‘Somebody Made The Wrong Call’: Americans Who Survived Mexican Drug Cartel Kidnapping Share Details Of Traumatic Days In Captivity

Two American survivors of a kidnapping by a Mexican drug cartel share a heart-wrenching account of their journey through the southern border. It was a month ago when LaTavia Washington McGee and Eric Williams were driving to a medical appointment in Matamoros, Mexico, with their friends Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown. They were abducted when they heard a car horn honking behind them. As they looked back, they saw a gun and heard gunfire. Williams was shot in both legs when trying to escape the attackers from the car. Brown and Woodard were taken away to a different location but were still alive when they were thrown into the bed of a pickup truck.

Later, they were all taken to a site where they were interrogated. The American’s narrated their stories that the cartel threw Woodard’s lifeless body in front of them while he was still alive at the time. The cartel was apparently on drugs or alcohol, as they had mistaken them for Haitian drug dealers. “Somebody made the wrong call,” remarked one of the captors who apologized after realizing they had kidnapped and killed Americans.

During their time in captivity, Williams was taken for medical treatment but was denied pain medication. He was handled with a two-by-four, and his wounds were stitched up. McGee was placed in a single room with Brown who was slowly dying from his wounds, who told her, “I’m your brother. I’m supposed to be there for you. I love you.”

The cartel, believed to be the Gulf Cartel, eventually released them and gave up five of their own members to the authorities. They also wrote a letter of apology to the American and the Mexican woman’s family killed by their stray bullet. After four nerve-wracking days, Williams and McGee were dropped at a wooden shack where they were eventually rescued and brought back to the U.S., with the bodies of their friends.

Although they survived, the emotional trauma they experienced will take time to heal. Their deceased colleagues were innocent and undeserving of such a tragedy. The American survivors said, “we have a lot of recovering to do.”