It's a though that has haunted Raquel for the past week and a half.
It all started when her daughter Erica Alvarado crossed into Mexico at the Progreso International Bridge with her boyfriend on October 13th.The pair traveled to a small town named 'Control' near Nuevo Progreso to visit relatives.
The next day she and her boyfriend planned to meet her two brothers Jose and Alex Alvarado at a taco stand to head home.
That's when things took a turn for the worse.
"They were beating her like she was a man and that is when my sons arrived in a Cherokee and tried to stop it and they also took them," Raquel said.
All four were beaten and taken by force by men who claimed to be part of an elite police force in Matamoros called 'Hercules'.
"We don't know if they are marines or not since there is no paper work, charges or anything," Raquel explained.
Action 4 News learned this agency works for the city of Matamoros but was unable to confirm whether the men who took the four Progreso residents belonged to this group.
We contacted the American Consulate who did not return our calls and Mexican authorities who could not confirm where the missing could be.
"We don't know anything about them at this point, we don't know why they took them, we don't know why they were beaten and they beat up my daughter too," Raquel said.
Family members found the two vehicles they were driving at a car dealership in Mexico, the license plates missing on one of them.
The dealer would not say where he got them.
Raquel says these possessions mean nothing.
She only wants her children home safe and alive.
The U.S. Department of State has a travel advisory for the state of Tamaulipas noting in some areas its unsafe to be outside after its dark.
The department reports the number of reported kidnappings in Tamaulipas is among the highest in Mexico and the number of U.S. citizen kidnappings is on the rise.
Action 4 News contacted the FBI who said they do not comment on cases like this one but did confirm the do work with Mexican authorities to find Americans who go missing in Mexico.
source:http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=1113374#.VFJ_BfldWSo