Mexican Investigator in Falcon Lake Case Beheaded, Officials Say

AH!! This is scary.
(CNN) -- The lead Mexican investigator in the Falcon Lake case, Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, has been killed, his severed head delivered Tuesday in a suitcase to the Mexican military, officials told CNN.

"His head was delivered to the army garrison this morning in a suitcase after he failed to report back home last night," Zapata County, Texas, Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. said.

A spokesman for the attorney general of Tamaulipas state in Mexico, Ruben Dario-Rios, confirmed the killing Tuesday afternoon in a telephone interview.

The report came a day after authorities in the Tamaulipas state attorney general's office gave conflicting information on whether authorities were pursuing a pair of suspects in the case of David Michael Hartley's disappearance.

Hartley's wife, Tiffany, told authorities that her husband was fatally shot September 30 during a sightseeing trip the two were taking on Falcon Lake, which straddles the border.

While Luis Homero Uvalle, a spokesman for the office, told CNN the suspects are brothers who are "well known to this area" -- identifying them only as "El 27" and "El 31" -- Dario-Rios, the chief spokesman for the attorney general said, "We have nothing official about suspects in the disappearance of David Hartley. I do not know where that is coming from."

Dario-Rios said Monday that Flores had not indicated to him that any suspects had been identified.

Eva Rodriguez, Flores' secretary, said the news of his death came as a surprise. "We saw [Rolando] last night," she said. "After he came back [from the search for Hartley] we were all together here in the office. That was the last time any of us saw him."

She said she was not aware that Flores -- whom she described as "very dedicated to his job" -- had received any threats from narcotraffickers.

"What can you do?" she asked. "We're still going to be here. We still have to work."

And, despite the fact that "we're all scared right now," their work will go on, she vowed. "The investigation and search will still continue," she said.

On Monday, Tiffany Hartley, along with David Hartley's mother, Pam, appeared on television talk shows asking for information to help investigators find those responsible for David's death and find his body.

"Until we have him back, it's not final," Tiffany Hartley said on NBC's "The Today Show."

On Sunday, the U.S. Border Patrol, the Coast Guard, and Parks and Wildlife officials were back on the U.S. side of the lake searching for new evidence in the case, said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzales.

Authorities from both nations have been conducting separate searches and holding regular meetings, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Virginia Staab said. But because the disappearance allegedly occurred on the Mexican side of the border, the United States cannot prosecute or make arrests in the case, the sheriff said.

Falcon Lake is a reservoir on the Rio Grande. The U.S.-Mexican border runs through the middle of the lake, with Zapata and Starr counties on the U.S. side.

Rep. Cuellar said 60 Mexican personnel, three boats and a helicopter had participated in the search.

Defense Lawyer: Former 'Survivor' Producer Charged in Wife's Death

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- A Mexican judge has issued an arrest warrant for reality TV producer Bruce Beresford-Redman in the death of his wife at a Cancun resort in April, his lawyer said Monday.

"We have been advised that Mexican authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of Bruce Beresford-Redman in connection with the murder of his wife, Monica," defense lawyer Richard Hirsch said Monday. "This news, if true, is extremely disturbing since it appears that this case is being handled in a manner outside the normal procedures in Mexico."

The prosecutor in Mexico had said earlier Monday he had developed a "very concrete, very specific" case that was sent to a judge Friday for consideration of charges.

Quintana Roo Attorney General Francisco Alor said through a spokesman that the investigation file, with recommended charges, was sent to the judge on Friday.

"It is our understanding that the issuance of an arrest warrant normally entails a detailed judicial review that takes anywhere from several weeks to several months," Hirsch said. "It appears that the way this matter is being handled constitutes a rush to judgment."

Bruce Beresford-Redman was briefly detained after Monica Beresford-Redman's body was found in a sewer at the Moon Palace Resort on April 8. His passport was taken by investigators and he was told not to leave Mexico until the probe was concluded.

The former producer on TV's "Survivor" recently returned to his Los Angeles, California, home, to take care of family business and see his two young children, his lawyer said.

His lawyer issued a statement from Beresford-Redman Monday after learning of the arrest warrant.

"I am devastated at her loss," Beresford-Redman said in the statement, "and I am incensed at the suggestion that I could have had anything to do with her death. I am innocent. My children have had one parent taken from them by a senseless act of violence. I implore the Mexican authorities not to take their remaining parent by a miscarriage of justice and to do what is right, not just what is expedient."

An attorney for the victim's family blasted Beresford-Redman Tuesday saying that he had not shown emotion for his wife's death until he was accused of the killing.

"We do not buy his newly found contrition," said Alison Triessl. "It has been 56 days since Monica was brutally murdered. At no point during that time, did he or his family reach out to the (victim's) family to express their sympathy or share in their grieving."

The attorney said the victim's family was relieved to hear about the arrest warrant and "are hopeful that Monica will finally get the justice she deserves."

Hirsch said Friday that there should not be "a rush to judgment," adding that there have been other unsolved deaths and an attack at the resort.

He cited the death of an elderly Scottish woman, who was found in a swamp weeks after leaving a pool for a walk, and a Canadian man who allegedly fell from a hotel balcony.

Jeff Toews, a Canadian, was found dead in May 2007. Investigators decided he died from a drunken fall from a balcony, but his family did not accept that explanation.

Julia Howard, a 77-year-old woman from Scotland, was found dead in a dense swamp six weeks after disappearing from a pool area last summer. Her family also rejected the police conclusion that her death was an accident.

A woman reported an attempted rape in her hotel room "several days after Mrs. Beresford-Redman's body was discovered," Hirsch said.

