CHILLING

Friend Who Accompanied 4 Kidnapped Americans in Mexico Talks of Harrowing Day

Cheryl Orange, who stayed behind in Texas as her friends went on to Mexico, said she quickly grew concerned when they didn’t return.

The fifth friend accompanying the four Americans kidnapped in Mexico after traveling for a tummy tuck surgery has spoken out. Cheryl Orange told police the group traveled from South Carolina to Texas last Thursday, and the group headed out to Mexico on Friday morning. Orange didn’t cross the border with her friends because she didn’t have her ID with her, she told the Associated Press. She waited for the group at a motel in Brownsville, Texas, and said she quickly grew concerned. Three of the friends were supposed to drop off Latavia McGee for the surgery and return within 15 minutes, Orange told the AP, but they didn’t return and she couldn’t reach their cellphones, the police report says. Instead, the group was kidnapped and attacked, leaving two dead, as well as a Mexican woman. McGee and fellow survivor Eric James Williams were sent to a Texas hospital to recover after they were rescued. “She simply went for a cosmetic surgery, and that’s it. That’s all, and this happened to them,” Orange said.