Mexico assailants release 2 abductees

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, MEXICO —  A Texan and a Mexican kidnapped by 30 to 40 gunmen at a hunting ranch were released Wednesday, but three other men remained missing, authorities said.

The FBI in San Antonio and the Coahuila state prosecutor in Mexico did not give details on how David Mueller, 45, of the Sweetwater area of Texas and Fidel Rodriguez Cerdan of Monterrey, Mexico, were freed three days after their abduction.

Mueller “showed signs of being roughed up” but did not require hospitalization, FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said. “He had some bruising and evidence of some swelling where he was handcuffed.”

Still missing were prominent businessman Librado Pina Jr., 49, and his 25-year-old son, Librado Pina III, both of Laredo, Texas, and the ranch’s Mexican cook, Marco Ortiz, said Coahuila state Atty. Gen. Jesus Torres.

Witnesses told police the large group of armed men entered the La Barranca ranch late Sunday and took the five men. The kidnappers have not made a ransom demand, Vasys said.

The elder Pina owns the deer-hunting ranch near Hidalgo, about 30 miles northwest of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

Mexican police said the assailants stole five all-terrain vehicles, two pickup trucks, furnishings, appliances and food and wine from the ranch.

In September, U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza warned Americans to stay vigilant when traveling to Mexico.

He said there were at least 20 unresolved kidnappings involving Americans.