14 DAY TRIAL // A former Marine and two of his family members have been kidnapped on a trip to Mexico, prompting a cross-agency effort for their rescue.
27-year-old Armando Torres III was taken in Tamaulipas, Mexico on May 14, Daily Mail reported. Torres is a resident of Hargill, Texas, who went to Mexico to visit his father's ranch in La Barranca.
His uncle and father have also gone missing, with local accounts suggesting that they have been kidnapped by a group of armed men.
“You never expect anything like this to happen. He never went to Mexico, because when he was active in the Marines he wasn’t allowed to go,” Torres' sister Cristina tells the McAllen Monitor.
Local police are yet to identify the captors, but the FBI are stepping in, according to a statement issued on Monday.
“She saw a white truck with people in it and they just went in the house and got my brother and my dad and my uncle and just put them in the truck and took off. […] They took a lot of their belongings in the house and they took the cars, as well,” Christina Torres says.
The Mexican-American man is a father of two and he was taken after crossing the border through the International Port of Entry Bridge at Progresso, Texas.
“I wake up everyday thinking what will I tell my children when they grow up and don’t have a dad,” girlfriend Melissa Estrada says on Facebook.
He is currently enrolled in the Individual Ready Reserve and he is an Iraq veteran with seven years of experience. He worked as a Humvee mechanic in the Marines.
“He hadn’t been in a long time and I don’t know what set him off to go visit my dad. We just want to see them again,” Torres notes.
“Armando served this country 7 years and I feel like his country should be able to respond, the way he always did,” Estrada adds.