CIUDAD JUÃREZ Two men whose bodies were stuffed in oil drums filled with concrete were identified as a former Interpol commander and his lawyer, authorities said Thursday. The bodies of former Interpol commander Jesús Portillo Madrid and his lawyer, Gerardo Jaramillo Romo, were found Wednesday in the Villas del Sol neighborhood. An autopsy showed the men were tortured and suffocated with a plastic bag, said Claudia Bañuelos on Thursday, a spokeswoman for Chihuahua state prosecutors.Portillo Madrid, his wife, his lawyer and another woman were kidnapped Tuesday afternoon in the Villas del Sol neighborhood, where Portillo Madrid owned a home, by at least five men carrying automatic weapons, Chihuahua state attorney general Patricia González. Portillo Madrid's wife, Nancy Márquez, was released unharmed late Tuesday but the whereabouts of the other woman remain unknown, Bañuelos said.
Portillo became a real estate agent after working for the federal Attorney General's Office and serving as a commander for the Interpol in Ciudad Juárez. He survived an attack against his life in 1997.
Located across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas, this city of 1.3 million people is the home base for the Juárez drug cartel and has witnessed frequent violence related to the drug trade. It has also been plagued by the slayings of more than 100 women in similar sexually motivated killings.