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According to NBC Boston's report dated May 30, 2025, the bodies of Grupo Fugitivo members, who had been missing since May 25, 2025, were found in the city of Reynosa along the Texas border.
Grupo Fugitivo is a regional Mexican music group that played at local dances and parties in the area. The music group comprised five members: Francisco Javier Vázquez, Nemesio Antonio Durán, Livan Solís, Víctor Manuel Garza, and José Francisco Morales.
News tabloids have reported that the bodies of the group's members were found in an advanced state of charring and have been taken to the Forensic Medical Service for DNA testing and identity confirmation.
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According to Tamaulipas state prosecutors, who were investigating the group's disappearance, the men were kidnapped on the way to a venue where they were hired to perform at around 10 pm on May 25, 2025.
On the night of their disappearance, the band went to a palapa bar in the Rancho Grande neighborhood to perform. This was confirmed by surveillance cameras in the area. However, the group wasn't seen leaving the bar, which had another point of entry as well.
The last anyone heard from Grupo Fugitivo was when they updated their families about being on the way to the event on the night of their disappearance.
Additionally, the band's abandoned vehicle was found shortly after their disappearance. However, it didn't show signs of violence except that the trailer transporting their musical equipment was missing.
Authorities have reportedly linked the death of Grupo Fugitivo members to the Gulf Cartel
Authorities haven't commented on why Grupo Fugitivo's members were subject to such a horrific death yet. However, prosecutors mentioned that nine suspects believed to be a part of the Gulf Cartel, having a stronghold in the city, have been arrested.
As per NBC Boston, Reynosa, the Mexican border city where the regional music group's members were found, has witnessed an escalation in violence since 2017. The cause of the same is reported to be internal disputes among groups seeking control of fuel theft, human smuggling, and drug trafficking.
Grupo Fugitivo's sudden disappearance resulted in families of the music group's members calling the police for support and people taking to the streets in protest. On May 28, 2025, protestors blocked the international bridge connecting Pharr and Reynosa, followed by a visit to the local cathedral to pray for the regional band.
While a link connecting Grupo Fugitivo members to being victims of cartel violence hasn't been found yet, the disappearance and death of the band comes after multiple instances of artists facing death threats by cartels.
In fact, the Trump administration has dubbed the Gulf Cartel a "global terrorist organization" in addition to other criminal groups.
As per the BBC's May 30, 2025, report, the US embassy in Mexico issued a level 4 travel advisory in January 2025. The authorities warned citizens to avoid travelling to multiple Mexican cities, including Reynosa, citing "increasingly frequent gun battles" and "crime and kidnapping" in and around the region.
Media tabloids have reported that Grupo Fugitivo's incident follows a similar case from 2018, wherein armed men kidnapped 2 members of the musical group Los Norteños de Río Bravo. At the time, authorities discovered the bodies of the two band members on the federal highway between Reynosa to Rio Bravo.
