Body of missing priest found in central Mexico

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CUAUTITLAN, Mexico (AP) — The body of a priest reported missing in late October outside Mexico City has been found wrapped in plastic and tied to a chair in a river, the Mexico state prosecutor’s office said Thursday.

Two people allegedly linked to the homicide have been arrested.

Rev. Ernesto Baltazar Hernández Vilchis, 43, disappeared in Tultepec, north of Mexico City on Oct. 27. His body was found Wednesday about 9 miles (15 kilometers) away and authorities are investigating the homicide, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Priests are sometimes victims of organized crime in Mexico. Last month, the body of a priest was found in the mountains of the southern state of Guerrero.

Hernández Vilchis arrived at the parish of Santa Cruz Cantera, in Tultepec, in early October, according to the church's Facebook page. Days later, the parish announced on their social networks that intruders entered the temple, cut the cables of the security cameras and stole one of their bells. The parish asked for the community's collaboration to find those responsible.

The prosecutor's office did not say what could be the motive behind the murder. In a statement, it indicated the priest went alone in his vehicle to a home where he spent several hours with a woman and man, who allegedly attacked him with a sharp object. The alleged assailant's partner also arrived at the scene.

The three individuals, allegedly participated in hiding the body. The man, who had a criminal record for a violent robbery, and his partner have been arrested. The other woman is under investigation.

The church’s Catholic Multimedia Center, which tracks attacks on priests, said 10 priests were killed in Mexico from 2019 to 2024. During the same period there were 900 cases of extortion, death threats against members of the Catholic Church, as well as other types of aggression.