Mother was told her children were beaten at Mexican military barracks

[Judi Lynn]

4. Three U.S. citizens last seen with police in Mexico are found dead

Three U.S. citizens last seen with police in Mexico are found dead
October 31, 2014, 4:25 PM|Reporting from Mexico City

Three U.S. citizens who were in Mexico visiting their father and were last seen in the custody of police have been killed along with a friend, authorities said Friday..

Their bodies, each with a gunshot to the head, have been identified by relatives, authorities in the border state of Tamaulipas said. Two brothers, their sister and her boyfriend were killed after being taken away by an ad hoc police force in the city of Matamoros, authorities and relatives said.

The police force, known as the Hercules squad, was seen taking the three men and the woman away, witnesses said.

The Hercules police force is an elite group formed by the mayor of Matamoros, Leticia Salazar, according to the Tamaulipas prosecutors' office. Some officials in the most conflict-ridden parts of Mexico have formed their own security squads as a way to protect themselves when they cannot trust often-corrupt police.

The siblings' father, Pedro Alvarado, said he searched high and low when the four went missing but was unable to find them, until he was called to the morgue Thursday.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-american-deaths-20141101-story.html