FBI offers $20,000 reward in case of missing American woman

• FBI Assistant Director in charge does not believe narcotics cartels were involved in the kidnapping.
• The agency has witness reports verifying Lopez’s kidnapping, but no additional facts.
• The FBI did not reveal any details about the case.

The FBI has issued a $20,000 reward for information leading to the location of a 63-year-old US woman kidnapped from her home in Mexico more than a month ago.

Maria del Carmen Lopez was kidnapped on February 9 in Pueblo Nuevo, a community in the southern Mexico state of Colima, according to a notice from the FBI’s Los Angeles field office on Thursday.

According to a statement from the Colima Attorney General’s office, Lopez is also a Mexican citizen, and the office is cooperating with the FBI on the investigation.

The FBI did not reveal any details about the case, although Lopez was described as having blonde hair, brown eyes, and tattooed eyeliner.

According to FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office Donald Alway, federal authorities do not believe narcotics cartels were involved in the kidnapping. According to Alway, the agency has witness reports verifying Lopez’s kidnapping, but no additional facts about the case have been released.

“We are going to pursue this, and we’ll look at every avenue and we’ll follow every lead and we’ll open every door that we can find to ensure that our primary goal is to get her back safely,” he added.

The FBI’s revelation comes about two weeks after the kidnapping of four Americans, two of whom were killed, in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, and three weeks after the disappearance of three women who walked into Mexico to sell clothes at a flea market.

The Colima Attorney General’s Office started an investigation into Lopez’s disappearance on the day of the suspected kidnapping, and the Mexico Attorney General’s Specialized Prosecutor for Organized Crime has since requested to accept the case, according to a statement from Colima officials.

The Colima prosecutor’s office stated that it has shared material with Mexico federal authorities and has also worked with American agencies “in order to clarify the facts and protect the victim’s integrity.”

Anybody with information regarding Lopez’s whereabouts is urged to contact their local FBI office, submit a tip online, or contact the nearest American embassy or consulate.

Almost 100,000 Mexicans and migrants have gone missing across the country, leaving their families with little explanation and scant solace. The Mexican government’s fast response to recent American disappearances has aroused suspicions among those who blame officials for failing to respond in a number of domestic instances.

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