"We have brought this to the attention of the authorities and, in particular, to the attorney general in Cancun and asked them to pursue all leads before making a decision whether of not to charge our client," Hirsch said. "We feel that this case should not be a rush to judgment."

"There are strange things going on -- I think that need to be pursued," he said.

A spokeswoman for the resort directed CNN to a Mexican news report that quoted the prosecutor saying there was no connection between other deaths and the Beresford-Redman case.

The initial investigation suggested Monica Beresford-Redman "died of strangulation, because of the bruising," Mexican regional police spokesman Adrian Cardena said.

A source close to the wife has told CNN that she cleaned out the family bank account and took her two children to Hawaii because she was upset about her husband's extramarital affair. The couple later traveled to Cancun in an effort to repair their marriage, the source said.

A Los Angeles judge decided Friday that the children, ages 3 and 5, could not attend a memorial service organized Sunday by Monica Beresford-Redman's sisters because a therapist said it might be emotionally harmful to them.

"We respect the decision of the court, but we are very disappointed the fact that the children were denied to participate in the celebration of their mother's life," Jeane Burgos said. The sisters are fighting Beresford-Redman for custody of the children.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff delayed any decision on changing the current custody arrangement. Beresford-Redman's parents were given temporary custody in April after he was told by Mexican police to remain in the country while they investigated. He filed papers for custody to be returned to him last week.

Bruce Beresford-Redman built his career as a Hollywood reality television show producer. He worked for several seasons on the popular CBS show "Survivor," in which contestants compete against each other in a variety of extreme outdoor scenarios. He was nominated for three Emmy Awards as a producer on the show and was last credited as a producer in 2004.

He also worked on NBC's "The Contender" and "The Restaurant," as well as MTV's "Pimp My Ride," according to entertainment media company IMG.

Monica Beresford-Redman, a native of Brazil, owned a restaurant in Los Angeles.

Missing Family Seen with Map?

CNN- The brother of a Southern California man who disappeared along with his entire family reported a possible new lead in the three-month-old mystery.

Michael McStay said he learned through an investigator that a waiter believed he served Joseph McStay, his wife, Summer McStay, and their children, Gianni, 4, and Jospeh, 3, at a restaurant in Guerrero Negro, Mexico in late February or early March.

Guerrero Negro is a city in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur.

According to Michael McStay, he recalled that the family left behind a map. McStay said he did not know any further details about the map. He said it was handed over to the FBI, who did not return calls for a comment.

McStay also said the waiter commented at the time on what he thought was a bump on the little boy’s head. It was actually a birthmark, Mcstay said.

McStay told CNN that the waiter remembered that Joseph McStay “looked ill, he looked sick.”
“My understanding was in the last year he’d been having these vertigo type symptoms,” McStay said. “He was in the hospital for a couple of weeks, and on the (February) 4, he was talking to my mother and he had to pull over when he was driving home because he felt vertigo type symptoms.”

The Mcstays have not been seen or heard from since February 4.

Information gathered on the McStay's home computer reveal the couple was making travel inquires about Mexico on the internet a week before they were reported missing, authorities said.

“It had to do with travel in Mexico with children and whether you needed to have passports for children,” Lt. Dennis Brugos, of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department said. “It looks as if there were some planning.”

Their two dogs were found unattended without food or water in the Mcstay’s San Diego house, investigators said.

An SUV belonging to the McStays was found abandoned on February 8 just two blocks from the San Ysidro border checkpoint, authorities said.

Surveillance video taken that evening appears to show the family “casually” walking into Mexico, the sheriff’s department said.

Michael McStay does not understand why his brother would, it appears, voluntarily abandon their life in the U.S.

“It’s like they are afraid of something,” he said. “That’s what to me it appears to me.”

“What I can’t gather is what’s compelling him to go down there…I can’t figure it out.”

Joseph McStay is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. Summer McStay, also known as Lisa Aranda-Martelli, is 5 feet 5 inches tall and 115 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the McStay family is urged to contact the San Diego County Sheriff's Department at 858-565-5200. Anonymous calls can be made to 888-580-8477.

Woman Decapitated In Lewisville, Husband Suspected

Find this sick man!!
LEWISVILLE ―Lewisville police are looking for a man suspected of decapitating his wife Monday morning.

Police released a picture of 49-year-old Jose Corona, seen at right. They are calling him a "suspect and a person of interest" in the death of his wife.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner says the victim was 44-year-old Maria Santos Corona. According to friends, the couple has six children.

A mail carrier discovered Maria Corona's body in the middle of the street in the 1000 block of Shadow Wood Lane in Lewisville and contacted police shortly after 11 a.m.

When police arrived they found the body and searched the area for a suspect, but didn't find anyone.

Police will say only that the victim's body was "mutilated." But Chopper 11 video of the scene, which we have chosen not to publish, clearly shows the decapitated body and the head.

Neighbor Chris Cortopassi told CBS 11 News, "I was driving down the street, coming home, and I saw somebody laying on the ground with blood all over. And I saw a girl outside screaming and somebody trying to hold her back."

Police say they don't know if the murder took place at the home or somewhere else.

Police say Jose Corona may be driving a 2005 Toyota Sequoia SUV with Texas license plate 247-DVH. Police say he has relatives in Oklahoma and in Mexico.

If you have seen Jose Corona or know his whereabouts, you're asked to call 911 or Lewisville Police at (972) 219-3640.

Attorney: Arrest Is 'Imminent' In Mexico Murder

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―An attorney for the family of Monica Beresford-Redman, who was murdered in Cancun, Mexico, told KNX 1070 Monday that an arrest in the case is imminent.

Beresford-Redman, who ran a Brazilian restaurant in West Los Angeles, was found dead at Hotel Moon Palace on April 8.

