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Cause of death of 3 americans found dead in mexico city airbnb revealed.

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Three American friends who were mysteriously found dead inside their Mexico City Airbnb last month likely died of carbon monoxide poisoning, local authorities said Tuesday.

The bodies of Kandace Florence and Jordan Marshall, both 28, and Courtez Hall, 33, were discovered inside the vacation rental after they traveled to Mexico in late October to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

Local autopsy reports cited by Bloomberg indicated the trio died from inhaling the deadly toxin.

On the night of Oct. 30, Florence was speaking on the phone to her boyfriend when she said she was beginning to feel ill and said something wasn’t right, according to the  station WAVY. The call was then dropped and Florence’s boyfriend, who was back in the US, couldn’t get ahold of her.

He reached out to the Airbnb host to request a welfare check and police showed up to the apartment that night. Officers noticed a strong stench of gas and found all three friends dead.

Local authorities are investigating their deaths.

In May, three American tourists died of carbon monoxide poisoning while staying at a luxury Sandals resort in the Bahamas.

In the US alone, roughly 430 people die a year from accidental CO poisoning and another 50,000 visit emergency rooms each year.

Marshall and Hall were both educators in New Orleans and Florence was a small business owner from Virginia Beach.

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They were on vacation in Mexico City. Then all three died of carbon monoxide poisoning in an Airbnb

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At first, Victor Day thought his girlfriend on vacation in Mexico City had been drugged.

Kandace Florence, 28, was vomiting and crying when she FaceTimed him from her Airbnb in the Cuajimalpa district of the Mexican capital in the early morning hours of Oct. 30. Day was at home in Washington D.C.

He dozed off as they FaceTimed. It was 5 a.m. in D.C. When he woke up the next day, he called and texted her over and over to make sure she had recovered. He never heard back. Florence was found dead the next day of carbon monoxide poisoning along with her friends Jordan Marshall and Courtez Hall, whom she was traveling with.

“Why didn’t the monitors work? What was the source of the leak?” Day said in an interview with The Times. “I’m not sure I could have done more, I just feel like I could have. I feel like I failed my girlfriend.”

The State Department and Airbnb on Thursday confirmed the deaths of the three Americans, and a spokesman for the Mexico City Atty. Gen. told The Times that they were investigating the Airbnb host for involuntary homicide.

The deaths come as Mexico City becomes an increasingly popular destination for American tourists and the number of Airbnbs for rent has skyrocketed.

“You just don’t prepare yourself for what could go wrong,” said Freida Florence, mother of Kandace Florence.

Florence should have been celebrating her 29th birthday Thursday, but instead her remains were in Richmond, Va., on their way to a funeral home in her home state.

“The fact that she was in a foreign country and I couldn’t get to her. It was overwhelming,” Florence said.

Kandace Florence, Marshall and Hall planned their trip to Mexico City to celebrate Día de los Muertos. Marshall posted a photo of himself with Florence on Instagram on Oct. 29 of the two dressed up and in makeup for the holiday.

“He was a free spirit. He loved to have fun,” said Marshall’s mother, Jennifer Marshall.

Marshall was a high school English teacher in New Orleans who was passionate about childhood literacy, but he also ran a travel consulting company called Le Flâneur Noir that helped people book personalized trips around the world.

He traveled the globe — from Iceland to Morocco, which he visited with Florence. The two grew up together in Virginia Beach. Florence worked in retail, but had started a candle company called Glo Through It. Hall was also an educator in New Orleans.

It was Marshall’s second trip to Mexico City in October.

“He had so much fun in Mexico City the first time and he wanted to go back,” his mother said.

But the second night in their Airbnb, the invisible disaster struck.

Florence texted Day when the trio arrived back at the Airbnb saying she felt nauseous and as if she’d been drugged. When Day said someone might have slipped something in her drink, Florence said that they had not gone anywhere crowded where someone could have done that.

After texting a bit she FaceTimed him.

“She’s clearly going through it. She’s crying, vomiting. It looked like she was just in a terrible state,” he said. “I, at that moment, it’s five in the morning. I dozed off.”

When Day woke up an hour later he was still on the FaceTime call, but Florence’s phone camera was pointed toward the ground and she did not respond to him when he called her name repeatedly

“I got no response and so I thought to myself, maybe it’s nothing. Maybe she’ll vomit whatever it is out and sleep it off and in the morning she’ll call me and tell me some crazy story,” he said.

But the next morning she didn’t respond to his texts or his calls. Marshall didn’t respond to his Instagram messages either.

“I started to panic,” Day said.

He found the Airbnb link and got in contact with the host, who sent security to do a wellness check on the group. They were found unresponsive without vital signs, the host informed Day. Later that day she told him all three were dead.

The death left Day and the families of the victims reeling and wondering if anything more could have been done to save the victims.

A spokeswoman for Airbnb did not say whether carbon monoxide monitors were required in rentals, but told The Times that the company has a “global detector program” that has given out 200,000 free detectors to hosts across the world.

“We encourage all hosts to confirm that they have a smoke and CO detector installed, and homes that report having a detector are clearly marked, so this information is visible to guests,” said Airbnb spokeswoman Elle Wye.

