After her husband was recently freed from captivity, the man’s wife made a startling statement.
One of the four South Carolinans who were abducted last week after visiting Mexico was Eric Williams, a resident of Lake City.
According to Daily Mail, official reports indicate that Williams and his friends were kidnapped by a local drug cartel while being held at gunpoint.
Williams, who is currently recuperating at a hospital in Texas, was discovered in Matamaros on Tuesday morning with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to his legs.
Michelle, William’s wife, admitted that she didn’t know where her husband was going when he left a week or so earlier; all she knew was that he was attempting to assist a couple of friends.
“I didn’t hear from him after Friday,” she told local ABC News outlet WBTW 13.
“Friday morning he texted me and I texted him back immediately. He didn’t respond so I’m going to assume that’s when he was ambushed.”
Michelle continued by saying that she had been worried about her husband’s lack of communication for days and hadn’t slept.
Williams reportedly told her of the gunshot wounds to her husband’s legs when she spoke with him on Tuesday after he was discovered.
Williams’ injuries are said to not prevent him from walking again.
Either way, Michelle said she was relieved to have him back, although the same can’t be said for some families of William’s friends.
“My heart is breaking for the other two families that don’t get to say the same.”
Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, both with Williams in Mexico, did not survive the kidnapping.
Lativa “Tay” McGee, the last member of the group and Woodard’s cousin, was also found alive and unharmed aside from minor injuries.
According to Zalandria Brown, a relative of the victims, her younger brother, two other friends, and a third friend were travelling to Mexico for a “tummy tuck” procedure with a fourth friend.
Even more so, she admitted to the Associated Press that her brother had advised against the trip and that the four were aware of the risks involved in travelling to Mexico.
McGee’s mother, Barbara Burgess, also confirmed this to ABC News and explained that her daughter was going to Mexico for a medical procedure.
Michelle emphasised that the group’s activities were not against the law.
According to Mexican authorities, the friends arrived in the city on March 3 at around 9.45am on the day of their abduction and were ambushed shortly after at 11.45am on the same day.
One day earlier, Woodard had posted a mysterious remark about secrecy to his Facebook page, though its significance in relation to the kidnappings has not yet been established.
Irving Barrios, the state attorney general for Tamaulipas, claims that if locals’ online postings of pictures and videos from the scene hadn’t been there, the rescue effort might have ended in failure.
On the group’s minivan, they were able to spot American licence plates, which prompted them to involve American authorities.
In addition, the number of cartel vehicles that participated in the attack was determined by counting them using surveillance cameras.
