Kidnap-Slaying Victims’ Kin Go to Tijuana

The families of two Los Angeles County men kidnapped for $1 million in ransom and then killed in Tijuana traveled there Friday to identify the bodies and arrange funeral services.

Seven men, including three Tijuana police officers, have been arrested on suspicion of the killings. An eighth suspect, believed to be in Southern California, remains at large.

“There is still one person we need to find and arrest,” said Luis Guadalupe Ruiz Ramirez, the agent in Mexico in charge of the investigation. He would not identify the suspect.

Juan Jose Solorzano of Los Angeles and Jose Ramon Santillan of La Puente were kidnapped on July 15 after leaving a Tijuana restaurant. The kidnappers demanded $1 million from the victim’s families but only received $150,000, Ramirez said.

Apparently angered by that, the kidnappers shot both men in the head and buried them in an auto shop in Tijuana.

Mexican police found the bodies and arrested the seven men on Wednesday.

Authorities said the victims, previously thought to be from Santa Ana, owned a construction firm in Los Angeles, but also were involved in raising roosters for cockfighting, which is illegal in the United States.

Solorzano and Santillan will both be buried in their home state of Jalisco, Mexico, authorities said.