But Day told The Times that the listing for the Airbnb said that the home had two carbon monoxide monitors.

“Suite with Terrace/Panoramic views,” reads a screenshot of the listing shared with The Times. Airbnb suspended the listing and canceled upcoming trips to the apartment, Wye told The Times.

The listing featured a photo of a high-rise apartment’s terrace with sweeping views of the city below.

Last month, city officials partnered with Airbnb in an effort to lure more remote workers from other countries to Mexico’s capital. The deal sparked widespread backlash in a metropolis where rising rents and inflation have pushed many people out.

The Airbnb apartment where the tourists were staying is in Cuajimalpa, a middle-class neighborhood on the western outskirts of the city. It borders the business district of Santa Fe, one of the city’s wealthiest enclaves.

Deaths from gas leaks from appliances are common across Mexico, and have been linked to tourist deaths in the past.

An explosion sparked by a gas leak killed two people and injured 18 in the tourist town of Playa del Carmen in March, and in 2018, a family of four from Iowa was killed by gas poisoning in a condominium in a resort town an hour from Cancun.

While Day wishes he had done more to save his girlfriend, he says blame lies at the feet of Airbnb and the host of the listing.

“It’s both. They’re both responsible. Airbnb has had this happen to them before. No family should have to go through this. No one should have to go on vacation worrying about carbon monoxide poisoning especially if Airbnb backs the safety of all their listings. And the host is responsible too because it’s their place. They should be maintaining these monitors,” he said.

“Some very young bright souls passed ... because of complacency.”

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Americans Found Dead in Mexico City Airbnb Died of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, Victim's Sister Tells PEOPLE

Jasmine Marshall said her family was notified by U.S. officials of a police report that indicated an improperly installed water heater was a factor in the death of her brother and his friends

A family member says authorities have revealed to them the cause of death for the three Americans who were found dead in an Airbnb they rented in Mexico to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

Jasmine Marshall tells PEOPLE that her 28-year-old brother, Jordan Marshall, died of carbon monoxide poisoning last month. His friend Kandace Florence, also 28, and boyfriend, Courtez Hall, 33, were also found dead inside an Airbnb in Mexico City's La Rosita neighborhood on Oct. 30.

Jasmine said her father received an email from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, which included a translated police report that indicated the cause of death.

"As of right now they believe there was a water heater that was improperly installed that caused the carbon monoxide poisoning," she tells PEOPLE. "They are still investigating to see who installed it. Hopefully they will continue to update us. But that is the latest update we received."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico reached by PEOPLE Monday only said they have nothing further to share on the case.

A rep for Airbnb did not reply to PEOPLE's request for comment.

The American trio were in Mexico's capital city for Dia de Los Muertos, which translates to Day of the Dead, a national holiday celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2, Jasmine previously told PEOPLE .

After finding out from Kandace's boyfriend, Victor Day, that their loved one had died, Jordan's family traveled to Mexico City in search of answers and to arrange for a funeral home there to ship his body home for burial.

Day was not with the group in Mexico but had been talking to Kandace, who told him she wasn't feeling well in the early hours of Oct. 30. After he was unable to get a hold of her in the morning, he contacted the Airbnb host and asked if they could check on the group.

The host called Day back and told him "they found all three of them in the apartment unresponsive without vital signs," he previously told PEOPLE.

When he heard from the host again, he was told "that they were all pronounced deceased."

"We can confirm the death of three U.S. citizens in Mexico," a State Department spokesperson told PEOPLE on Nov 8. "We are closely monitoring local authorities' investigation into the cause of death. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance."

"Out of respect for the privacy of the families, we have nothing further to add at this time."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.

Jasmine previously told PEOPLE that her brother loved to travel and had visited Croatia, Iceland, Morocco, and Italy during his time off as a school teacher in Virginia Beach.

About a year ago, he started a travel consultancy business . "That's how Jordan was," his mother, Jennifer Marshall, told PEOPLE. "He was a free bird."

Loved ones said that Kandace, who "worked tirelessly" for her future, was an inspiration to her Virginia Beach community.

"We lost a massive light in our community when we lost Kandace, owner of Glo Through It candles + self-care," read a message on a GoFundMe started to help her family with memorial expenses.

"She was by our side since the beginning- her unforgettable smile lighting the rows of every one of our women-owned Make(HER) Markets and many other special events," the message continued. "She inspired us constantly with her honesty, her confidence, her vulnerability, and her unshakable motivation to grow her business."

Her mother, Freida Florence, told WTKR that instead of celebrating her 29th birthday on Nov. 10, they would be holding a candlelight vigil.

Courtez, a social studies teacher at KIPP Memorial School in New Orleans, was remembered by his mother as being somebody who "loved to make everyone laugh."

" It's been so hard ," Ceola Hall told New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU. "I would hate to see any parents go through what I went through with my son, I didn't expect to hear this about my son. No one expects that."

Related Articles

3 Americans found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning at Mexico City Airbnb

A woman and two men were found dead in an apartment on Oct. 30.

Three American tourists died from carbon monoxide poisoning while staying at an Airbnb rental in Mexico City last month, officials said.

