'Cartel member' is arrested for Mormon massacre of three American mothers and their six children a year after the bloody ambush
Mexican authorities have captured a man wanted for his purported connection to the massacre of three Mormon mothers and their six children last year.
The Attorney General's Office announced that José Lara was arrested by security forces in Ciudad Juárez on Wednesday, on the one-year anniversary of the bloody incident.
Lara is accused of being 'a member of a criminal organization with a presence in the north of the country, and is a likely participant in the events' that sent shock waves through the tight-knit Mormon community.
Members of La LÃnea, an armed gang linked to the Juárez Cartel ambushed a fleet of three SUV on a remote mountainous road in Bavispe, Sonora, the morning of November 4, 2019.
José Lara was arrested by security forces in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on Wednesday, on the one-year anniversary of the November 4, 2019, massacre of nine Mormon mothers and children with U.S.-Mexican dual citizenship
Pictured: The three mothers and six young children who were savagely murdered by Mexican drug cartel gunmen on November 4, 2019
Attackers murdered Christina Marie Langford Johnson after she stepped out of her vehicle to confront the shooters, while her seven-month-old daughter Faith Langford survived.
Dawna Ray Langford was driving her SUV with her nine children and was shot and killed after she was intercepted near Langford Johnson's vehicle.
Langford's two sons, Trevor, 11, and Rogan, 3, were assassinated, while the other seven children escaped, including five who were wounded.
Approximately 10 miles down the road, an SUV driven by Rhonita Miller was shot up, killing the 30-year-old mother and her four children - eight-month-old twins Tiana Miller and Titus Miller, Howard Jr. Miller, 12, and Krystal Miller, 10.
The vehicle was then torched with the family inside.
Members of the LeBarón family search through the burned car where five of the nine Mormon mothers and children were killed and burned during an ambush launched by a cartel gang in Bavispe, Sonora, on November 4, 2019
Rhonita Miller (back, left) is one of the three mothers and six children who were ambushed and murdered November 4, 2019, in Bavispe, Mexico, by members of La LÃnea, the enforcement unit of the Juárez Cartel. Pictured with Miller are eight-month old twins Titus (held by Rhonita) and Tiana Miller (held by her husband Howard); Howard Jr. and Krystal (standing in front of Rhonita), all whom died in the attack. Pictured in the front from left to right are Zack, Amaryllis Miller, and Miller, who were not present the day of the attack
Lara, who is charged with homicide, attempted homicide and for his involvement with organized crime for the purpose of committing crimes against health, is the 13th person arrested by Mexican authorities since the attack.
Jesús Parra was arrested in June and is the only one of 13 suspects who have been arrested who has been indicted
Jesús Parra was apprehended in June and in indicted on a homicide charge in September. The other 11 suspects have been charged with belonging to a criminal organization. Mexican authorities have also issued arrest warrants for 10 individuals, who are wanted on homicide charges.
Adrián LeBarón, whose daughter Rhonita Miller and four grandchildren were among the victims, told DailyMail.com that he woke up Friday with mixed emotions racing through his mind since none of the suspects have been convicted.
While he is thankful for the work investigators have put forth, he did not want to place all of his hopes on Mexico's court system.
'I have to have gratitude and be grateful because it is the case that has received the most justice in all of Mexico. So i should be thankful and I am not,' LeBarón said in a phone interview.
'I do not have much to be thankful for, even if it is the case that has made the most progress in the administration of justice. So what does that mean to me? Well, we are well screwed, but at the same time they say that I should be grateful.'
Adrián LeBaron with his granddaughter Krystal Miller, who died in the attack on November 4, 2019, and her sister Amaryllis Millers (resting over his shoulders) who was not present at the scene of the tragic incident