Los Angeles, Apr 14 (EFE).- The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published two videos of the kidnapping of Californian Mónica de León Barba that occurred last year in Mexico, as part of its strategy to find clues about her whereabouts.
De León Barba was kidnapped on November 29, 2022 while walking home with her dog in Tepatitlán, Jalisco state, according to information shared by the FBI, which has offered a $40,000 reward for information that helps find her.
The first video shows Monica walking her dog moments before she was abducted, and shows three vehicles – a silver Volkswagen Jetta, a gray Dodge Charger, and a white Chevrolet Suburban – that are presumed to have been used in the kidnapping.
The second video shows the kidnappers and their vehicles during the commission of the crime.
Monica confronted several suspects, who forced her into the Volkswagen Jetta. The suspects then drive away in all three vehicles.
Monica’s dog appears in a video loose on the street.
In a statement, the FBI said at least five suspects were involved in the kidnapping.
The agency indicated that it has published the videos to encourage the public to give more clues about the kidnapping of the 29-year-old Latina.
De León lived for years in San Mateo County, on the San Francisco Bay, before moving to Mexico last summer for work reasons.
Robert Tripp, in charge of the FBI office in San Francisco, said that the kidnappers have been negotiating with the Hispanic family.
De León is a US citizen and has only been in Mexico since June 2022.
He is 1.73 meters tall and weighs 108 kilos, has brown hair and brown eyes, the FBI explained.
The agency also published material in Spanish to distribute about the kidnapping of the Hispanic woman.
Gustavo De León, brother of the victim, created a Facebook page to draw attention to this case.
“I am asking you to help me contact Ken Salazar (US Ambassador to Mexico) and to demand the full cooperation and support of Mexican state leaders until my sister returns safely,” she wrote.
De León is not the only Hispanic from California kidnapped in Mexico.
The FBI set a reward of $20,000 to find María del Carmen López, 63, who was kidnapped from a house in Pueblo Nuevo, in the state of Colima, on February 9.
López, who was born in Mexico and is a naturalized US citizen, resides seasonally in Los Angeles and Riverside County, where she has family, as well as in Colima.
The FBI is also looking for the sisters Maritza Trinidad Pérez Ríos, 47, and Marina Pérez Ríos, 48, and their friend, Dora Alicia Cervantes Sáenz, 53, who disappeared in Mexico in February after crossing the border to sell clothes.
According to data collected by the FBI, the Hispanic women, who reside in the border town of Peñitas (Texas), on the outskirts of McAllen, traveled in a vehicle to Mexico on February 24 to sell at a market in the Mexican state of Nuevo Lion.
The cases gained notoriety after four Americans were kidnapped in early March in northern Mexico.
Two were found dead and the other two alive after enormous pressure exerted by Washington for the Mexican government to resolve the case.