The three were staying at a rental in a residential complex in the La Rosita neighborhood when they were found dead on Oct. 30, according to the Attorney General's Office of Mexico City, which investigated the deaths.

The victims were identified by relatives as Kandace Florence and Jordan Marshall -- both originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia -- and Courtez Hall, who was a schoolteacher in New Orleans.

The three friends were in town for Day of the Dead festivities when Florence called her boyfriend and said she wasn't feeling well, Florence's parents told "Good Morning America."

"She said, 'I was vomiting and dizzy and my legs are wobbly," her mother, Freida Florence, said.

Marshall's sister, Jasmine Marshall, told "Good Morning America" that she received a message from Florence's boyfriend on Instagram that mentioned he wasn't able to reach Florence for the rest of the day after that call.

"So that worried him," she said. "So he contacted the Airbnb host to do a welfare check and they were all found unresponsive."

Security guards at the complex detected an intense gas smell in the apartment and poisoning by gas inhalation was initially suspected, the attorney general's office said in a statement this week. Blood tests determined that the three Americans -- two men and a woman -- died of carbon monoxide poisoning, the office said.

MORE: Carbon monoxide leak reported at Pennsylvania day care, 28 hospitalized: Fire officials

Investigators discovered a failure in the apartment's gas boiler, which released a gas smell as well as carbon monoxide, a colorless and odorless gas, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office told ABC News.

One of the victims was found dead in the bathroom and is believed to have been attempting to take a shower, which could have activated the boiler, the spokesperson said.

An Airbnb spokesperson confirmed the three Americans were staying at a space listed on its platform.

"This is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones as they face this heavy loss," an Airbnb spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. "Our priority now is to provide support to those affected while the authorities investigate what happened and we are available to cooperate with the investigation in any way we can."

MORE: Carbon monoxide poisoning: Here's what you need to know

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico said it was "closely monitoring" the investigation into the deaths of three U.S. citizens in the country.

"We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance," it said in a statement earlier this week. "Out of respect for the privacy of the families, we have nothing further to add at this time."

The three deaths come after another American died from carbon monoxide poisoning while staying in a vacation rental in Mexico City late last month, the victim's family told ABC San Diego station KGTV . The woman's two siblings were also hospitalized due to carbon monoxide poisoning, their family told the station.

Three American tourists who were found dead at a Bahamas resort in May also died of carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.

The victims' families are calling for more regulation around requiring functioning carbon monoxide detectors in rental properties.

"We will fight to make sure that mandates are implemented so no other family has to deal with this type of brokenness and heartache," Marshall's mother, Jennifer Marshall, told "Good Morning America."

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3 American tourists die of gas inhalation in Mexico City Airbnb

Three Americans found dead at a rented apartment in Mexico City last month likely died of gas inhalation, police said Tuesday.

The city police department said security guards at the apartment building called after detecting an "intense smell of gas in an apartment" in an upscale neighborhood on the city's west side. Three tourists were found unresponsive on Oct. 30 and port-mortem examinations suggest they died of carbon monoxide poisoning. 

A State Department spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY the tourists were U.S. citizens who were visiting Mexico.

"We are closely monitoring local authorities’ investigation into the cause of death. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance," the statement said. "Out of respect for the privacy of the families, we have nothing further to add at this time."

Family members identified the tourists as  Kandace Florence, 28, and New Orleans teacher Jordan Marshall, 28, according to WAVY, which first reported the deaths. Deanna Reddick, principal of KIPP Morial Middle School in New Orleans, confirmed the death of Courtez Hall, a 7th-grade history teacher, and said counselors would provide support to students and staff.

Relatives said the group rented an Airbnb in Mexico City to celebrate Day of the Dead last month.

On Oct. 30, Florence, who founded a candle business in 2020, told her boyfriend she was feeling sick and he contacted her Airbnb host to conduct a welfare check, WAVY reported . Authorities later found Florence, Marshall and Hall dead, according to the outlet.

Police: 3 Americans died of carbon monoxide poisoning at Bahamas Sandals resort

State Department, CDC: US travelers urged to 'avoid travel to Mexico' and 'exercise increased caution' in hot spots

"This is a terrible tragedy, and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones as they grieve such an unimaginable loss," Elle Wye, a spokesperson for Airbnb, said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Our priority right now is supporting those impacted as the authorities investigate what happened, and we stand ready to assist with their inquiries however we can."

Relatives of Florence, including her sister-in-law Amy Green said they have had trouble getting information about the cause of the deaths.

“We thought that going to the embassy first would aid us in that regard, but they didn’t have translators that could accompany us to the various places like the forensics office or police station,” Green told WAVY.

Ceola Hall also said she's gotten little information on how her son died, WDSU reported.

"It's been so hard," Hall told the outlet. "We tried calling back over there for the funeral homes. Because of the language barrier and stuff you cannot get anything through or really understand."

Jennifer Marshall told WTKR  her family traveled to Mexico but is still waiting for information on how her son died. She said his body has been returned to Virginia.

“The Mexican police were not very forthcoming with information,” she said. “Also, the language barrier was incredibly difficult, as well.”