Her husband, former "Survivor" producer Bruce Beresford-Redman, was questioned in her death and ordered not to flee Mexico. He is reportedly in the custody of the U.S. consulate.

Prosecutors in Cancun said they are conducting pathology and DNA tests.

According to Cancun police, the couple were heard fighting the morning of April 5. The next day, Bruce told police that Monica had disappeared on a shopping trip.

Her body was found three days later several hundred feet from the couple's hotel room.

Family members of Beresford-Redman say they will soon retrieve her body and get an update on the investigation.

Carla and Jeane Burgos say their mother will accompany them and give a deposition in the murder investigation.

Jeane Burgos says she will beg Mexican authorities to coordinate their investigation with U.S. law enforcement. The sisters and their attorneys have reached out to California prosecutors and U.S. authorities for help with the case.

Owners of Day Care That Burned Quit Government Jobs

HERMOSILLO, Mexico (CNN) -- Two of the owners of the day-care center that burned Friday, killing 44 children, have resigned jobs they had with the government, they told reporters Tuesday.

Antonio Salido, a functionary for the state of Sonora's secretary of urban infrastructure, and Alfonso Escalante, a sub-secretary of livestock farming, said they were resigning so that there would be no obstruction in the investigation into the cause of the fire.

Salido, speaking for both men, told reporters they had not used their government positions to obtain the day-care concession.

"We want to show you how deeply we feel about what happened in the terrible accident that occurred at ABC Day Care," he said.

"It passed the security measures and norms of operation required by the Mexican Institute of Social Security," he said, referring to the governmental organization that oversees the state-run school.

He noted that the institute's director, Daniel Karam Toumeh, said Sunday that the building had passed an inspection on May 26.

Abel Murrieta Gutierrez, the attorney general of Sonora, told CNN en Español that the investigation would not be affected by the fact that two of the owners worked for the government.

"It doesn't matter to us if they were or were not functionaries," he said.

Relatives of the victims and people seeking better security for day-care centers are planning to march Wednesday evening from near the day-care center to the government center.

The fire started Friday afternoon in an air-conditioning unit located in an adjacent warehouse, the attorney general of Sonora said Monday. Investigators are trying to determine whether the fire was caused by an overheated motor or deficiencies in its installation, Abel Murrieta Gutierrez said.

The fire then moved toward bookshelves on a wall shared with the building housing the center, which held 141 children and day-care workers, he added.

The two buildings also shared a roof, which contained a false bottom made of polyurethane. That overheated, emitting toxic fumes, he said.

As of Tuesday, 22 children remained hospitalized with burns.

One of them was the daughter of Raul Alvarez, who prayed Tuesday at an improvised altar outside the Children's Hospital in Hermosillo. "We went to see her this morning, and she was stable, the little girl," he said.

Hermosillo is the capital of the state of Sonora, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the U.S. border in northwestern Mexico.

It has no hospitals that specialize in burns, so doctors here have been working to stabilize those most badly burned before sending them on for treatment in other cities.

"The most important thing is not so much the burn, but stabilizing them, making sure the kidney is functioning, the lung is functioning, the liver is functioning, the brain is functioning," said Raymond Lopez, Sonora's health secretary.

Watch a town deep in shock »

Body Of Child Found In Suitcase In Tijuana

SAN DIEGO -- Mexican authorities said they found the mutilated body of a child inside a red suitcase in Tijuana Monday.

Authorities did not confirm whether or not it is the body of 8-year-old David Lizarraga Gomez, who has reported missing on Saturday.

Gomez was last seen at his home in Tijuana, and Mexican police issued an Amber Alert with his picture and what he was last seen wearing.

Mexican police said the body of a boy believed to be Gomez was found in an empty lot in Tijuana late Monday afternoon.

It is unclear how far away the body was found from the boy's home.

The Amber Alert was cancelled and the body was taken to the medical examiner's office.

Later, Mexican officials told 10News the boy's body was found with a plastic bag over his head and appeared to have been strangled. Authorities said one person, a family member, was taken into custody.

This Honestly Breaks My Heart...

The number of children who have died as a result of this daycare center fire has risen to 41... So tragic. Is this a result of arson?

HERMOSILLO, Mexico (CNN) -- Parents of the children trapped in a burning Mexican day care center rammed their vehicles into the building to try to free the trapped children, witnesses told CNN.

At least 41 children died when flames engulfed the building on Friday, Mexico's Public Health Ministry said Sunday. Dozens more are in hospitals in Mexico and the United States.

Neighbors described parents arriving at the day care center completely desperate, seeing it engulfed in flames and knowing there was no way to get the children out, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reported from the scene. They say they could hear the cries of the children and the screams of their parents.

The building had two doors, but one was padlocked shut, officials said. Windows were too high for the children to reach.
Watch parents gather at site of fire »

"When we went out and ran towards the nursery, teachers already had many children outside, those who could walk properly," said one man at the scene, who did not give his name.

"A pickup truck broke down the walls. The dad of one of the kids broke down one of the walls with his car driving in reverse, and that helped us a bit," he said.

One mother waited hours for information about her son, she said.

"They didn't tell us anything, nothing until like 6 p.m.," she said, when she was finally told her son was at Chavez Hospital.

"We went there and we saw that he was badly burned, 75 percent of his body was burned." The woman said they operated on the boy, but he died.

The cause of Friday's blaze remains unknown, but investigators concluded that the fire did not start inside the ABC Day Care, said Eduardo Bours, the governor of Sonora state.

As of Saturday night, at least 23 children remained hospitalized, 15 of them in critical condition, Sonora spokesman Daniel Duran told CNN. Another 10 children had been transported to other hospitals: eight to Guadalajara, one to Ciudad Obregon, and two to Sacramento, California.

