Reuters / Jorge Duenes
A North Carolina teacher who’s been missing in a remote part of Mexico since late October was allegedly murdered by the Sinaloa drug cartel in what officials described as a “cowardly and brutal assassination.” Patrick Braxton-Andrew, 34, was last seen Oct. 28 in Urique, a village in Chihuahua state. Braxton-Andrew’s family said they were informed by Mexican authorities that he was killed “at the hands of a criminal organization that operates in the area where he was traveling.” Javier Corral, the governor of Chihuahua, said: “I can say that it was a cowardly and brutal assassination of a person who was totally innocent, a clean man whose misfortune was to cross paths with this criminal.” Investigators say they believe Braxton-Andrew was killed by a narco-trafficker José Noriel Portilo Gil, known by the alias “El Chueco,” who is associated with the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, reportedly formerly headed by El Chapo, who is currently on trial in Brooklyn. Braxton-Andrew’s family said they’re continuing the search to recover his body.