Marshall's funeral is scheduled for Friday, according to WAVY and a Virginia funeral home website.

Tourists dying of gas inhalation has been a persistent problem in Mexico and other vacation destinations. Police said three Americans who were staying at a Bahamas Sandals resort in May died due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

In 2018, a gas leak in a water heater caused the deaths of an American couple and their two children in the resort town of Tulum, south of Playa del Carmen.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Contact Breaking News Reporter N'dea Yancey-Bragg at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @NdeaYanceyBragg

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3 American tourists found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning at Mexico City Airbnb, official says

MEXICO CITY -- Three Americans died from carbon monoxide poisoning while staying at a rented apartment in Mexico City, the city attorney general's office said.

The office began an investigation October 30, it said, looking into the "death of three foreigners, derived from possible poisoning by gas inhalation inside an apartment in the La Rosita, Cuajimalpa de Morelos." Expert studies indicate the gas was carbon monoxide, the attorney general's Tuesday statement said.

After detecting an intense smell of gas in the apartment, security guards at a residential complex requested support from local authorities, the statement said, and the agents who arrived found the bodies of a woman and two men.

Paramedics determined they were dead at the scene, the report said. The attorney general's office has ordered investigations.

The three Americans have not yet been publicly identified. The US Embassy confirmed the deaths to CNN affiliate WDSU, saying, "We are closely monitoring local authorities' investigation into the cause of death. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. Out of respect for the privacy of the families, we have nothing further to add at this time."

Airbnb called the deaths a "terrible tragedy" and said it stood ready to assist with any inquiries.

"Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones as they grieve such an unimaginable loss. Our priority right now is supporting those impacted as the authorities investigate what happened," the online home rental company said in its statement.

News of the deaths comes just months after reports that three Americans died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a Sandals resort on Bahamas' Great Exuma island.

Two couples reported feeling ill the night of May 5 and were seen by medical staff, Bahamian police said.

The next day, Michael Phillips, 68, and his wife, Robbie Phillips, 65, of Tennessee, and Vincent Paul Chiarella, 64, of Florida, were found dead in their villas. Chiarella's wife, Donnis, 65, was airlifted to the capital, Nassau, for further treatment before being transferred to Florida.

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• CARBON MONOXIDE
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3 Americans dead in Mexico Airbnb from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning

Three Americans on vacation in Mexico City were found dead at an Airbnb-listed property that they had rented, according to the U.S. State Department and the property rental platform.

Two men and a woman died due to carbon monoxide poisoning at the property, Mexican police said, according to the Associated Press . They were found unresponsive on Oct. 30 at an apartment in the upscale Cuajimalpa district, according to the Spanish newspaper El País. The State Department did not release details on the deceased or their cause of death, though it said that U.S. officials were providing appropriate consular assistance.

Mexico City prosecutors did not return a request for comment sent late Wednesday. The families of the deceased couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

In a statement, Airbnb described the incident as a tragedy. The company said it had suspended bookings at the property where the deaths occurred. “Our priority right now is supporting those impacted as the authorities investigate what happened, and we stand ready to assist with their inquiries,” it added.

The trio went to Mexico to participate in the festivities marking the Day of the Dead , or Día de los Muertos. The holiday — which ran Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 — has its origins in ancient Aztec Indigenous traditions and commemorates death as an essential element of life.

The woman involved had told her boyfriend before her death that she felt like she had been drugged, according to El País, which viewed messages between the couple. “Like I’ve taken ecstasy, but I haven’t,” she reportedly wrote. She was also reportedly vomiting and said she was feeling fatigued.

Tourist drug demand is bringing cartel violence to Mexico’s most popular resorts

Around the time the three U.S. nationals died, three American siblings vacationing in Mexico also suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a GoFundMe webpage set up by a family friend and local media reports. One of them died. The other two were hospitalized.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless and colorless gas that kills people by slowly depleting them of oxygen. When people breathe in the gas, it prevents red blood cells from carrying sufficient oxygen to critical organs such as the brain and heart. Initial symptoms may include dizziness and vomiting. More than 430 people are accidentally killed by the gas each year in the United States every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC advises Americans to install a carbon monoxide detector in their homes, and to check the batteries every six months. The gas can be found in fumes produced by furnaces, stoves, lanterns and gas ranges, or in areas near burning charcoal and wood. Infants, the elderly and people with chronic heart disease, anemia, or breathing problems are most at risk, according to the public health body .

Robyn Huang and Bryan Pietsch contributed to this report.

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3 American tourists found dead in Mexico City Airbnb likely killed by carbon monoxide poisoning

3 american tourists were killed by a carbon monoxide leak in the bahamas in may.

Carbon monoxide responsible for death of American in the Bahamas: Report

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marty Makary on American tourists' deaths in the Bahamas, calls out CDC vaccine advisory panel pushing for COVID boosters in children

Three American tourists were found dead in their Mexico City Airbnb in what authorities say is most likely a case of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The bodies of 28-year-olds Kandace Florence and Jordan Marshall, and 33-year-old Courtez Hall were found in an Airbnb vacation rental last month after the trio traveled to Mexico City to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead, New York Post reported .