A team of 29 medical experts in Hermosillo was deciding whether any more victims would be moved to the Shriners Hospital in Sacramento, or elsewhere.
In addition, six adults were injured, Duran said.

"Without a doubt this is the worst disaster we've had," Bours told CNN.

President Felipe Calderon traveled to Hermosillo on Saturday.

The president arrived with Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez Mont and Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova to get firsthand updates from doctors and investigators, the state news agency Notimex reported.

Calderon ordered the nation's attorney general to investigate the blaze.

Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation and not burns, Bours said. But the fire was serious enough for the roof to collapse, he added.

At the time of the blaze, 142 children were inside the ABC Day Care. The day care is for children ages 2 to 4, but Bours confirmed that children even younger were among the victims.

All the children at the center had been accounted for by Saturday evening, Bours said.

A severely burned 3-year-old girl arrived Saturday at the Sacramento hospital -- where pediatric burn treatment is a specialty -- and was in critical condition, according to Dr. Tina Palmieri, assistant chief of the burn unit.

The child was burned over 80 percent of her body, the doctor told reporters. She said the hospital normally can save just over half of the children with burns that severe.

In Hermosillo, a large crowd gathered outside of the emergency entrance of the city's general hospital and many people consoled each other, video from the scene showed.

"They told me that this happened in a matter of five minutes," Hermosillo Mayor Ernesto Gandara told reporters after surveying the scene.

27 Children Die In Mexico Daycare Center Fire

HERMOSILLO, Mexico (CNN) -- Twenty-seven children were killed and more than 100 others were injured Friday when their daycare center caught fire in the northwestern state of Sonora, the local governor said, citing figures from the state attorney's office.

The victims were from one to 5 years old, said Sonora Governo Eduardo Bours Castelo.

The fire appeared to have started at 3 p.m. (2200 GMT) in a warehouse next door and spread to the state-run institution, news reports said.

By then, many children had already been picked up by their parents from the one-story building, but others came after the blaze had been put out. As they came upon the scene, some screamed their children's names and others fainted.

Moonshiner Grandpa Busted In Pot Ring

TRION, Georgia (CNN) --

Story Highlights:
-10 people, including grandpa, son and grandson, convicted on serious drug charges
-83-year-old former moonshiner gets 20 years; son who led operation gets 9 years
-Attorney: "If the father got a longer sentence, it's because he's a lousy father"
-Authorities say case is a microcosm of what's happening across rural America

"The Dodge Neon sped down Interstate 40 in eastern Oklahoma, its occupants heading to Phoenix, Arizona, to buy a load of dope.

It was May 2005. The couple brought along methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana to help pass the time on the long journey.

At that moment, Detective Rob Rumble had no clue that the traffic stop he was about to make would launch a years-long drug investigation stretching more than 2,000 miles, from the remote mountains of northwest Georgia all the way down to Mexico.

The investigation showed how an 83-year-old grandfather adapted to the times, morphing from old school bootlegging to dealing Mexican dope. His son acted as the ringleader of the operation. His grandson was tied in too, authorities say.

"I've seen it all. Nothing surprises me," said Rumble, a drug investigator for the district attorney's office in east-central Oklahoma.

After making that traffic stop, Rumble persuaded the nervous, lanky driver from Georgia to work with authorities and tell everything he knew. Investigators were led to a sleepy pocket of Georgia with scenic mountain views where people wave to strangers from their cars and where some homes still fly the Confederate flag.

It's the last place one might expect drugs from Mexico. But the demand for drugs is reaching even the most remote corners of America.

Their story has all the intrigue of a classic Southern novel -- three generations of a family business on the wrong side of the law, complete with an old fashioned family feud.

"When they're in that type of business, there's a reckoning day -- and apparently this is it," said Benny Perry, the 78-year-old mayor of Trion, Georgia, one of the towns where the family was operating.

Perry is a barrel-chested man and speaks in a welcoming Southern accent. "I'll say this, I was completely surprised," he said. "I felt like we had a problem here, but I wouldn't have thought it was originating in Mexico and coming here."

The drugs, mostly marijuana, were trucked from Mexico through California and Arizona and then distributed across five counties in Georgia and one in Tennessee, authorities say. They were hidden in just about anything -- furniture, roofs of big-rigs and tire wells. Once the shipments arrived, the dope was put in 50-caliber ammunition cans and buried in the woods, where buyers would pick up the stash and leave behind thousands in cash, authorities say.

At the heart of the operation was 46-year-old Michael Leon Smith, who authorities say became one of the richest men in Chattooga County, population 25,000, as he laundered his drug money by buying up dozens of pieces of property. One tract of land sits on Old Justice Road, an ironic name considering the law finally caught up with him.

Smith's 83-year-old father, Paul Leon Faulkner, was also busted. Eight others, including Faulkner's grandson (Smith's nephew), pleaded guilty to an array of charges related to the drug ring. The drugs mostly involved marijuana, but methamphetamine and cocaine were also part of the smuggling operation, authorities say.

"We love it when somebody says they can't be caught," said Del Thomasson, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who worked the case.

Faulkner, who is suffering from cancer, was handed a 20-year sentence last month and is to head to prison in August. "Twenty years, that is a death sentence," said Giles Jones, Faulkner's attorney, adding that he has appealed the sentence.

He said Faulkner was a "full-time mountain shiner" who could talk moonshine until he was "blue in the face," but knew little about the Mexican marijuana operation. Jones said the old man's son "threw his ass under the bus" to save himself.

"It's a situation where I guess you're just looking out for yourself. It's every day as every day, man," said Jones.

