MURDERS IN MEXICO

[robberbaron4u]

[56harrisond]

https://www.wafb.com/2026/06/26/missing-chicago-couple-found-dead-outside-mexico-city-family-confirms/

 

[marylander1940]

[robberbaron4u]

3 hours ago, marylander1940 said:

Amen.

[MscleLovr]

How awful. I can only assume they were too trusting and naive.

When, in other threads, people talk of moving to a foreign country in retirement, I hope they take crime-rates and local policing into account.

[+ Pensant]

Yet it happens in the US too.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

2 hours ago, MscleLovr said:

I hope they take crime-rates and local policing into account.

Yes, even in the US some local policing is useless against crime in certain cities. And living in the US, one must be careful to avoid scams from merciless foreigners who prey on US victims with online and telephone scams. Beware illegal foreigners, and beware cities with light-on-crime police forces.

When I visit Mexico, I stay only in the highly policed tourist areas and leave account information for my largest accounts at home.  Even if someone forces me to drain my debit card at gunpoint, there won't be more than about $1000 in there.

Don't make yourself a target.  Foreign cultures don't have the same values or ethics that we have, as do some cities and neighborhoods in the US.

Edited June 29 by Vegas_Millennial

[nomad]

Living in any country carries inherit risks.  Even if you are fluent in the local language, you stand apart no matter how you try to blend in.  The US is the only developed country in the Top 50 murder rates.  S. Korea is next at 52.  Mexico is #3.  

https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Murder-rate

[robberbaron4u]

2 hours ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

Yes, even in the US some local policing is useless against crime in certain cities. And living in the US, one must be careful to avoid scams from merciless foreigners who prey on US victims with online and telephone scams. Beware illegal foreigners, and beware cities with light-on-crime police forces.

When I visit Mexico, I stay only in the highly policed tourist areas and leave account information for my largest accounts at home.  Even if someone forces me to drain my debit card at gunpoint, there won't be more than about $1000 in there.

Don't make yourself a target.  Foreign cultures don't have the same values or ethics that we have, as do some cities and neighborhoods in the US.

When in Mexico, I do not stray beyond San Miguel Allende these days.

.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

29 minutes ago, robberbaron4u said:

When in Mexico, I do not stray beyond San Miguel Allende these days.

.

I stay in the tourist zone of Puerto Vallarta.

[EZEtoGRU]

In the late 80’s/early 90’s, there were a series of murders of known gay activists in Mexico City. I want to say 5-6 guys were murdered. It was widely believed at the time that the police were involved in the killings and they were targeting gay activists. I knew one of the guys and had actually been to his apartment for a hook-up after meeting him at the gay bar El Taller in the Zona Rosa. Months after I met him, he was found in that same apartment tied to a chair and shot to death.   Really sad. 
 

I don’t know if any of those murders were ever solved. Is history repeating itself?

[+ Italiano]

On 6/29/2026 at 12:18 PM, robberbaron4u said:

When in Mexico, I do not stray beyond San Miguel Allende these days.

.

That's sad. There is SO MUCH to visit in Mexico.

[Peter Eater]

Mexico City has a current homicide rate of about 8 to 9.8 per 100,000 residents, which is comparable to major U.S. cities like Phoenix, Memphis and St. Louis, and lower than Baltimore, Miami and New Orleans. 
Anecdotal horror stories must be taken in context, and are often just click bait.

 

[Peter Eater]

On 6/29/2026 at 9:49 AM, Vegas_Millennial said:

living in the US, one must be careful to avoid scams from merciless foreigners who prey on US victims with online and telephone scams. Beware illegal foreigners, and beware cities with light-on-crime police forces.

“Merciless foreigners”? U.S.-born citizens are roughly five times more likely to be incarcerated for violent offenses compared to immigrants. Undocumented immigrants are arrested for violent and drug crimes at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens. Higher concentrations of immigrants in neighborhoods are often associated with stable or declining rates of violent crime and homicide rather than increases. Merciless Americans.

[marylander1940]

On 6/29/2026 at 11:49 AM, Vegas_Millennial said:

 Beware illegal foreigners, and beware cities with light-on-crime police forces.

 

Illegal foreigners doing jobs Americans won't do? Beware of them? 

 

On 6/29/2026 at 11:49 AM, Vegas_Millennial said:

 

Don't make yourself a target.  Foreign cultures don't have the same values or ethics that we have, as do some cities and neighborhoods in the US.

You don't have to be a target, stay home! Are you blaming victims now.

but "foreign cultures" do share same values and ethics with some American "cities and neighborhoods". 

[Lotus-eater]

Whether illegal immigrants commit crimes at higher or lower rates than citizens is secondary (besides standard criminal penalties, the main factor that deters them from committing crimes is fear of deportation if caught for another crime, not because they are inherently better behaved than citizens). More importantly, if they were not present in the country, they would not be able to commit any crimes at all here. 

Edited Saturday at 02:38 AM by Lotus-eater

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

11 hours ago, Peter Eater said:

“Merciless foreigners”?

Yes, I used the term merciless foreigners to differentiate from the non-merciless foreigners.  Look at all the overseas telephone scams that prey on the elderly to drain their retirement, acting mercilessly.  That's who one must be aware of.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

11 hours ago, marylander1940 said:

You don't have to be a target, stay home! Are you blaming victims now.

This doesn't help with telephone scams from overseas asking to send money.  One must keep one's wits about one to avoid feeling comfortable and safe with sharing information and money with those who are unknown.

[marylander1940]

3 minutes ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

This doesn't help with telephone scams from overseas asking to send money.  One must keep one's wits about one to avoid feeling comfortable and safe with sharing information and money with those who are unknown.

Agreed, but in this day and age, how do you know they're from overseas? Many Americans also do scams for a living.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

3 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

Agreed, but in this day and age, how do you know they're from overseas?

For starters, I put my guard up when I hear a foreign accent on the telephone.

[marylander1940]

33 minutes ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

For starters, I put my guard up when I hear a foreign accent on the telephone.

I simply hang up on spam calls 

Do you answer phone calls? 

How come this thread evolved from the tourist being killed in Mexico to online scams?

[Peter Eater]

11 hours ago, Lotus-eater said:

fear of deportation if caught for another crime

Most illegal immigration is a civil offense, not a criminal offense. Like breach of contract or slander.

Also, who cares what the motivation is for not committing crimes? 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 01:38 PM by Peter Eater

[Peter Eater]

12 hours ago, marylander1940 said:

Foreign cultures don't have the same values or ethics that we have

True. Many foreign cultures have better values and ethics than we have. 

[JayCeeKy]

On 6/29/2026 at 10:14 AM, Pensant said:

Yet it happens in the US too.

A couple were found murdered in their apartment in Vatican City in 1998. Their killer was found nearby, dead by a self-inflicted gun shot. Can happen anytime, anyplace. Sister Mary Clarence taught us in 7th grade that you must be "in the state of Grace" all the time.

[Lotus-eater]

5 hours ago, Peter Eater said:

Most illegal immigration is a civil offense, not a criminal offense. Like breach of contract or slander.

Also, who cares what the motivation is for not committing crimes? 

 

 

I didn't claim that most illegal immigration is a criminal offense. I noted that a criminal offense triggers the possibility of deportation that provides an additional deterrent to committing crime, which encourages Mexicans residing illegally in the U.S. to behave better than those residing in Mexico (who are not under that threat). So the relative risk of being a victim of a crime committed by a Mexican will be higher while visiting Mexico.

Edited Saturday at 06:42 PM by Lotus-eater