Autopsy reports showed the three Americans likely died from inhaling carbon monoxide fumes, according to Bloomberg.

Florence was reportedly speaking with her boyfriend on the phone on the night of Oct. 30 when she told him that she was feeling sick and suggested that something did not feel right. The call was then dropped and her boyfriend, who was in the United States, was not able to reach her again.

MORE THAN 2 DOZEN PENNSYLVANIA CHILDREN, TEACHING AIDES HOSPITALIZED AFTER CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK AT DAY CARE

Left to right: Courtez Hall, Kadence Florence, Jordan Marshall (Facebook)

The boyfriend contacted the Airbnb host to request a welfare check, and police arrived at the scene to find all three friends dead along with a strong stench of gas. 

"We can confirm the death of three U.S. citizens in Mexico," a spokesperson for the State Department told Fox News Digital in a statement. "We are closely monitoring local authorities’ investigation into the cause of death. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance."

OH CARBON MONOXIDE APARTMENT LEAK KILLS 1, INJURES 10

Kandace Florence, left, and Courtez Hall. (Facebook)

The deaths come several months after three American tourists were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning at an all-inclusive Sandals resort in the Bahamas in May.

Carbon monoxide is especially dangerous because it is an odorless gas. Individuals do not realize they are exposed to it until they become symptomatic. 

CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK DETECTED AT KANSAS CITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 8 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL

Health experts advise it is vital to have carbon monoxide detectors installed in homes, rental units, hotel rooms and more — and to know and confirm that indeed, they are placed there and fully operational during any vacation stay, no matter how short or long. 

The presence of carbon monoxide in hotels is an issue travelers should have on their radars, according to a study published in Preventive Medicine Reports in 2019.  

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Tourists with their face painted as skeletons listen to a tour guide explain about the event history during 'Day of the Dead' celebrations on Nov. 2, 2022  ((Photo by Jonny Pickup/Getty Images))

The authors of that study discovered that from Jan. 1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2018, more than 900 guests traveling in the U.S. were poisoned in 115 identified incidents — including 22 fatalities. The type of lodgings where the odorless gas was present included hotels, motels and resorts of all classes and located in a majority of states, the study said. 

Americans tourists have faced dangers traveling to Mexico in several instances this year, including a man who says he was kidnapped at knife-point and violently attacked while vacationing with his wife.

This summer, two American tourists were injured in Mexico after being attacked by a crocodile . 

Fox News’ Amy McGorry contributed to this report

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].

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After 3 Tourists Go Missing, Bodies Are Found in Baja California

Mexican authorities recovered the three bodies as a search went on for two Australian tourists and a U.S. citizen who disappeared while on vacation.

By Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

Reporting from Mexico City

A dayslong search for three missing tourists who disappeared near a surfing town close to the U.S.-Mexico border ended tragically on Friday as the authorities said that they had located three bodies in a water hole.

Two Australian brothers, Callum and Jake Robinson, and their friend, Jack Carter Rhoad, a U.S. citizen, had been on vacation surfing and camping along the coast near the Mexican city of Ensenada when they disappeared on Saturday.

Debra Robinson, the mother of the brothers, said in a social media post on Wednesday that they had booked an Airbnb in another coastal town north of Ensenada but never showed up there.

“Reaching out to anyone who has seen my two sons. They have not contacted us,” she pleaded to the more than 120,000 members of a community Facebook page created for people interested in touring Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

She added that Callum was a Type 1 diabetic.

The state’s attorney general, María Elena Andrade Ramírez, said in a news conference on Thursday that prosecutors were investigating three people related to the case but that crucial time had passed since the disappearance of the three men.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the last few days that they were reported missing,” Ms. Andrade Ramírez told reporters. “So, that meant that important hours or time was lost.”

In an interview, Ms. Andrade Ramírez said that after close examination of a 50-foot-deep water hole in La Bocana beach, near the town of Santo Tomás, Mexican authorities found three male bodies early on Friday. The already decomposed remains, she added, “meet the characteristics to assume with a high degree of probability” that they are the Robinson siblings and Mr. Rhoad.

Researchers will perform DNA tests to confirm the findings.

Prosecutors also believe that the three people tied to the deaths tried to seize the victims’ vehicle. When they resisted, Ms. Andrade Ramírez said, one man took out a gun, opened fire and then tried to dispose of their bodies. That person has been arrested.

“This aggression seems to have occurred in an unforeseen, circumstantial manner,” she added. “We pledge that this crime will not go unpunished.”

Human remains of a fourth male body, which has not yet been identified and is not connected to this case, was also found at the same site.

In 2022, 192 American citizens died in Mexico, State Department figures show , but most of those deaths were accidents or suicides. Only 46 were ruled as homicides.

The big waves in Baja California have long attracted throngs of surfers and travelers, many of whom have dealt with rising crime rates for nearly two decades.

But record levels of violence have hit the state in recent years. Government data shows that Baja California currently holds first place in vehicle theft and second place in homicides, most of which are related to drug dealing or organized crime, Mexico’s secretary of defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, said this year.

