Inside spate of bloody ‘murders’ and shootings in Mexico resorts that’s left US tourists dead as violence soars
THE brutal death of American Sativa Transue marks the latest in a string of violence against tourists visiting Mexico.
Sativa’s boyfriend Taylor Allen has been arrested in connection with her killing, according to reports.
But many of those caught up in bloodshed in the country in recent years have been victims of gang warfare.
For some, their deaths are still shrouded in mystery, with loved ones accusing authorities there of a cover up.
Here The Sun looks at some of the most recent violent crimes to hit tourists visiting Mexico.
BEATEN ‘TO BLOODY PULP’
Sativa Transue, 26, was discovered dead by a maid inside the All Ritmo Resort in Cancun on November 27.
Her boyfriend Taylor Allen, 31, was arrested in connection with her killing after the couple are understood have been involved in a fierce row shortly before her death.
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Sativa’s devastated family have said looked as though she’d been “beaten to a bloody pulp” when she was found by Mexican police on Saturday.
Police in Cancun tweeted an image of Allen at a police station still wearing a hotel robe on November 29.
The day before her body was found, Sativa had reportedly texted her friends back home in Spokane, Washington at around 1pm on November 26, telling them she and Allen had already consumed “seven shots and two Pina Coladas.”
Hours later, she sent the same friends a flurry of messages saying she had got into a fight with Allen and needed stitches.
RESORT SHOOTING
Four Americans were hurt in an attack at a hotel in Cancun that left two dead earlier this month.
The carnage sent tourists scrambling for cover after 15 drug gang gunmen rocked up in ski masks and opened fire on the beach in front of the Azul Beach Resort and the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun.
One tourist told CNN: “I was by the pool when multiple successive gunshots occurred. It went on for a little while and everyone dove for cover.
“We manned the entrances to the basement and were given metal sticks, even a pedestal bathroom sink, to defend ourselves.”
Footage from inside the five-star resort showed terrified guests cowering behind walls, crouched on the floor and hiding in dark rooms.
The two men killed in the bloodshed were drug dealers, authorities confirmed, and had apparently arrived at the beach earlier in the day – claiming it was now their territory.
About 15 people then showed up at the beach and executed the two rivals, the head prosecutor of Quintana Roo state, Oscar Montes de Oca, said.
The province attorney general said the gunfire erupted during a fight between “antagonistic groups of drug dealers” and one person was arrested.
Eyewitnesses said the men stormed the beach armed with machine guns and opened fire.
Governor Carlos Joaquin said the commando of gunmen wore ski masks and arrived by boat at the beach before fleeing by boat.
Several cartels are fighting for the area’s lucrative retail drug trade – including the Jalisco cartel and the gang allied with the Gulf cartel.
TRAVEL BLOGGER KILLED
A California travel blogger and a German tourist were killed in a similar shootout in the beach town of Tulum in October.
Anjali Ryot, 25, died when a gang allied to the Gulf Cartel fought it out with rivals who are part of the notoriously brutal Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Three other foreign tourists were wounded in the rampage at a street-side eatery, near Tulum’s main strip, including two German men and a Dutch woman.
According to Anjali’s Instagram she was a blogger originally from Himachal, India, but now living in San Jose, California.
She boasted 40,400 followers on Instagram where she posted pictures of herself in Tulum just two days before her death.
The shooting took place inside the ‘La Malquerida’ bar in the municipality of Tulum, where tourist hotspots Playa del Carmen and Cancun are located.
The gunfight apparently broke out between two groups that operate street-level drug sales in the area, according to prosecutors.
TEACHER FOUND DEAD IN CAR
Elementary school teacher Alexandra Morales was found dead in a car on the side of the road in Mexico last month.
Her boyfriend Fidel Barragán, 28, has since been arrested in connection with her death.
Morales took a personal leave from her job in October and family members said they lost touch with her after she attended a concert on October 30.
She taught first grade at Benefield Elementary School in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
MYSTERY FIREFIGHTER DEATH
In July a firefighter was found dead at a resort in Cancun while on vacation with his wife to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.
The body of Elijah Snow, 35, was reportedly found in a bathroom window at a hotel and the Texas man’s family suspects he was murdered.
Snow’s body was reportedly found at a hotel that was about a half-hour drive from the resort that he was staying at with his wife.
His cause of death has not been released, but Snow’s family believes the situation is suspicious.
Jamie Snow was reportedly told that her husband may have fallen between the walls of the resort next door.
The family does not believe that story and hired a local attorney who was able to obtain crime scene photos of Snow.
Photos appear to show that Snow had been beaten on most of his body, except his head and face.
Snow’s loved ones may have been kidnapped, beaten, and killed.
FAMILY SLAIN
In November 2019 ruthless cartel killers slaughtered nine US Mormons.
The three mums and six kids were in a convoy of 17 members of a US family who were ambushed as they drove to a wedding in the border state of Sonora.
Rhonita Miller LeBaron, 30, was killed with her son, 13, daughter, 11, and seven-month-old baby twins.
Christina and Dawna Langford, 43, and two of Dawna’s children, Trevor, 11, and Rogan, three, were also killed.
Survivors told how gunmen riddled their cars with bullets, burned babies alive and shot one boy in the back as he fled.
Police announced the arrest of member of a cartel in connection with the murders in October.
MURDERED ON A HIKE
In 2018 Patrick Braxton-Andrew was killed while on a hike.
Chihuahua state Gov. Javier Corral said at the time the teacher from North Carolina was believed to have been killed by a drug trafficker while walking in the Copper Canyons.
Corral said the 34-year-old’s body had been buried, and then exhumed and left in the open by his assailants.
More than a hundred police and volunteers combed the area for clues after Braxton-Andrew disappeared.
Corral said sharing the news with the family broke his heart.
SHOT CELEBRATING WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
That same year American tourist Tatiana Mirutenko was shot to death outside a restaurant while celebrating her first wedding anniversary.
Authorities say Tatiana Mirutenko of San Francisco was killed as she left a taco restaurant in Mexico City’s wealthy Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood.
Her husband, James, was steps away at the time of the shooting.
The city’s prosecutor’s office says the 27-year-old Mirutenko was shot when gunmen aboard a motorcycle fired on a man identified as a bouncer at an area bar.
Mirutenko’s parents live in the Chicago area. Natalie Mirutenko told ABC News her daughter had told her “how wonderful, how safe it was.”
Wasyl Mirutenko says they were selecting flowers for a wedding a year ago, adding “today we were looking at flowers for the funeral.”
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