- The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of a kidnapped US citizen.
- María del Carmen López was kidnapped from her home in Mexico on February 9.
- Lopez, 63, moved to Mexico in retirement and is the mother of seven children.
The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information on the location of a 63-year-old US citizen more than a month after she was abducted from her home in Mexico.
María del Carmen López was kidnapped on February 9, according to a statement from the FBI released earlier this week, from where he lived in Pueblo Nuevo, Mexico.
The FBI statement was minimal on the details of the case, but described Lopez as a Hispanic woman with blonde hair, blue eyes and permanently tattooed eyeliner. She is around 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs around 160 pounds.
López moved to Mexico when she retired and is the mother of seven children, according to CBS Los Angeles. Her children are desperate for information on her whereabouts.
“It’s a horrible feeling not knowing if she’s okay, not knowing where she is or who has her,” said Zonia López, her daughter. CNN in an interview. “We’re literally driven by the force that we know she has and the love she has for us, and we’re literally holding on to a thread of hope.”
Maria del Carmen Lopez
FBI Los Angeles
In an interview With NBC News, the family said they believed the kidnappers were armed and masked at the time and were later asked by the kidnappers to pay a large ransom.
“We were able to hear what sounded like a recording of her begging us to help her,” Zonia told NBC Nightly News on Friday.
Zonia also believed that her mother’s targeting was arbitrary, as she had no connections to any type of criminal activity in the region.
“There were never any kind of threats, there were never any enemies,” he told CBS Los Angeles. “Anything to indicate that she was in some kind of trouble.”
Authorities do not believe drug cartels were involved in the kidnapping, an FBI official told CNN.
The FBI announcement comes a few weeks later four Americans were kidnapped after crossing the border with Mexico. Two of the Americans were killed.
The Bureau is conducting the investigation with law enforcement authorities in Mexico, according to the statement.
