Gómez Palacio

Mario Rizo, one of the migrants who said he was kidnapped, said he believed his bus was stopped in the area of the adjacent cities of Gomez Palacio and Lerdo by people in a municipal police patrol truck.

The head of the public safety unit in Gomez Palacio, Ivan Torres, confirmed at least 300 people had been rescued on Dec. 7 from a rural site in the area but that his officers had not been involved in the kidnapping.

The Thailand project inspired Fry to start a similar study in Gómez Palacio, Mexico, when she set up her lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008.

Rodriguez was born in Gomez Palacio, Mexico, and came to the San Diego with his family as a 6-year-old boy.

Luna, 27, and Reyes, 22, were brothers-in-law who left their small northern Mexico town of Gomez Palacio in August 2016.