The kidnapping of four Americans in a northern Mexico city shocked families in North and South Carolina, who spent agonizing days waiting to learn if their loved ones had survived a road trip for cosmetic surgery. which ended up being deadly.
Questions about the attack lingered Tuesday as authorities reported two deaths and transferred the other two survivors, both from Lake City, South Carolina, to the United States.
Relatives were seeking details, and federal officials vowed to investigate how Latavia Burgess, Shaeed Woodard, Eric Williams and Zindell Brown ended up in a crossfire by Mexican drug cartels, video later posted online captured.
“I just want them to come home,” Zalandria Brown, Zindell Brown’s older sister, said Monday night. “Dead or alive, just bring them home.”
Brown said her brother, who lives in Myrtle Beach, and two other friends accompanied Burgess to Matamoros, which borders Brownsville, Texas, where it was believed she was scheduled to have a tummy tuck.
The four were like “brothers and sister” after growing up together in a small town in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, he explained. They planned to divide the hours behind the wheel to get to the medical intervention. However, she said his brother had raised concerns about possible risks during the trip.
Family members who were initially unaware of the trip felt distraught and confused as information trickled in from other family members and the news. Zindell Brown’s grandmother, Marie Singletary, testified Monday night that she had been “in denial” since her sister told her about the abductions that day. Her grandson hadn’t mentioned the trip the last time they spoke, about two weeks ago.
Similarly, Eric Williams’s family knew nothing. Sylvia Williams, his mother, said her son had not mentioned the trip when they spoke on the phone a week ago. She didn’t think he had ever traveled outside of the United States.
By Tuesday afternoon, he still had no official information. He found out about the operation by watching the news. And he hadn’t heard that the Mexican government had reported the deaths of two of the American travelers.
Jerry Wallace, Williams’ cousin, said he had lost his appetite and was having trouble sleeping because of worry, and that authorities should have been more direct with the family.
“It’s really hard to just try to wait and listen to what’s going on and not know anything,” Wallace said.
Robert Williams said he also didn’t know his brother was going to Mexico until the kidnappings were on the news. The brothers, whom he described as “quite close,” are from South Carolina but now live in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina. Williams noted that his sister was “easy going” and “fun” and said he probably didn’t consider the trip dangerous.
When he finally found out Tuesday afternoon that his brother had survived, Robert Williams was relieved.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him again and being able to talk to him,” Williams said.
“I’ll just tell him how happy I am to see him,” Williams added, “and how glad I am that he survived and that I love him.”
___
Loller reported in Nashville, Tennessee.