Not so fast, said Cathy Alterman, the defense attorney for Smith, Faulkner's son.

"Michael didn't throw his father under the bus. His father threw Michael down the drain when he was 16 years old," Alterman said. "If the father got a longer sentence, it's because he's a lousy father. ... He was never there for his son, except to be a bad example."

Smith is serving a nine-year sentence in federal prison in Montgomery, Alabama. Faulkner's grandson is also serving a nine-year sentence. There is no parole in the federal system.

Alterman said the sentences are excessive for people involved in dealing marijuana, a substance she says should be legalized. (REST OF ARTICLE)

Torture A Hallmark of Drug Kidnappings

"Jaime Andrade was just stepping out of the shower when the men came to snatch him.

The kidnappers took him to a house in a quiet middle-class neighborhood and brutally tortured him for three days. Andrade's case is one of more than 1,000 kidnappings that police in Phoenix, Arizona, have investigated since 2006. The city has become the nation's kidnapping capital as Mexican drug violence seeps into the United States."

[CNN Article]

Suspects Named In Boy's Kidnapping

SAN BERNARDINO, California (CNN) -- Three-year-old Briant Rodriguez remained in a hospital bed fatigued and malnourished Monday, 15 days after being kidnapped at gunpoint and then dumped on the streets of Mexico.

Police don't know much about what happened to the boy, who was taken after gunmen tied his family and ransacked his California home on May 3.

They don't know why the gunmen broke into the home, why they kidnapped the bubbly 3-year-old or how he ended up wandering the streets of Mexicali with a shaved head, rather than the long hair he had sported before the kidnapping.

But police believe they do know who is responsible.

In a news conference on Monday, the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department and FBI identified the two suspect gunmen as Liberato Vega, 30, and Israel Moreno, 28.

The two men, who authorities said were illegal immigrants with criminal records, are believed to have burst into the San Bernardino home, ransacked the house, tied up 3-year-old Briant Rodriguez's family and snatched the child two weeks ago.

The boy was returned to his family Saturday in the border town of Calexico.

"It was a very emotional and unforgettable experience," said San Bernardino County Sheriff's Sgt. Doug Hubbard, who was with the boy's mother when he was returned. "Enough said there -- before I get emotional."

Officials said the boy was still in the hospital Monday and was being treated for malnourishment and fatigue.

"We're very happy that he's alive," San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops said this weekend. "A 3-year-old goes missing in this country for two weeks -- sometimes it has an unhappy ending.

"This one did not."

Now, police are trying to piece together exactly what may have happened during the 13 days the boy was missing.

Detectives from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department and Federal Bureau of Investigations agents were able to identify the alleged kidnappers based on unspecified physical evidence at the San Bernardino home and interviews with the boy's family and neighbors.

Hubbard said the family has adamantly denied knowing who may be responsible for the kidnapping or having any association with those responsible.

FBI Supervisory Special Agent Don Roberts said it was, however, "likely that this family was the target" of the kidnappers.

"But why, we don't know," Roberts said, adding that the kidnappers had clearly planned the crime.

Officials said they believe Vega and Moreno are the two men they captured on video at a home-improvement store near the Rodriguez home before the crime buying tape like the kind that was used to bind the family.

Hubbard said there are no-bail warrants issued for both men for home invasion robbery and kidnapping and Roberts said the FBI also obtained federal warrants for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution for both men.

"We will leave no stone unturned until these two are returned to San Bernardino to face justice," Roberts said. "We will not take a break until that day happens."

Authorities are hunting for both men, who have criminal records, in Mexico where they were both born. Roberts said both men have previously been deported from the United States, where they were living illegally. Their previous residences are empty, police said.

Vega, who police said they considered to be the primary suspect, has had seven encounters with authorities in San Bernardino, according to court records, including four convictions in 2005 for a variety of charges, including driving under the influence. He also has a dismissed burglary case and two open cases against him for driving under the influence, providing false information to police and driving without a license.

Police described Vega as a Hispanic male, 5 feet 9 inches weighing 130 pounds.

Moreno was convicted in 2008 for driving under the influence and has another similar case open against him. Police described Moreno as a Hispanic male, 5 feet 6 inches weighing 150 pounds.

Police have said they are also looking for 21-year-old Claudia Acosta, Vega's girlfriend, who may be traveling with him. They aren't sure how she's related to the kidnapping.

ANOTHER Happy Ending To Report, Yes!!

Abducted California boy, 3, found in Mexico

Briant Rodriguez was found wandering the streets of Mexicali, Mexico, by a police officer late Thursday, said San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops.

After clearing paperwork with Mexican officials, California authorities reunited the boy with his mother Saturday in the border town of Calexico, Hoops said.

"We're very happy that he's alive," Hoops said. "A 3-year-old goes missing in this country for two weeks -- sometimes it has an unhappy ending.
"This one did not."

The boy had been missing since May 3, when two men armed with handguns burst into his family's home and tied him up -- along with his mother and four siblings.

The men ransacked the home before leaving with Briant, a small amount of cash and some personal property, San Bernardino sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said.

Authorities had not caught the suspects as of Saturday evening. Hoops said authorities have information about at least two suspects -- who were captured on video at a home-improvement store near the Rodriguez home buying tape like the kind that was used to bind the family.

He said the names of the suspects, and what authorities believe was a motive, are not being released because they could jeopardize the investigation.

He also declined to say what relationship the suspects may have had with the family or whether the kidnapping is linked with drug crime that has run rampant in Mexican border towns in recent months.

Members of drug cartels in the border region have been known to use kidnapping as a means of quick cash.

"If you take a look at the case, I'll let you do your own homework on it," Hoops told reporters.