An official familiar with the investigation, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said a white pickup truck that the missing tourists had been traveling in was found charred near La Bocana beach. Other belongings and pieces of evidence were also being analyzed, the official added.

The swift effort to find the tourists was a rare exception in a country where nearly 100,000 people remain missing, according to the latest count provided by Mexican officials in March.

A majority of cases remain unsolved. Family members and volunteers are left on their own to follow up on leads, but the presence of cartels and a lack of support from the authorities make searching a dangerous mission .

The recent case in Ensenada recalled an episode in 2015 in which two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed as they drove across Sinaloa, another state in northern Mexico. Local authorities arrested three people who said they shot the two friends after they resisted a robbery. Their bodies were found inside their van, which had been doused in gasoline and set on fire.

Emiliano Rodríguez Mega is a reporter and researcher for The Times based in Mexico City, covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. More about Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

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2 Americans found dead in hotel room in Mexico's Baja California Sur

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Police in a seaside community on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula said Wednesday that two Americans have been found dead in their hotel room.

Police said the deaths occurred in the community of El Pescadero on Tuesday. The town is located between Todos Santos and the resort of Los Cabos, in Baja California Sur state.

U.S. officials said they were aware of the case but could not comment on it because of privacy concerns. There was no immediate information on the names or hometowns of the victims.

According to a police, paramedics received a report Tuesday that the Americans were unconscious in their room. They were dead by the time paramedics arrived. The suspected cause of death was inhalation of gas.

There have been several cases of such deaths in Mexico due to poisoning by carbon monoxide or other gases. Such gases are often produced by improperly vented or leaky water heaters and stoves.

Last year, three U.S. citizens were found dead at a rented apartment in Mexico, apparently victims of gas inhalation.

The Mexico City police department said the three were found unresponsive Oct. 30 in an upscale neighborhood. They had apparently rented the dwelling for a short visit. Post-mortem examinations suggested the two men and one woman died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

In Mexico, proper gas line installations, vents and monitoring devices are often lacking.

In 2018, a gas leak in a water heater caused the deaths of an American couple and their two children in the resort town of Tulum, south of Playa del Carmen.

An inspection revealed that the water heater at the rented condominium was leaking gas. Prosecutors said the gas leak was perhaps caused by a lack of maintenance or the age of the equipment.

In 2010, the explosion of an improperly installed gas line at a hotel in Playa del Carmen killed five Canadian tourists and two Mexicans .

In that case, prosecutors said the gas line, apparently meant to fuel a pool heating unit, was not properly installed or maintained. They said gas leaking from the line may have been ignited in an explosion by a spark from an electric switch or plug.

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Bodies found in Mexico where Australian, US tourists went missing

MEXICO CITY - Mexican authorities have located three bodies in the state of Baja California where one American and two Australian tourists were reported missing, the local prosecutor's office said in a statement late on Friday.

Australian brothers Callum, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, and American Carter Rhoad, 30, were last seen on April 27, the Baja California state prosecutor's office previously announced. It referred to the missing American as Jack Carter Rhoad.

Forensic tests on the remains will be conducted by a state laboratory which will allow for positive identification of the bodies, the prosecutor's office said in its statement.

Investigators continue to search the rugged area where the bodies were found for additional evidence, the statement added.

The three men were on vacation surfing near the popular tourist town of Ensenada, about 90 minutes south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

On Thursday, state prosecutor Socorro Ibarra said that three people were being investigated in connection with the case. Her office noted on Friday that arrest warrants have been obtained for the crime of forced disappearance.

Tents were found in the area where the missing men were last seen, said Ibarra, adding that they were formally reported missing days after their actual disappearance.

A burnt white pickup truck was also found in the area, authorities said.

Baja California is one of Mexico's most violent states, although the Ensenada area is considered safer. The U.S. State Department advises Americans to reconsider travel to the state due to crime and kidnapping.

Asked about the discovery of the bodies, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said: "We are aware of those reports and are closely monitoring the situation."

A spokesperson for Australia's foreign ministry said their embassy in Mexico was working closely with Mexican authorities and the Australian Federal Police.

"The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade recognises this is a very distressing time for the family and is in regular contact with them to provide support." REUTERS

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Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours before Holy Week procession

The Good Friday Eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old Mexican silver-mining town of Taxco, went off as planned Thursday night despite the mob killing of a woman earlier in the day.

A woman suspected in the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, is dragged out of a police vehicle by a mob in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Police then picked her up off the ground and took her away. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

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A mob beats a woman they suspect of kidnapping and killing an 8-year-old girl, after dragging her out of a police vehicle, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Police then picked her up and took her away. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

ADDS THAT THE WOMAN DIED - A mob beats a woman they suspect of kidnapping and killing an 8-year-old girl, after dragging her out of a police vehicle, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Police then picked her up and took her away. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Residents gather as the coffin that contain the remains of an 8-year-old girl is delivered to family, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. The 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday; her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Funeral workers carry the coffin that contain the remains of an 8-year-old girl, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. The 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday; her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A relative of an 8-year-old girl, who was kidnapped the previous day, weeps as her body is handed over to family in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A relative mourns as funeral workers carry the coffin that contain the remains of an 8-year-old girl, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. The 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday; her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “Justice for Cami” in reference to an 8-year-old girl who disappeared the previous day, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. The 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday; her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman wipes away tears during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Women chant the word “justice” during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman chants the Spanish word for “justice” during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman carries her daughter during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman holds a sign with a message that loosely translates from Spanish: “Children should not be harmed”, during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A bare-footed penitent walks in a Holy Week procession, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Penitents carry a bundle of thorny branches during a Holy Week procession in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. In traditional processions that last from Thursday evening into the early morning hours of Friday, hooded penitents drag chains and shoulder the thorny bundles through the streets, as some flog themselves with nail-studded whips meant to bring them closer to God. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city’s famous Holy Week procession.

