3 women from Texas are missing in Mexico after they traveled across the border to sell clothes at a flea market
Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
- Three Texas women have been missing in Mexico since February 24, according to police.
- The women traveled to Montemorelos, Mexico to sell clothes at a flea market, police say.
- The women's families are in contact with Mexican police, according to the Peñita Police Department.
Three women from Texas are missing after they crossed the border into Mexico to sell clothes at a flea market in a border city, police say.
Two sisters, Marina and Maritza Rios, and Dora Saenz, have all been missing for around since February 24, according to the Associated Press.
The FBI said it was aware that Marina Rios and Maritza Rios had been missing on Friday, according to the AP. The FBI did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Saturday. The sisters are from Peñitas, a small border community in Texas near McAllen, the outlet reported.
The Peñitas Police Chief, Roel Bermea, said that the families of Saenz, and Marina and Maritza Rios are in contact with Mexican police who are investigating the disappearance of their loved ones, according to the AP. Bermea said one of the women's husbands spoke to her by phone during the trip to Mexico, but he became worried when he couldn't reach her later.
"Since he couldn't make contact over that weekend, he came in that Monday and reported it to us," Bermea told the AP. The women were traveling to the border city of Montemorelos, which is about a three-hour drive from the border.
The Peñitas Police Department did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Saturday.
The three women's disappearance follows the brutal abduction of four Americans who traveled with their friend to Mexico for a cosmetic surgery last week. The kidnapping, which happened on March 3, left two of the friends dead.
The group crossed into Mexico in a white van with North Carolina license plates when they were shot at and abducted, according to a statement from the FBI.
A letter obtained by the Associated Press that claimed to be written by the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel denounced the attack and apologized to the Americans and their families. The letter promised to "turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline."