Local deputies join investigation into singer’s death

Local lawmen have joined the search for the man that gunned down Zayda Peña as the singer recovered in a Matamoros hospital room.

The Cameron County Sheriff’s Department is working with Mexican authorities to help identify a suspect in Peña’s killing and possibly two other deaths related to this case.

Peña was the vocalist for Zayda y Los Culpables a moderately popular band that produced mostly romantic ballads.

She was fatally shot while recovering from a gunshot wound she received Friday at a hotel in Matamoros. Two others that were with Peña Friday were killed in the attack, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Sheriff’s deputy Alvaro Guerra, the liaison between county lawmen and the Tamaulipas State Police, confirmed late Monday that Mexican investigators contacted him regarding the 28-year-old singer’s slaying.

Police are searching for a man they believe knew his victims but have not named their suspect, Guerra said. They believe he recently bought a vehicle in Brownsville.

“That’s all the information we have so far,” Guerra said. “They are supposed to get back to me with more information, I haven’t heard from them again.”

A Mexican Web site, tamaulipasenlinea.com, is reporting that Peña was shot in the face early Saturday while recovering at El Hospital Alfredo Pumarejo. The Associated Press reported she was shot in the chest.

Sources in Mexico report that the victim was involved in a love triangle with another woman, Ana Bertha Gonzalez. Gonzalez was one of the two victims killed Friday, presumably by the same man that killed Peña.

Leonardo Sanchez, an employee at the hotel where the two women were gunned down, was also killed Friday night, the Web site reported.

The Associated Press lists Peña’s death as the next in a string of recent killings to strike the Mexican music community.

On Nov. 25, 2006, Valentin Elizalde was shot to death along with his manager and driver shortly after performing across the border from McAllen.

Police are investigating a possible link between Elizalde's killing and a grisly video posted online that was set to one of his songs, “To My Enemies.”

Last December, Javier Morales Gomez of the band Los Implacables del Norte was shot to death in a park in Michoacan, a state plagued by drug-related gun battles, killings and beheadings. Police have not spoken of a motive in that case.

In February, gunmen shot to death four members of the Banda Fugaz after they also performed in Michoacan.

And Monday night, the tortured body of the lead singer of a popular Mexican band was found along a highway and another singer was shot to death, police said.

Sergio Gomez, a singer with K-Paz de la Sierra, was tortured and killed after he was reported missing Sunday. Police have not identified a motive or suspect in that killing.

Associated Press reporter Mark Stevenson contributed to this report.