The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl’s body, into a taxi.

The mob surrounded the woman’s house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by — apparently intimidated by the crowd — as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and down onto the street where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless.

Police then picked her up and took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. “This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she said. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents’ outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three people beaten by the mob — the woman and two men — had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

The state prosecutors’ office said the two men were hospitalized. There was no immediate information on their condition.

In a statement issued soon after the event, Figueroa complained he did not get any help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

“Unfortunately, up to now we have not received any help or answers,” Figueroa said.

The Good Friday eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old silver-mining town, went off as planned Thursday night.

People crowded Taxco’s colonial streets to watch hooded men walking while whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns across their bare shoulders in penitence to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

But the earlier flash of violence cast a pall over the already solemn procession, which draws thousands to the small town.

Many participants wore small white ribbons of mourning.

“I never thought that in a touristic place like Taxco we would experience a lynching,” said Felipa Lagunas, a local elementary school teacher. “I saw it as something distant, in places far from civilization ... I never imagined that my community would experience this on such a special day.”

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are common . In 2018, two men were torched by an angry crowd in the central state of Puebla, and the next day a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

In late January, Taxco endured a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa’s own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely prey on the local population, demanding protection payments from store owners, taxi and bus drivers. They kill those who refuse to pay.

Residents said they have had enough, even though the violence may further affect tourism.

“We know the town lives off of Holy Week (tourism) and that this is going to mess it up. There will be a lot of people who won’t want to come anymore,” said Andrea, the woman who was in the mob. “We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us.”

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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Four found dead in Mexico’s Cancún beach resort

No immediate information on nationalities or identities in latest violence to hit popular holiday destination

Four dead bodies have been found near a beach in the Mexican resort city of Cancún, in the latest incident of violence to hit the popular holiday destination.

There was no immediate information on the nationalities or identities of the victims. The announcement of the deaths came less that a week after a US tourist was shot in the leg in the nearby town of Puerto Morelos.

Prosecutors originally said three bodies were found on Monday in a lot near one of Cancún’s beachside hotels along the Kukulkan Boulevard. They then added that a fourth body was found in the undergrowth on the same lot, bringing to four the number of victims.

Prosecutors in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo said two suspects had been detained in the killings. They said the deaths were under investigation, but did not give a cause of death.

Last week in Puerto Morelos, a US tourist was approached by several suspects, and they shot him in the leg. The motive remains under investigation. The wounded man was taken to a hospital in Cancún for treatment, and his injury was judged to be not life-threatening.

The US state department issued a travel alert earlier this month warning travelers to “exercise increased caution”, especially after dark, at Mexico’s Caribbean beach resorts like Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, which have been plagued by drug gang violence in the past.

Cancún and the Mayan Riviera to its south, are the crown jewels of Mexico’s tourism industry, attracting millions of tourists each year.

But the region has been plagued by violence as drug cartels dispute extortion rackets and local drug markets.

In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, apparently because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs .

In 2021, farther south in the laid-back destination of Tulum, two tourists – one a California travel blogger born in India and the other German – were killed when they apparently were caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival drug dealers.

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Bodies found in Mexico where Australian, US tourists missing, sources say

By Lizbeth Diaz

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican authorities have located three bodies in the state of Baja California where two Australians and one American were reported missing, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.

Australian brothers Callum, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, and American Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, were last seen on April 27, according to Baja California's prosecutor's office.

The three were on vacation surfing in the municipality of Ensenada, about an hour and a half south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The state prosecutor's office did not immediately respond to a request on Friday for updated information on the case.

State prosecutor Socorro Ibarra said on Thursday that three people were being investigated in connection with the case, though it was unclear whether they were involved in the disappearance of the men.

Tents were found in the area where the missing men were last seen, said Ibarra, adding that they were formally reported missing days after their actual disappearance.

A burnt white pickup truck was also found in the area, authorities said.

Baja California is one of Mexico's most violent states, although tourist areas like Ensenada are considered safer. The U.S. State Department advises Americans to reconsider travel to the state due to crime and kidnapping.

The U.S. embassy in Mexico and Australia's foreign ministry in Canberra did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Brendan O'Boyle; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Sandra Maler)

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Mexican police find 7 bodies, 5 of them decapitated, inside a car with messages "detailing the reason they were killed"

Updated on: April 8, 2024 / 6:19 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Authorities in one of Mexico's largest cities said Friday they have found seven bodies with five of them decapitated and another completely dismembered — with a message on each corpse — in a car left in the middle of traffic on a main expressway.

