Armando Torres III Armando Torres III ( disappeared 14 May 2013 ) is a U . S . Marine in the Individual Ready Reserve who was reportedly kidnapped by gunmen near the U . S . - Mexico border in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas . A native of San Benito , Texas , Torres served in United States Marine Corps in Africa and in the Iraq War for seven years . He then returned to Texas , where he worked at an energy service company . Before deciding to move to the state of Virginia , Torres went to visit his father in Mexico on 14 May 2013 , but he never made it back . Reportedly , drug traffickers kidnapped him , his father , and one of his uncles at their ranch near the border city of Matamoros , Tamaulipas . The motives behind the abduction are unknown , but investigators believe they were kidnapped following a land dispute . Career . Torres ( age 25 ) was born in San Benito , Texas and lived there until he was 14 years old . Then , his family moved to the state of Virginia . He graduated from high school in 2005 and enlisted in the Armed Forces shortly afterwards . Torres served in the Armed Forces for seven years as a U . S . Marine in Africa and in the Iraq War . He is currently enlisted in the Individual Ready Reserve ( IRR ) . As a reservist , Torres was living in Hargill , Texas and was working at an energy services company . He has two sons ( aged 2 and 4 ) , and was separated from his wife Melissa Estrada . Kidnapping . On 14 May 2013 at around 6 p . m . , Torres crossed the Progreso – Nuevo Progreso International Bridge from Texas into Mexico to visit his father and other relatives at their ranch at La Barranca , a rural community near the border city of Matamoros , Tamaulipas . Several hours after Torres ' s arrival , unidentified gunmen stormed the ranch and kidnapped him , his father Armando Torres II , and his uncle Salvador Torres . The gunmen also stole many belongings from the residence and three vehicles before leaving . That same evening between 8 and 9 p . m . , Armando ' s sister Cristina Torres in Virginia received a phone call from her cousin who witnessed armed men in a white truck take Armando , his father , and his uncle by force . The motives behind the kidnapping are unknown , but relatives and investigators believe that the abduction may have been a result of a land dispute . According to Cristina , Armando ' s grandfather had sold a piece of his land in 2011 to Jesús Pecina Chaires , one of his neighbors . But when the neighbor failed to complete his payments , the Torres family took the land back . Upon the seizure one month earlier , the neighbor threatened revenge . An unnamed official said that after Torres ' s grandfather died , Torres ' s father and uncle went back on their father ' s land sale and retook the land , incurring the neighbor ' s wrath . The Tamaulipas state authorities allege that at least one of the members of the Pecina Chaires family has direct links with a Mexican drug trafficking organization . Cristina said in an interview that she chatted online with Armando the day before the abduction , and said that he wanted to move to Virginia with his mother and sister . Armando told his sister that he wanted to bid farewell to his father and his family in Mexico before moving to Virginia in search of better work opportunities . Armando had not seen his father in years ; while he was in the Armed Forces , he was not allowed to travel to Mexico . In response to the kidnapping , family and friends have used social media to help find Torres . His wife Melissa Estrada has asked people to contact lawmakers and sign two petitions that ask for Torres ' s safe return home . Fellow Marines have contacted the White House through a petition asking the administration of President Barack Obama to demand the release of Torres . Others have e - mailed politicians and contacted several media outlets to increase the case ' s attention . By contacting their local representatives in Congress , U . S . Marines in the United States have tried to make Torres ' s case reach a level of awareness in the mainstream media . Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Texas Congressman Rubén Hinojosa have responded to the e - mail requests and expressed their support in the case . Hinojosa has been working with Congressman Filemon Vela , Jr . and other Rio Grande Valley politicians to pressure Secretary of State John Kerry to use " diplomatic channels " to help find Torres . Among the congressmen who have also joined the White House petition are Ileana Ros - Lehtinen , Lynn Westmoreland , Mario Diaz - Balart , Aaron Schock , Edward Royce , John Carter , Walter B . Jones , Jr . , and Jeff Miller . A letter was also sent to Mexican ambassador to the United States Eduardo Medina - Mora Icaza urging the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto to express their devotion in the case alongside the United States . The Mexican authorities are working on the case alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) , which has opened an international kidnapping investigation . Three weeks after the men ' s disappearance , although investigators on both sides of the border are pursuing the case , Tamaulipas authorities believe that the missing members of the Torres family are most likely dead and that their bodies will never be found , given the " circumstances of the case and the players involved " . Armando ' s sister said her whole family still had hopes of finding Armando alive and safe back home , while the FBI neither confirmed or denied anything on Torres ' s status . Background . The area where Armando was abducted is a key smuggling route for the Gulf Cartel , a transnational drug trafficking organization based in northeastern Mexico . Drug traffickers have been known to forcibly take ranches from people to facilitate their drug shipments , and especially properties that lie along the U . S . - Mexico border . Properties that border the Rio Grande River are attractive for smugglers because these areas make it difficult for U . S . law enforcement officers to intercept their drug trafficking activities . Large portions of the South Texas border with Tamaulipas are rural and contain uninhabited areas that smugglers use to traffic drugs into the United States . Drug traffickers also store their merchandise in storage places in these areas to later transport their drugs to towns and cities . When former President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 and carried a military - led campaign to tackle the country ' s drug trafficking organizations , violence across Mexico spread . By the end of his presidency in 2012 , at least 70 , 000 had been killed in drug cartel - related murders . Thousands more , roughly 25 , 000 adults and children , had disappeared . Many of these people were kidnapped by drug trafficking organizations ; others , too , were reportedly disappeared by corrupt local , state , and / or federal authorities . According to the Mexico ' s Commission on Human Rights , an average of 49 people were kidnapped in Mexico every day in 2012 , making it the highest kidnapping rate in the world . The figures may possibly be higher since many kidnappings in Mexico go unreported , mainly because citizens distrust the police and fear that the captors might kill the victims if they contact the authorities . For many Mexicans , paying the ransom is more convenient than calling the police to carry out an investigation given the low conviction rate throughout the country . Kidnappings , according to security experts , tarnishes urban dwellers ' sense of security more than killings .