Mexican police arrest suspected mastermind of massacre of a family, including Americans

MEXICO CITY — Mexican federal police have detained the man believed to be behind the killings of nine members of a family a year ago, the office of Mexico’s Attorney General said in a statement on Wednesday.

A man, named only as Roberto N, was arrested with two more people on Monday near the village of Juan Mata Ortiz in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, less than 10 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to local media, the man is the regional head of “La Linea,” the armed branch of the Juarez cartel.

“With this arrest, since the events we have detained 17 suspected members of the criminal group in relation to the investigation of the case,” the Attorney General’s office said.

Suspected gang members killed six children and three women belonging to the LeBaron family in the attack on Nov. 4, 2019. The victims were both Mexican and U.S. nationals.

Authorities attributed the massacre to a dispute between La Linea and the Los Salazar cartel. However, the reason why the women and children were shot were not clear.

Sonora state, which borders Chihuahua, is home to hundreds of members of an offshoot group of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that settled in Mexico in the 1920s.

Some members of the group practice polygamy, which is frowned upon by the mainstream church.