Prosecutors in the central state of Puebla said all of the bodies bore messages supposedly outlining the reasons each were killed. Each was accused of having committed a particular crime, from street-level drug dealing to robbing freight trucks to extortion, prosecutors said.

"On each of the bodies, we found hand-written messages written on paper, each one detailing the reason they were killed," said Puebla state chief prosecutor Gilberto Higuera.

Higuera did not mention whether the deaths might be related to drug cartels. He said the stolen car was left in the middle of traffic on the expressway.

While vigilantes have sometimes left such messages on corpses, similar signs are far more frequently left on victims' bodies by drug cartels seeking to threaten their rivals or punish behavior they claim violates their rules.

Higuera was extremely guarded in describing the evidence, but suggested it involved "not only a dispute (between gangs) but also something related to dominance over certain people, aimed at not only domination, but recruitment."

He did not further clarify that. But some cartels in Mexico, when seeking to establish a territory as their own, will kill off rivals or any petty thieves or drug dealers they find, and leave messages to convince local residents that such activities will not be tolerated under the new cartel.

The grisly killings were striking because they occurred in the relatively affluent and large city of Puebla, just east of Mexico City. Puebla is Mexico's fifth largest city and had largely been spared the drug cartel violence affecting surrounding areas. According to data published by the Puebla state prosecutor's office, the state as a whole recorded 200 murders in the first three months of 2024.

Leaving the bodies in the middle of an expressway also was unusual. Police were quickly alerted to the cadaver-laden car because it was blocking traffic on the city's main ring road.

Disturbing trend

Discoveries of mutilated bodies dumped in public or hung from bridges with menacing messages have increased in Mexico in recent years as cartels and gangs seek to intimidate their rivals.

In January, hacked-up bodies were found in two vehicles abandoned on a bridge in Mexico's Gulf coast state of Veracruz, prosecutors said. A banner left on one of the vehicles included an apparent warning message from a powerful cartel.

Last July, a violent drug cartel was suspected of leaving a severed human leg found hanging from a pedestrian bridge in Toluca, just west of Mexico City. The trunk of the body was left on the street below, near the city's center,  along with handwritten messages  signed by the Familia Michoacana cartel. Other parts of the bodies were found later in other neighborhoods, also with handwritten drug cartels signs nearby.

In 2022, the  severed heads of six men  were reportedly discovered on top of a Volkswagen in southern Mexico, along with a warning sign strung from two trees at the scene.

That same year, the  bodies of seven men  were found dumped on a roadway in the Huasteca region. Writing scrawled in markers on the corpses said "this is what happened to me for working with the Gulf," an apparent reference to the Gulf Cartel.

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Two Mexican mayoral contenders found dead on same day

Killing of Noe Ramos Ferretiz in Tamaulipas and of Alberto Garcia in Oaxaca bring to 17 the number of slain candidates ahead of June 2 polls.

Two mayoral contenders have been found dead in a single day in Mexico, adding to the toll of slain candidates in what is shaping up to be the country’s most violent election on record.

The deaths reported in different parts of the country on Friday bring to 17 the number of candidates killed in the lead-up to the presidential, congressional and local polls  on June 2.

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In the northern state of Tamaulipas, authorities said they had launched a manhunt for the person who killed candidate Noe Ramos Ferretiz. He was seeking re-election as mayor of Ciudad Mante for a coalition of the opposition National Action Party and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Local media reported he had been stabbed and posted photos showing a bloodied body lying on a sidewalk.

“We will not allow violence to decide these elections,” PRI party leader Alejandro Moreno wrote on social media, where he confirmed the “cowardly assassination” of Ramos Ferretiz.

The second slain candidate, Alberto Garcia, was found dead a day after he was reported missing. He was running for mayor of San Jose Independencia in the southern state of Oaxaca.

The state electoral board condemned the death of Garcia, who went missing along with his wife, the current mayor of San Jose Independencia and and who was found alive. The board called Garcia’s death a “killing”, and said such crimes “should not occur during elections”.

Bodyguards for candidates

Violence linked to organised crime in Mexico has long killed politicians from various parties, especially those who hold or are seeking regional positions.

Drug cartels have often carried out such assassination attempts in a bid to control local police or extort money from municipal governments.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador acknowledged in early April that the cartels often seek to determine who will serve as mayor – either by running their own candidates or eliminating potential rivals.

“They make an agreement and say, ‘this person is going to be mayor; we don’t want anyone else to register to run’, and anybody who does, well, they know [what to expect],” he said.

The recent slayings have prompted the government to provide bodyguards for about 250 candidates, while those running for municipal positions – the most endangered – are the last in line for security.

Earlier this month, candidate Bertha Gaytan was shot dead on the first day of her campaign. She was running for mayor of Celaya, a city in the north-central state of Guanajuato.

Also in April, the mayor of Churumuco, a town in the western state of Michoacan, was shot dead at a taco restaurant in the state capital, Morelia.

In late February, in another town in Michoacan, two mayoral hopefuls were shot dead within hours of each other.