Latavia McGee, Eric Williams, Zindell Brown, and Shaeed Woodard/Twitter
The survivors of the Mexican cartel kidnapping say their captors wanted them to have sex with each other. In addition to the immoral demand, LaTavia Washington McGee and Eric Williams told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that they refused after explaining to the armed cartel that they were related.
Released a month ago, McGee and Williams sat down with Cooper to give a detailed recollection of how they managed to survive as hostages.
Sitting in a wheelchair and visibly recovering from being shot three times in the legs, Williams told the host that his captors wanted to force him to have sex with his pregnant sister, at least that was a viable excuse he gave.
In reality, McGee and Williams are not physically related but are childhood friends, and McGee, a mother of six children, was not pregnant with her seventh child.
The kidnapping was a mistake; the cartel thought they were Haitian drug smugglers. As a result, two of the four “siblings,” McGee’s real-life cousin Shaeed Woodard and other “brother” Zindell Brown, are dead, CNN reported.
On March 3, the four “siblings” were kidnapped in the Mexican border town of Matamoros, which is in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas just south of Brownsville, Tex.
The cartel members opened fire on the group’s vehicle, killing a Mexican woman and wounding one of the Americans. The other four Americans were kidnapped and taken to an undisclosed location.
They were in Mexico for cosmetic surgery for McGee. The attack came in broad daylight, with armed men ambushing the four “siblings” not long after they crossed the US-Mexico border.
Some commenters online were baffled by the kidnapper’s demands, but some were quick to point out, “How was she pregnant and getting a tummy tuck.”
Noted social media influencer and close friend of ASAP Rocky, Jimmy Smacks, wrote in the comments section, “Y’all like like ‘she went for a tummy tuck but pregnant[.]’ [Y]’all act so slow! She said she was pregnant to say anything. She was just lying so she didn’t have to do anything.”
The Mexican government launched a manhunt for the kidnapped Americans. On March 9, 2023, the Gulf Cartel turned over five of its members to the Mexican government. The five men were charged with kidnapping the Americans.
The four surviving Americans were released on March 10, 2023. The bodies of the two Americans who were killed were returned to the United States.
The kidnapping of the five Americans – A Mexican woman was also killed by a stray bullet during Friday’s kidnapping, according to the governor’s office – was a major incident that highlighted the violence and instability in Mexico. It also raised concerns about the safety of Americans traveling to Mexico.
The Mexican government has vowed to crack down on drug cartels and make Mexico safer for tourists and other visitors. However, it remains to be seen whether the government will be successful in its efforts.