Authorities from San Bernardino flew to Mexico late Friday to get Briant. Hoops said he appears to be in good health. His hair, which is shoulder-length in photographs that authorities had released, had apparently been shaved, Hoops said.

Hoops said Briant's mother is "a Mexican citizen living here in the United States," but that he is unsure of her immigration status. He said Briant was born in the United States.

Sgt. Doug Hubbard, who was in Calexico when Briant and his mother were reunited, called the meeting emotional.

"Tears even came to Briant's eyes," he said. "It was a beautiful thing."

Cops: Kidnappers Shown On Camera

(CNN) -- Police in San Bernardino, California, released pictures of two suspects in the abduction of a 3-year-old boy who was taken at gunpoint from his home last weekend.

Briant Rodriguez has been missing since May 3, when two Hispanic males armed with handguns burst into the home, tied him up, along with his mother and four siblings. They ransacked the home before leaving with Briant, a small amount of cash and some personal property, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Public Information Officer Cindy Beavers said.

A motive for the abduction is still unclear, and the authorities have not received a demand for ransom, Beavers said.

Investigators traced samples of the tape used to tie up the family to a home improvement store where they believe the suspects purchased the tape the Friday before the abduction.

The unidentified store's surveillance camera captured two men who matched the description of the kidnappers given by Briant's mother, purchasing tape believed to have been used in the abduction, Beavers said.

The home improvement store's exterior surveillance cameras also caught a green Ford Bronco believed to have been used in the abduction, Beavers said. The same car was later seen driving past a convenience store near Briant's home about three minutes after his mother called police on Sunday to report the abduction, Beavers said.

Authorities distributed screen grabs of the footage on Friday showing the suspects and the vehicle in an effort to draw more tips, which have been coming in steadily since an Amber Alert was issued earlier this week.

"You've got two men that resemble the description given by Briant's mother, they're buying tape that matches the tape used to tie them up, then they leave the store in this green Bronco and then on Sunday, just a few minutes before the emergency call for help, the same vehicle is seen leaving the victims' neighborhood," she said.

"Detectives put these two incidents together, and they're confident that these are the suspects and that was the vehicle used," she said.

Both suspected kidnappers are Hispanic males -- one 5-feet, 5 inches tall, between the ages of 18 and 20 with a thin build, unknown hair and eye color, last seen wearing a black baseball hat, blue jeans and green T-shirt. The other is 5-foot-10, around age 24 with a thin build, black boots, a black shirt and a bandanna.

Neighboring law enforcement agencies are on alert, and the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol are assisting in the investigation.

The FBI and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department have both put up $25,000 rewards for Briant's return. The FBI has also established a Facebook page with the latest information in the case.

"We became involved in the beginning and that's customary in kidnapping cases because of the potential for cases to go out of state or out of the country," FBI Spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Despite early speculation that the abduction was related to Mexican cartel violence, both spokeswomen said they were unaware of specific evidence suggesting the family had ties to the drug trade.

"We've seen an escalation nationwide in south-of-the-border-related kidnappings, whether it be drug cartels exacting revenge or carrying out violence in exchange for drug debts, or in another type of scenario, Americans who do business in Mexico being targeted for ransom," Eimiller said.

"Of course that's being looked at as a scenario here, but we have no conclusive evidence suggesting that's the case just yet."

Briant is described in the Amber Alert as a Hispanic male who was last seen wearing a yellow shirt with blue sleeves and blue-striped shorts with two different colors of blue. The boy's hair is longer than shoulder length.

NO MURDER CONVICTION In Immigrant's Beating

POTTSVILLE, PA (CNN) -- A fomer Pennsylvania high school football player was acquitted of murder Friday in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant last summer.

However, a Schuylkill County jury found Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak guilty of simple assault stemming from the death of Luis Ramirez, who died of blunt force injuries to the head after a fight with the defendants and their friends.

Donchak, 19, was also found guilty of providing alcohol to the group of teens that encountered Ramirez the night of July 12 on a residential street in the rural mining town of Shenandoah.

Both teens were acquitted of ethnic intimidation charges.

Prosecutors alleged the teens baited the undocumented Mexican immigrant into a fight with racial epithets, provoking an exchange of punches and kicks that ended with Ramirez convulsing in the street, foaming from the mouth.

He died two days later in a hospital in Danville.

Piekarsky, 17, had faced a charge of third-degree murder for allegedly delivering a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after he was knocked to the ground. He also was found not guilty of ethnic intimidation, aggravated assault and attempting to solicit a cover-up.

An all-white jury of six men and six women heard from several prosecution witnesses, including a juvenile co-defendant and another teen who pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in the fight.

While the jury heard conflicting accounts about who initiated the encounter or delivered the final kick to Ramirez's head, defense lawyers attempted to place the blame on another co-defendant, who is facing charges in juvenile court, and Colin Walsh, who has pleaded guilty to violating Ramirez's civil rights.

The juvenile admitted on the stand to shouting "go home you Mexican [expletive]" after the first fight dispersed, prompting Ramirez to turn back and attack him.

The juvenile's testimony was corroborated by Walsh, who admitted to punching Ramirez and knocking him to the ground after he charged the juvenile.

Both witnesses said Piekarsky delivered the final blow to Ramirez's head while he was on the ground, but others testified that they couldn't be certain who had actually kicked him.

The incident drew national attention to the small town of Shenandoah, highlighting issues of race relations.

Jury Has Case of Teens Accused In Immigrant's Fatal Beating

POTTSVILLE, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A Pennsylvania jury began deliberations Friday after hearing closing arguments in the trial of two high school football players accused in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant last summer.

