Two survivors of the four Americans kidnapped in Mexico last month are revealing new details about their captivity and the death of their friends.
LaTavia Washington McGee, Eric Williams, Shaeed Woodard, and Zindell Brown were attacked and kidnapped on March 3 while on their way to a medical appointment in Matamoros, Mexico. Woodard and Brown were both killed in the kidnapping.
“They didn’t deserve that. None of us deserved it. But we’re alive – we have a lot of recovering to do,” Washington McGee, who survived the kidnapping, told CNN on Tuesday (April 11).
As the group was driving across the U.S.-Mexico border, Brown looked back and saw a gun in the car behind them, Washington McGee said. A shooting broke out, and “Zindell and Shaeed, they jumped up to run and they were gunned down,” Williams, a second survivor, recalled.
Williams said he jumped out of the driver's side of their vehicle and was "shot on both legs."
As seen in video of the kidnapping, Washington McGee was taken into the back of a pickup truck at gunpoint, while the rest of the group was carried onto it.
The survivors told CNN that Brown and Woodward were still alive when their limp bodies were dragged into the back of the truck. The group was driven to another spot, where Williams said Woodward died.
“That’s where Shaeed said, ‘I love y’all, and I’m gone.’ And he died right there,” Williams recalled.
The survivors said they were blindfolded as they were transported to several different locations during their captivity.
At one point, Washington McGee was put in a room with Brown, who was severely wounded and dying, she said.
The kidnappers promised to take Brown to a hospital, Washington McGee recalled, but “they came back maybe an hour later and he was dead.”
Days after the kidnapping, Washington McGee said she didn't have any hope of survival until she and Williams were woken up by a man in a dark room.
“He was like, ‘There’s nothing that we can do to bring your two brothers back. But we’re sorry. Somebody made the wrong call. They was high and drunk,’” Washington McGee recalled the man saying.
Eventually, the survivors were dropped off at the wooden shack where they would be rescued on March 7.
The Gulf Cartel, which is believed to be behind the kidnappings, later issued an apology for the incident. The group handed over five members to local authorities.
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