U.S. citizen may be tied to Mexico deaths

TIJUANA, Mexico, May 21 (UPI) -- A Mexican law enforcement official says a U.S. citizen rented a home in Tijuana, Mexico, where four people may have been killed.

The unidentified official said Ernesto Murguia Ochoa, who is currently set go on trial in Arizona on drug trafficking charges, was renting a Tijuana home near the site where four bodies were found this month, the San Diego Union-Tribune said Thursday.

Brianna Hernandez Aguilera, 19; Carmen Jimena Ramos Chavez, 20; Luis Antonio Gamez, 21; and Oscar Jorge Garcia Cota, 23, were all found dead inside a van in Tijuana on May 9. The residents of San Diego County, Calif., had been strangled and stabbed.

The official said Ochoa is currently missing, leading authorities to question if he may have either been the perpetrator or an additional victim in the homicide case.

Authorities said the four victims routinely crossed into Mexico and Cota had previously been suspected of alien smuggling.

The Union-Tribune said investigators are attempting to determine if Ochoa may have been involved in illicit activities with any of the victims.