U.S. couple found dead in Tijuana, son-in-law charged

TIJUANA, Mexico — A United States couple missing for a week in Tijuana were found Friday buried on the property of one of their homes in this border city, Mexican authorities said.

Baja California state prosecutor Hiran Sanchez said the bodies of Maria Teresa Lopez, 65, and 70-year-old husband, Jesus Ruben Lopez, were discovered with the help of cadaver dogs.

Authorities said that they arrested the couple’s sonin-law and that the preliminary investigation suggested the motive was a monetary dispute over rent payments.

The couple, who were naturalized U.S. citizens living in Garden Grove, California, had crossed the border to Tijuana on Jan. 10 to collect some $6,400 in rent from apartments they owned in the city, Sanchez said.

Their daughter, Norma Lopez, who lived with them in California, reported them missing the following day.

Her husband, identified only as Santiago, lives in Tijuana and told investigators he had met the couple at the border and returned them there several hours later, but there were inconsistencies in his story, Sanchez said.

On Friday morning, investigators from the prosecutor’s office found the bodies buried in the back of one of their properties. They showed signs of violence, the prosecutor said.

Sanchez said the son-in-law had already been charged with the disappearance of the people and would now be charged with murder. He said the man had a criminal record in the U.S. and was deported in 2012.