My father was murdered south of Mulege!!!

[gtx510]

And I was told by the person who may have seen the Jeep that they were mistaken and it was on the 8th, but they didn't notice a roofrack or dent.
He still may have seen the Jeep as we are not certain of the time of death, given the time of the original consulate voicemail, and the Jeep being spotted Saturday at noon in Constitution. To me this all points to my father being killed before Saturday, but the local police's report conflicts with this.

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[gtx510]

http://www.10news.com/news/10348245/detail.html
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/r...-bn17stab.html
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthre...d=20775&page=6

PLEASE look for an ALL WHITE (grill, bumpers, everything) 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4 4.7L V8, with tan leather and a sunroof.
The windows are slighty tinted (from the factory). It may be the Laredo or Limited model?
California License Plate # 5NRK826
VIN # 1J4GW58N4YC185572

It has a black roof rack that is easily visible and a large dent on the rear liftgate.
It also has a large adjustable tow hitch. And there's a trailer brake controller under the dash
The radiator core support is also bent and you can see where it was cut off and welded back on.
It has yellow and blue Bilstein shocks and a white and red Rancho Steering Stabilizer on the front axle.

If you see this Jeep please contact the local authorities.
Or call the Santa Rosalia DA Sergio Villareal (011 - 52) 615 - 153 - 0804
Or the U.S. Consulate's office in Tijuana (011 - 52) 664 - 622 - 7439

If you have other information and would like to contact me I can be reached at
619 - 933 - 1396 cellphone
858 - 794 - 8668
gtx510@gmail.com gtx510 @ gmail.com


We now think my father may have been murdered as early as Wednesday (Nov. 8th), possible even before then. This would explain why the local police acting the way they are.

I was informed by the US consulate in Tijuana Sunday night that my 73 year old father, Lloyd Duane Curtis, had been murdered. He was stabbed three times, his lung punctured, he drowned in his own blood, the fatal blow was so forceful that it also broke his ribs. All this to steal his Jeep, a crappy portable DVD/TV, and a portable battery charger/jumper box. This probably(?) happened sometime between Wednesday and Saturday (8th-11th) of last week at Playa Armenta, south of Mulege. An American couple(?) discovered his body on Sunday and then the police remembered seeing the Jeep on Friday(?) in Custiad Constitution. The police have no suspects and the detective's investigation seems motivated by a desire to buy the Jeep from us. Naturally I am horrified by all this and their incompetence in general. They told me that an American citizen, Jim (or John?) Perry left a message on the US consulate hotline on Thursday or Friday reporting a lone trailer sitting on the beach and asked if the local police would investigate it. The police didn't so until Sunday after another American couple reported the death. My family and I are of the opinion that the police are lying about the time of death to hide their incompetence. The medical examiner told us "off the record" that the police were not telling the truth about this and that it most likely occurred 24hrs before the police were saying. When we arrived to claim the body and fill out paperwork the Santa Rosalia DA was "fishing" so we waited a few hours for him. And then he was most concerned about showing us that he was the bigshot in town and nothing happened without his ok. He even started talking back to me in Spanish after I questioned why it took them so long to find my father and that it appeared he had been dead for longer than they were saying. Their "investigation" consists of about 10 pictures and a coroner's report. And it seems like they feel that they won't find the killer so why even bother.

SO...

PLEASE look for this Jeep!!!

A pre-runner forwarded me this link of my dad on Playa Armenta (Armento?).
The coincidence is blowing my mind. Could you post it?
You can clearly see the roof rack and you can barely see the dent to the
left of the license plate.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne...57594366666018


received this in an email.

"My wife and I were traveling to our home in Southern Baja and remember
seeing a Jeep of this description after leaving Loreto at 8:00 a.m. the
morning of the 8th. It was somewhere along the straight stretch of road
before you reach the intersection where the highway splits between Ciudad
Insurgentes and Ciudad Constitucion. The Jeep we saw was a Limited and
matches the color description. We may have seen some of the occupants but
not positive if it was this vehicle or a for sure. But we think (again
think) there may have 4 to 5 people in the car with a young hispanic girl of
late teens or early twenty's sitting in the back seat and also possibly a
young child too. I did not get a look at the front seat passengers but made
a comment to my wife that it looked like they had the whole family in the
vehicle. The young women in the back seat turned around and looked at us a
couple times before they pulled off the road letting us by. I do remember
that the girl did turn around and look at us through a tinted rear window of
the same shape as a Jeeps would be and this is what makes me think these
people may be associated to the vehicle that matches the description that we
saw. We hope for your families sake that these people are apprehended for
this crime."


And another.
"Hola! No sé si te sirva decirte esto, pero donde por lo regular siempre aparecen los carros robados son en puerto san carlos y pto adolfo lopez mateos, b.c.s., pero por lo regular los pintan y les arreglan los detalles por los cuales lo pudieran reconocer. Suerte! ojalá y den con lo tipos que robaron y asesinaron al extranjero."


Google translation.
"Hello! I do not know if it serves decirte this to you, but where by always regulating they appear the robbed cars are in port san Carlos and pto Adolph the mateos Lopez, b.c.s., but by regulating paints them and they fix the details to them by which they could recognize it. Luck! hopefully and they give with the types that robbed and assassinated the foreigner."

[C_Shirk]

First off, I can't even imagine what you are going through.

Secondly, I think everyone on this board really needs to pay attention to this. This is obviously a very sad story and just like me, most people feel as if they cannot lend a helping hand because they have absolutley no information to what happened.