Brandon Piekarsky, 17, is charged with third-degree murder, ethnic intimidation and other offenses for the death of Luis Ramirez, who died of blunt force injuries to the head after a fight on a residential street in the rural mining town of Shenandoah.

Derrick Donchak, 19, is charged with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation for his alleged role in the July 12 melee, which prosecutors say was racially motivated.

Schuylkill County prosecutors said the defendants and their friends encountered Ramirez after a night of drinking while the undocumented Mexican immigrant was walking a female friend home.

A physical altercation ensued and ended. But as Ramirez was walking away, someone in the group shouted racial epithets, prompting Ramirez to resume a fight that ended with him convulsing in the street and foaming from the mouth, according to prosecutors.

He died two days later in a hospital in Danville.

An all-white jury of six men and six women heard testimony from several prosecution witnesses, including a juvenile co-defendant and another teen who pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in the fight.

Piekarsky allegedly kicked Ramirez in the head after someone else knocked him to the ground, exacerbating head injuries he'd suffered in the initial fall. Donchak was accused of cursing at him and punching him during a confused tangle of punches, kicks and racial slurs.

While the jury heard conflicting accounts about who initiated the encounter or delivered the final kick to Ramirez's head, defense lawyers attempted to place the blame on co-defendant Brian Scully, who is facing charges in juvenile court, and Colin Walsh, who has pleaded guilty to violating Ramirez's civil rights.

Scully admitted on the stand to shouting "go home you Mexican [expletive]" after the first fight dispersed, prompting Ramirez to turn back and attack him.

Scully's testimony was corroborated by Walsh, who admitted to punching Ramirez and knocking him to the ground after he charged Scully.

Both witnesses said Piekarsky delivered the final blow to Ramirez's head while he was on the ground, but others testified that they couldn't be certain who had actually kicked him.

The incident drew national attention to the small town of Shenandoah, highlighting issues of race relations.

The defendants face prison time if convicted of the top charges.

And MORE Flu: U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency As Swine Flu Spreads

(CNN) -- The United States government declared a public health emergency Sunday as the number of identified cases of swine flu in the nation rose to 20.

The declaration is part of a "standard operating procedure" that will make available additional government resources to combat the virus, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at the White House.

Additional cases of swine flu are expected to be reported in the coming days, added Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No one has died in the U.S. from swine flu, officials said Sunday.

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said eight students at St. Francis Prepatory School in Queens have tested positive for swine flu. More than 100 students at the school were absent with flu-like symptoms last week, he said.

State public health officials in Ohio confirmed one case of swine flu on Sunday. There have been seven confirmed cases in California, two in Kansas, and two in Texas, Besser said.

The World Health Organization advised all countries to be on the lookout for "unusual" outbreaks of flu, after an emergency meeting Saturday as the seriousness of the outbreak became clear.

CDC: 8 New York Students Have Swine Flu

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed cases of swine flu in eight students at a New York preparatory school, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday.

The students have had only mild symptoms and none have been hospitalized, he said. Some of the students have already recovered.

More than 100 students were absent from school due to flu-like symptoms last week. New York health officials tested samples for eight students Saturday and determined the students were probably suffering from swine flu, and the CDC confirmed the diagnosis on Sunday, Bloomberg said.

The announcement brings the number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States to 20. Bloomberg and New York Health Commissioner Tom Frieden said there is no sign of a citywide outbreak of the flu, and no sign of a potential outbreak of swine flu at other schools.

Some students at the school spent spring break in Mexico, Bloomberg said, but authorities have not determined whether any of the students with a confirmed case of swine flu was in Mexico. Someone who traveled to Mexico may not have had any flu symptoms but passed on the flu to someone else, he noted.

Frieden called on students who are home sick to stay home for 48 hours after their symptoms subside.

If symptoms are normal for a regular kind of flu, there is no need to go to a hospital, said Bloomberg. If symptoms become severe, as with any illness, people should go to the hospital, he said.

St. Francis, which has 2,700 students, announced it will remain closed for two days. Asked whether the students' illnesses have been minor because they're young and healthy or because it is a minor strain of the virus, Frieden responded, "We don't know."


It has been a "relatively mild" flu season, Frieden said.

"We don't know whether this strain has been circulating more widely."

81 Dead In Mexico As Flu Emergency Goes Global

(CNN) -- Mexican officials are asking citizens to avoid large crowds, refrain from kissing as a greeting and maintain a distance of at least 1.8 meters (six feet) from each other amid growing concern in the country and elsewhere over new cases of suspected and confirmed swine flu infection.

Several countries issued travel notices and tightened restrictions to brace against the virus the World Health Organization is calling "a public health emergency of international concern."

By Sunday, 81 deaths had been deemed "likely linked" to a deadly new strain of the virus by health authorities in Mexico. Viral testing has confirmed 20 cases, said Dr. Jose A. Cordova Villalobos, Mexico's health secretary. In the United States, the number of confirmed swine flu cases stood at 11.

In New Zealand, officials said 22 students and three teachers, who returned from a three-week-long language trip to Mexico, may have been infected with the virus.

The 25 students and teachers at Auckland's Rangitoto College returned to New Zealand via Los Angeles on Saturday.

Fourteen have shown flu-like symptoms, with four "more unwell than others," said Dr. Julia Peters, clinical director of Auckland Regional Public Health Service.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said 10 students tested positive for influenza A. The specimens will be sent to WHO to determine whether it is H1N1 swine influenza. H1N1 influenza is a subset of influenza A.

The WHO results are expected back by midweek. The group remains quarantined at home.

"It's certainly has not been confirmed that they have swine flu," said Dr. Craig Thornley, medical officer of health in influenza. "We already have provisional information that some of the group have influenza A. We won't know if they have the type of influenza A that is swine flu."

