Cancún: 3 Kidnappers Get 80-Year Sentences Each

Cancún, Quintana Roo — A court in Cancún has sentenced three people to 80 years in prison each for their role in a 2021 kidnapping in which one victim was killed and another survived, state prosecutors announced.

Quintana Roo Attorney General Raciel López Salazar said the State Prosecutor’s Office Specialized Unit for Kidnapping and Extortion Crimes secured the convictions against Hilda de la Cruz Hernández, José Pablo de la Cruz Hernández and Eduardo Álvarez Duarte for aggravated kidnapping. He announced the ruling during a meeting of the state’s Gabinete de Paz, or Peace Cabinet.

Two Days of Captivity

The case stems from events in Cancún in February 2021, when the two victims were abducted and taken to a property where they were held captive for two days, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Prosecutors said the captors demanded 50,000 pesos from a relative in exchange for releasing the victims. During their captivity, both were subjected to physical, sexual and psychological violence.

When the demanded payment did not arrive, the assailants killed one of the victims and tried to do the same to the other, who managed to call for help.

Fines and Reparations

After reviewing the evidence presented during the oral trial, the judge found all three defendants criminally responsible and imposed an 80-year prison term on each of them.

The court also ordered each defendant to pay a fine of 1,074.40 pesos and to cover the corresponding compensation for moral and material damages.