FBI Searching For Arkansas Man Who May Be a Victim of Kidnapping In Mexico

“MX” for Borderland Beat

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) believes that a man from Bentonville, Arkansas, is missing in Mexico and may have been kidnapped.

Luis Davila, 31, went to Mexico to visit his girlfriend near Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, according to a news release sent by the FBI’s Little Rock Field Office. Davila was last seen on March 29, 2021, near Monterrey. He was driving a silver 2016 Nissan Maxima with the Arkansas license plate 936 VET. He was wearing a white shirt and jeans at the time.

Davila is about 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs about 190 pounds and has brown eyes and black hair. The FBI believes Davila may still be in Mexico, possibly near Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

This case comes weeks after three women from Laredo, Texas, went missing in Nuevo Laredo. Their whereabouts are unknown and FBI investigators say that there is no indication the women did not plan to return to Texas.

As reported by Borderland Beat, Nuevo Laredo is under the control of the Northeast Cartel (Cartel del Noreste, CDN), a splintered group of the old Zetas cartel. It is rival to the Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo, CDG), based east of Nuevo Laredo all the way to Matamoros.

In the past, the CDN has targeted American drivers in Nuevo Laredo by forcing them to pay money or “cartel tax” (cuota). Most of these incident happened near Luis Donaldo Colosio Avenue, which connects Nuevo Laredo with the federal highway leading to Monterrey.

A source consulted by Borderland Beat confirmed that the cartel has several outlooks posted across the highway that notify other cartel members of potential targets driving through. Borderland Beat published a story with videos showing how the CDN sets up blockades to extort drivers. 

Sources: FBI; 5NewsOnline; 4029TV