BUT, I will say this again. I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD FOLLOW THIS INCIDENT CLOSELY! Unfortunately Baja is becoming more dangerous, just like many parts of the world. Baja has been on it's own for a very long time, but recently, there have been more and more crimes; similar to those occuring in Mainland Mex and in Central America. There is a HUGE US influence in Baja and unfortunately I believe things like this are going to be happening more and more.
I don't really know what to do concerning the rising dangers in Baja, but I do know that I will NOT stop traveling down there much like everyone else. I just have to say that it is getting more sketchy down there and just to watch where you put yourself.

[outtacontrazy]

try posting on www.bloodydecks.com its a huge fisher mans forum site and alot of them go to baja to fish so post up on there too. good luck!

[silversurfer]

My thoughts are with you, please keep us posted. Try to forward your posts to juanyjuan.com and scorpionbay.net, both sites are from scorpion bay, just north of Constitution and Insurgentes. Many people from Scorpion bay drive through those areas frequentley and will be a great extra set of eyes for this jeep!

[gtx510]

Can you guys post this on those sites? I'll try but I might not have time until later since I still need to be with my family. They leave tomorrow and I'm so worried for my mother.

Thank you for your condolences and kind words, that has really helped to keep me goiing thru all this. It feels so hopeless from my end, searching thru a keyboard for someone roaming around Baja. And the murder could have been almost 2 weeks ago. The police didn't even have pictures of the ground around the scene, just a shot of about a 1/2 dozen cops wandering inside and out of his trailer. I can't get the police photos out of my mind.

My father's funeral was yesterday. Marine honor guard did a 21 gun salute and presented my mother with the flag. Our dog whined thru the entire thing but she may have just wanted out of the car. I can't remember a day that my father wouldn't do the x-word puzzle from the daily paper, so I left him yesterday's and a mechanical pencil like he liked to use. I felt so sorry for all the friends and family in attendance.


The only things I can remember stolen were a small DVD/TV player, it was a no name model from JCPenneys, screen as about 7-8". What was odd is the police asked us if we knew what brand it was and acted like they knew it was missing. I was wondering, "how do they know about that?" I don't remember seeing DVD's in the photo's but there may have been some left.
There was also a battery jumper box for jump starting a car battery. I think it was blue but might have been red or yellow. It's about a foot tall and wide and about 1/2 ft thick. There was a handle on the top and it was like a plastic suitcase. It had a flash light and a voltgauge on the front side and a jumper cable on both sides.
I also imagine he clothes and wallet were stolen as we didn't see those in the pictures.

We didn't have time to make it to the Mulege police or talk to the State police. And I've even heard that there was no state police investigation for this and there should have been. We're not even sure if the person we spoke to in Santa Rosalia was the DA. I don't ever remember seeing a badge or credentials. Honestly, my family and I think that because this happened (or the police finally found his body...) so close to the Baja 1000 that they wanted to keep his murder quiet so tourism wouldn't be affected. And they did this by blothing the investigation. We don't even know if the State police in La Paz were notified as we've now been told that they should have been handling the case.

Hopeful a Congresional Inquiry (Report?) to the TJ consulate will help. I thank whomever was about to get that done. Thank you. And I know I can also speak for my family and father's friends. Thank you so very much.


The last possible sighting I have of the Jeep heading north to Mexicali says they remember seeing a roofrack.

That the military checkpoints aren't running is crushing to hear but I know the plates could easily be changed to BC places anyways. And I've seen plenty of plateless cars down there, I think I've even seen them make it thu checkpoints without a problem, while we get shaken down for soda, gatorade, fruit, batteries, scotch tape, playboys, beer, etc.

Again, thank you for you best wishes and prayers. I'm sorry if some of this sounds like gibberish but my head's been spinning for over a week and it usually just gets worse with the reports that I get from travellers or expats in Mexico. But PLEASE keep these reports coming and PLEASE check looking for my father's Jeep.

[ASITool]

I'm really sorry to hear of your loss. We spent part of the week before the 1000 camping south of Mulege (conception bay).

I noticed a big difference in some of the people this year. 99 of 100 of them were the same friendly locals, however once when we were changing a tire a truck of locals stopped and yelled "change that tire Mother****er". I also had two people mutter cabron(sp?) under their breath (one after buying some ice and another that I had just given a sticker to his kids)

[silversurfer]

[QUOTE=gtx510;224727]Can you guys post this on those sites? I'll try but I might not have time until later since I still need to be with my family. They leave tomorrow and I'm so worried for my mother.

I've contacted friends in San Juanico and sent your thread link with info to the scorpion bay websites.

Take care of your family.

[gtx510]

I got a report that Mulege is actually a mob (cartel) town and after the Arellano brothers were caught the head guy in town disappeared, he left or was killed, who knows. And since them the henchmen have had nothing to do and no way to make money. I don't know if this report is true, but it's definately possible considering Mulege remote location. And if it is that might only help because I trust the DEA much more than the local authorities.


If you are outraged at this. That a retired American like my father could be murdered in this way PLEASE write to your local congressman, senator, governor, even the State Dept, or US Embassy in Mexico City, and tell them. Tell them how feel. Tell them that you go to Mexico, that you go to Baja, and this make you feel insecure, unsafe, fearful. The only way we can put pressure on the mexican authorities and gov't is to stop tourism. I don't think my father's killer(s?) will ever be found but if American's are safer I think he might be at least satisfied in the idea that this may not happen again to someone else. I think this will haunt me for the rest of my days. I can't think of anything that could make me feel whole again. I accepted a long time ago, when my father successfully battled cancer, that he would eventually die. But for such a decent person to have such a horrific end, murdered, alone on his little beach paradise, troubles me to my core.

[ChuckH]

I think the local gov aka cops know whats going on or are part of it, justice will be hard to get.

Contact FOX news, they might cover it, they have the balls that are lacking with most PC news outlets.

Bill o Reilly has big nuts. offer to go on the show and get your story out.

http://www.billoreilly.com/pg/jsp/ge...F15AD061#form3