Sheriff: Stolen drug money at center of possible kidnapping case

MERCEDES - Diana Treviño and Pedro Castillo Rivera have reported themselves or each other missing at least three times in the last two weeks.

With each call to family members or authorities, their stories change slightly but follow a similar pattern: One goes missing, a ransom is demanded, and then suddenly the purported victim turns up again either in person or over the phone, claiming to be unharmed.

Both have said they work for a suspected Weslaco drug smuggler who may or may not be out for revenge over a missing load of cash, and relatives of both have claimed to have found large sums of money hidden in their houses.

Neither has been seen since May 27.

Now, Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies find themselves in the position of trying to solve a kidnapping case that may not be a kidnapping at all. They are investigating a duo that may be running another game entirely, said Sheriff Lupe Treviño, who is not related to the possibly abducted woman.

"Everything points to the fact that they were kidnapped by cartel people that want their money back," he said. "But there is a possibility that they stole the money and are trying to get it back for themselves."

Deputies first encountered the pair May 24, when Diana Treviño, 30, called to report her friend - Castillo, 26 - missing. His home had been ransacked and no sign of him remained.

She told investigators that they had recently returned from Florida with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash owed to a purported Weslaco drug smuggler named Ramiro "El Gordo" Garza, according to incident reports filed in the case.

But within two days of her report, deputies heard from Castillo himself. His captors had unexpectedly released him in the Progreso area, he said. When investigators questioned him about Diana Treviño's story about "El Gordo," though, he suddenly stopped talking and requested they leave the matter alone.

A day later, both Castillo's and Diana Treviño's cars turned up abandoned in a field near the intersection of Farm-to-Market Road 88 and Mile 13 1/2 Road North, north of Weslaco. Family members said the pair had left their homes voluntarily the night before but had not been seen since.

Diana Treviño, however, called within hours to report that she and Castillo were OK.

Her family received yet another call on May 28, in which she asked them to find a load of cash Castillo had hidden in her house and deliver it as ransom to some men in Brownsville, according to the incident report.

Castillo's brother also contacted deputies saying he had found an additional $106,000 in his house and wanted to hand it over to authorities.

Since then, both families have received several phone calls with conflicting stories, the sheriff said. Diana Treviño claims she is fine, while Castillo has told his relatives he will be killed unless they pay the $106,000 his brother handed over to the sheriff's office.

"We don't know what to think," Sheriff Treviño said.

No criminal charges had been filed in the case as of Wednesday, but deputies continued to investigate the matter as a welfare concern.