In England, authorities stressed that a crew member who developed flu-like symptoms during a flight from Mexico City to Heathrow did not test positive for swine flu.

"I can confirm that the patient doesn't have swine flu," said Jonathan Street, a spokesman for Northwick Park Hospital in London.

"We have done all test, and they all came back negative."

In Israel, doctors are running tests on a man who recently returned from Mexico with light flu symptoms.

U.S. health officials said Friday that some cases of the virus in the United States matched samples of the deadly Mexican virus. All the patients have recovered or are expected to.

The panic over the virus prompted Canada to issue a travel health notice, saying the public health agency was "tracking clusters of severe respiratory illness with deaths in Mexico."

South Korea said it will test airline passengers arriving from the United States. And Japan will convene a Cabinet meeting Monday to come up with measures to block the entry of the virus into the country.

The United States had not issued any travel warnings or quarantines.

But US Airways said Saturday night it would allow passengers to change plans if they wanted to because of the outbreak.

Airline spokeswoman Michelle Mohr said it was not asking people not to travel to Mexico, but wanted to "give them that flexibility" if "they don't feel comfortable."

Gregory Hartl, of the World Health Organization, said the strain of the virus seen in Mexico is worrisome because it has mutated from older strains.

"Any time that there is a virus which changes ... it means perhaps the immunities the human body has built up to dealing with influenza might not be adjusted well enough to dealing with this new virus," Hartl said.

He said that, in Mexico, otherwise young, healthy people have been hit by the virus -- "one of the pieces of the puzzle that is worrying us," he said.

Mexico City has closed all of its schools and universities until further notice because of the virus.

More than 1,300 people with flu-like symptoms have been admitted to hospitals in Mexico, and officials are trying to determine how many of them have swine flu, said Jose Cordova Villalobos, the country's health minister.

The H1N1 strain of swine flu is usually associated with pigs. When the flu spreads person-to-person, instead of from animals to humans, it can continue to mutate, making it a tougher strain that is harder to treat or fight off.

Symptoms of swine flu include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, the CDC said.

President Barack Obama, who visited Mexico last week en route to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, is not sick.

"The president's trip to Mexico has not put his health in any danger," spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Oh, Shit!

(CNN) -- The presence of swine flu in Mexico and the United States is "a serious situation" that could develop into a pandemic, the World Health Organization's director-general said Saturday.

"This is an animal strain of the H1N1 virus and it has pandemic potential because it is infecting people," Dr. Margaret Chan said Saturday speaking to reporters by phone.

In Mexico, 68 people have died from swine flu, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.

Eight people were confirmed to have swine flu in the United States; six in California and two in Texas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All eight have recovered, according to CDC's acting Director Richard Besser.

Preliminary results from tests of students at a New York school do not rule out swine flu, the director of surveillance for the Bureau of Communicable Diseases said Saturday.

Dr. Don Weiss said the samples will now be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Test results could be known by Sunday.

He said the samples came back positive for "Type A" flu and the tests will need to determine the samples' subtype.

He said up to 100 students at the Queens school reported feeling ill.

CDC has tested 14 samples of the virus from Mexico and found seven were identical to the virus found in the U.S. cases, Besser said.

"This situation has been developing quickly," he said. "This is something we are worried about."

Asked whether the committee would address raising the agency's alert concerning the virus to 6, a pandemic alert and the highest level on WHO's scale, Chan said, "Yes, indeed."

The alert stands at 3, meaning "No or very limited human-to-human transmission."

Chan said Saturday that WHO does not have indications of similar outbreaks elsewhere.

However, she said, "The situation is evolving quickly. A new disease is by definition poorly understood."

White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said Saturday that the White House was taking the situation "seriously and monitoring for any developments."

Health officials in Texas announced Saturday the temporary closure of Byron Steel High School in Cibolo, Texas, where swine flu was confirmed in two students earlier this month.

"The purpose is to reduce the risk to students, staff and the community," said Dr. Sandra Guerra, a public health official in Guadalupe County, Texas.

Mexico City has closed all of its schools and universities until further notice because of the virus, and on Saturday, the country's National Health Council said all soccer games would be played Saturday without public audiences.

More than 1,000 people have been sickened in the country, and officials are trying to determine how many of those patients had swine flu, the country's health minister, Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos, said.

None of the U.S. patients had direct contact with pigs, though a patient who lives in San Diego had traveled to Mexico, the CDC said.

Besser said officials had not found common exposure or behavior among the eight U.S. patients.

"We have not seen any linkage at all between the cases in Texas and California," he said.

The new virus has genes from North American swine influenza, avian influenza, human influenza and a form of swine influenza normally found in Asia and Europe, said Nancy Cox, chief of the CDC's Influenza Division.

Swine flu is caused by a virus similar to a type of flu virus that infects people every year but is a strain typically found only in pigs -- or in people who have direct contact with pigs.

There have, however, been cases of person-to-person transmission of swine flu, the CDC said. Officials found evidence, for example, that a patient transmitted the disease to health care workers during a 1988 apparent swine flu infection among pigs in Wisconsin.

Experts think coughing, sneezing and contaminated surfaces spread the infection among people.

The new strain of swine flu has resisted some antiviral drugs, officials said.

The human influenza vaccine's ability to protect against the new swine flu strain is unknown, and studies are ongoing, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim deputy director for science and public health program. There is no danger of contracting the virus from eating pork products, she said.

Canada is also testing samples from Mexico "and has placed a travel alert for travel to Mexico," CDC spokesman David Daigle told CNN by e-mail.

The United States had not issued any travel alerts or advisories by late Friday, but some private companies issued their own warnings.