Officials: Sinaloa drug cartel killed US tourist Patrick Braxton-Andrew in Chihuahua Mexico travel advisory cautions of visiting Chihuahua due to crime

Daniel Borunda | El Paso Times

Show Caption Hide Caption Drug cartels in El Paso-Juarez region Three Mexican drug cartels operated in the El Paso-Juarez region

Patrick Braxton-Andrew of North Carolina went missing Oct. 28 in Urique in Copper Canyon region.

His body was found Nov. 17 dumped near a road.

Authorities suspect the tourist was killed by members of a Sinaloa drug cartel cell.

A U.S. tourist who went missing while visiting Chihuahua's Copper Canyon region was killed by drug traffickers whom he ran into during a hike, authorities said.

The death comes as the U.S. State Department recently re-issued its travel advisory for Mexico. U.S. citizens are advised to "reconsider travel" to the state of Chihuahua due to crime. The advisory is issued each year.

The Chihuahua attorney general's office said this week that an autopsy determined Patrick Braxton-Andrew died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Braxton-Andrew, 34, nicknamed "Pato" (Duck), was a Spanish teacher from North Carolina who traveled extensively through Latin America.

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Braxton-Andrew had gone to see the picturesque Copper Canyon in the remote Tarahumara mountain region of Chihuahua.

Braxton-Andrew was killed Oct. 28, two days after he arrived in the mountain mining village of Urique, about 450 miles southwest of Juárez, Chihuahua Attorney General Cesar Peniche Esquivel said.

Peniche said that Braxton-Andrew was on a hike in an area known as La Playita when he reportedly encountered members of a Sinaloa cartel drug-trafficking cell allegedly run by Jose Noriel Portillo Gil, alias “El Chueco," or "the crooked one."

Mexican news reports state that Braxton-Andrew might have been mistaken for being a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

Chihuahua Gov. Javier Corral dismissed a rumor that Braxton-Andrew was looking for marijuana when he was killed. Corral in a statement said the schoolteacher was a "totally innocent" person "whose misfortune was to cross paths with this scoundrel."

The governor said that state and federal police were searching for Portillo. "He will pay dearly for what he has done," Corral said.

Authorities have not said whether Portillo is suspected of being the actual shooter.

The killers had buried Braxton-Andrew's body, but dug it up and moved it after more than 100 police officers and cadets began searching the mountain region for the missing tourist, Corral said.

Braxton-Andrew's body was found Nov. 17, dumped off a road near Guapalayna, the governor said.

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Braxton-Andrew was a 2006 graduate of Davidson College, whose alumni group had put out a call on social media asking for help to find him.

Yellow ribbons had been tied to trees in the Davidson, N.C., community in the hope that Braxton-Andrew would be found safe, according to a Facebook page dedicated to finding him.

“Pato, Your journey with us was way too short," the Facebook page stated after he was found. "You taught us that smiles come in every language. You are never too old to learn, and that there is always room for dessert. Rest easy, PBA. We love you.”

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.

Mexico travel advisory

The U.S. State Department on Nov. 15 re-issued its travel advisory for Mexico. According to the advisory:

• Visitors should "reconsider travel" to the state of Chihuahua due to crime.

• In Juárez, U.S. government personnel must have approval to go downtown and after dark east of Independencia boulevard. Staff travel to the Paso Del Norte Bridge, the Stanton Street Bridge and Bridge of the Americas should be via the Border Highway.

• U.S. government employees must only travel during the daytime when going to Chihuahua City and the Nuevo Casas Grandes area. Travel to Nuevo Casas Grandes should be via the Columbus-Palomas border crossing. U.S. employees may visit Ojinaga only during the daytime.

• Five states have a "do not travel" warning. They are: Sinaloa, Guerrero, Colima, Michoacan and Tamaulipas, which borders South Texas.