Rogelio Contreras Death: Los Kumbiamberos RS Member Kidnapped Off Monterrey Stage, Found Dead 40 Minutes Later
Rogelio Contreras Rivera, a 20-year-old musician belonging to the group "Los Kumbiamberos RS," was killed in the night from Saturday to Sunday after several men kidnapped him from the stage of a Monterrey bar where the band was performing, Mexican officials told the Associated Press.
The musician's body was found about 40 minutes after he was snatched from La Eternidad, which has a history of violence, the news service noted based on reports from an unnamed source at the Nuevo León state attorney general's office; Monterrey, the capital of the northeastern Mexican state, is located about 136 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The men who had entered the stage forced Contreras into a taxi and drove off, TV Notas detailed. Several hundred customers at the establishment witnessed the kidnapping. Contreras' bandmates informed state authorities, which later discovered the body of the timbales player -- who had gone by the nickname "El Chiken" -- with signs of torture and a bullet hole in the head, the AP noted.
The kidnapping occurred around 2:40 a.m. local time, Ramón Sánchez, the band's manager, told the local newspaper Milenio.
"The guys had been playing for a while, (and) there were some 400 people (in the audience)," Sánchez said. "And suddenly, about four individuals climbed up the stage and took him away; we don't know why they took him."
La Eternidad has seen a share of violent acts, the most notorious of which occurred on Jan. 26, 2012 when it was the scene of a kidnapping of eight men and three women, CNN México recalled. All of the kidnapped were eventually found dead.
The bodies of the men were discovered in the heart of Monterrey, near the intersection of Martín de Zavala and Aramberri streets; the remains of one woman, meanwhile, turned up at the Paseo Santa Lucía, and those of the two others in the northern part of the city, the news channel detailed.
The 2012 incident was attributed to organized crime, and authorities subsequently shut down La Eternidad; nevertheless, the bar was reopened about eight months ago, according to CNN México.
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