and doctors from the Expert Services of the Attorney General’s Office carefully collect evidence as they coordinate the removal of the remains.

The searchers have discovered corpses in various states of decomposition. Some are in bags, others have been bound, many are skeletal remains. Most are men, but some are women, and at least one child.

All are taken to the Servicio Médico Forense (Semefo), the Sonora state medical forensic service in Ciudad Obregon, where DNA samples are collected. Family members can then submit a DNA sample to see if there is a match to any of the victims.

The Guereras Buscadoras are working with the support of the Mexican Defense Ministry and the Sonora State Prosecutor’s office. Their first outing on March 30 uncovered eight bodies in a rural field in the municipality of Cajeme, not far from Ciudad Obregon.

They returned to the same area on April 14 and unearthed 27 more bodies. The next day they found an additional three, bringing the total to 38. And Valadez Kinijara believes that there are many more yet to be discovered.

So, next week the Guerreras Buscadoras will meet with the Sonora State Attorney to discuss their next search efforts.

Hermosillo to Be Latest National Security Priority Area

Sonora newspaper El Imparcial reports that Hermosillo is the next security priority region in Mexico for federal authorities. The security enhancement will include the deployment of the Mexican National Guard to the city. 

The move to enhance security in Sonora was announced in mid-April by Alfonso Durazo Montaño, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection for Mexico. It indicates that public safety in the municipality of Hermosillo has declined to a point that it is now a national focus for improvement.

Of the existing 19 priority security zones that have already been established nationally for the deployment of federal police and armed forces, two current Sonora priority zones are Cajeme (Ciudad Obregon) and the Guaymas – Empalme region.

In addition to adding Hermosillo to its list of priority zones, the government also added priority focus areas in Tlajomulco, Jalisco and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. There are also proposals for the addition of another 24 security regions in Mexico, including two in Baja California Sur – La Paz and Los Cabos.

In his announcement, Secretary Durazo Montaño specified that the deployment of forces to security areas will depend on the essential training of new recruits. He added that by the end of this year troops can be active in 45 special priority security zones throughout Mexico.

Armed Abduction of Three Kino Bay Residents

A bulletin issued by Municipal Public Safety of Hermosillo reports that three residents of Kino Bay, Sonora were kidnapped on Monday night. Two were located several hours later, and the whereabouts of the other man are unknown.

At 9:10 p.m. on Monday, an armed group of three men arrived at the home of an elderly couple in downtown Bahía de Kino. They forced the couple, ages 64 and 66, and a 38-year-old man who was also in the house, to get into a late-model Dodge Durango.

The three were taken to an unknown location, and the couple was later released by the kidnappers.

A call to 911 at 6:35 a.m. the next morning reported that the two had been dropped off along a rural road to Miguel Alemán, and they were picked up by police.

The police bulletin noted that both of the elderly kidnap victims had been found with several bruises on various parts of their bodies. It did not mention any details regarding the whereabouts of the third kidnap victim.

Armed Vehicle Robbery at Empalme “Only Sonora” Station

Sonora newspaper El Imparcial reported that two SUVs were stolen at gunpoint from tourist families in the early morning of last Friday outside the Only Sonora station in the municipality of Empalme.

The tourists from the United States arrived at the station in the early morning hours of April 19 to get Only Sonora vehicle permits to visit Southern Sonora.

At approximately 6:00 a.m. a group of armed men arrived at the station and stole the SUVs, a Jeep Cherokee and a Lincoln Navigator, at gunpoint. Neither vehicle has been recovered.

Published reports described the robbery victims as “paisanos,” a term used to describe Mexicans who have legal residency in the U.S. and are visiting Mexico.

“Only Sonora” is a temporary vehicle importation program allows foreigners and Mexican nationals with foreign residency to obtain permits to take a vehicle into the areas of Sonora, Mexico not designated as a Free Trade Zone. Read more about Only Sonora.