Mexican ‘gang leader’ arrested after YouTuber’s body found on tourist beach

A Mexican ‘gang leader’ has been arrested over the murder of an aspiring YouTuber whose naked body was found dumped on a beach.

The suspect, identified as Jonathan N. and reportedly known as ‘The Panther’, is accused of killing 22-year-old Daniela Patino, who was discovered in tourist hotspot Playa del Carmen last month.

She reportedly left her home in the Colombian town of Bello on August 16 planning to travel to Spain where she told her family she received job offer with a restaurant chain.

But according to local media she never got there – instead going to Guatemala where after a few days she began messaging relatives saying her life was in danger and she needed to escape before being forced into the sex trade.

‘They are going to kill me,’ she wrote before disappearing.

‘If they kill me, report this place in zone 10 of Guatemala, on the road to El Salvador.’

Daniela, an aspiring vlogger whose YouTube account was disabled in the aftermath of reports of her death, is thought to have lost contact with her family on September 10.

A week later a friend recognised her photos in Mexican media.

State Attorney General Oscar Montes De Oca said ‘The Panther’ became leader of the ‘Los Pelones’ gang after his father and his cousin, Ernesto and Victor N. were arrested by Mexican police.

He was reportedly arrested in the municipality of Solidaridad, allegedly in possession of several bags that contained drugs identified as cocaine and cannabis and a firearm, the General Attorney’s Office of the Quintana Roo State (FGE) said.

Jonathan N. was described by the FGE as ‘a very dangerous individual who is responsible for violent events in the north of the state, mainly in the municipality of Solidaridad’.

Local authorities issued a warrant for his arrest after an incident that occurred in an area known as In House in Playa del Carmen on January 28 this year, when he allegedly attacked a group of people on a public road and fired a gun at them.