SAN MARCOS, Texas -- The FBI said Tuesday that the agency is working with their Mexican counterparts and authorities in Laredo to locate five missing people who left San Marcos for Laredo around Thanksgiving and haven’t been heard from since.
The wives and sisters of four of the missing men spoke to KVUE Tuesday night about the nightmare they’ve been living since for weeks.
"She says that it’s kind of like the dirt just ate them, taking them from the ground, that they’ve all disappeared, five people," said Carmen Ortega, through an interpreter.
At least two of the men are legal citizens. The status of the other three is not known.
On Nov. 27, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Ortega, Nicolas Munoz, Ricardo Gomez and 14-year-old Giovanni Gomez left San Marcos for Laredo. Family members said they went there to straighten out the title to a truck they were either buying or selling. The men told their families they were going into Mexico, specifically Nuevo Laredo, to do some shopping and would be back in San Marcos that night. No one has heard from any of the men since.
"We’re treating this as a missing persons case but it’s just a few degrees over for it to turn into a bonafide kidnapping," said Special Agent Erik Vasquez with the FBI’s San Antonio office.
The young man in the group, 14-year-old Giovanni Gomez, is from Chicago and had arrived in San Marcos one day before he accompanied his uncles to Laredo.
The men were last seen in a dark green 2003 Chevrolet Suburban.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the FBI in San Antonio at (210) 225-6741.
