Radio journalist José Luis Romero’s body was found on January 16 alongside the road from Los Mochis to El Fuerte, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, just over two weeks after gunmen grabbed him while he was out shopping in Los Mochis on December 30 and bundled him into a pickup.
Sinaloa state judicial officials said Romero, 40, journalist of Línea Directa, was tortured and then shot in the head. He may have been murdered the same day as his abduction as they said he had been dead for about two weeks when the body was found. He worked for Línea Directa radio.
The state officials said his death bore all the hallmarks of an organised crime killing and that the case would be transferred to Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR). The day before the body’s discovery, an anonymous message told the authorities to look in a different location, known as Plan del Río, and named various gang members as his killers.
The discovery of Romero’s body brings the number of journalists murdered in Mexico since 2000 to 60 and the number murdered since the start of the year to two. A total of nine journalists are still missing in abductions that have taken place since 2003.
