Regio Clown and B-King murder: Four Colombians claim they were tortured to take the blame

In late September, the Mexican State Attorney General’s Office repeatedly arrested and tortured four Colombians whom it intended to link to the disappearance and murder of two Colombian musicians, B-King and Regio Clown, which occurred weeks earlier, according to complaints from family members and court documents obtained by this newspaper. The family of one of the arrested individuals, Yuli Felicidad, claims that the Attorney General’s Office mistakenly assumes that one of the cars in which the musicians were allegedly transported on the day of their disappearance belonged to her. The other three detainees, their families claim, are being held because they are co-workers of Felicidad’s husband and followed the Attorney General’s van when the woman was taken into custody.

The State of Mexico agency has not publicly announced the arrests of these four individuals, although sources close to the investigation confirm that they were indeed detained and interrogated in connection with the murdered musicians. However, they were eventually brought before a judge for the alleged crime of extortion, which had nothing to do with the crime for which they were arrested. The State of Mexico Prosecutor’s Office maintains it has multiple pieces of evidence that will allow them to be brought to trial, although it declined to comment on the allegations of abuse and torture.

This accusation against the State of Mexico Public Prosecutor’s Office adds a new twist to the case. B-King and Regio Clown were last seen in the wealthy Polanco area of Mexico City on September 16, after having performed in the south of the capital two days earlier. According to the Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office, the two voluntarily boarded an app-based vehicle after leaving a Smart Fit gym in Polanco and headed toward the area of Iztapalapa, before being taken by another vehicle to the State of Mexico.

Six days later, on September 22, Mexican authorities confirmed that their identities matched those of two dismembered bodies found on September 17 in the municipality of Cocotitlán, near the border between the State of Mexico and Mexico City. Since then, the investigation surrounding the incident has left a trail of speculation about what happened to the musicians and whether organized crime is involved. The Mexico City Attorney General’s Office is aware that the car transporting the musicians crossed the state border and entered the neighboring State of Mexico. “That’s where the murders took place,” Bertha Alcalde, the Mexico City Attorney General, stated this week.

For the four Colombians who are reporting abuse and torture by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Mexico, it all began on September 24, two days after the musicians’ bodies were found. A relative of Yuli Felicidad says she was returning from Texcoco to her home in Tepetlaoxtoc, in the State of Mexico. She was driving her vehicle. Two blocks from her home, two police officers from the State of Mexico Prosecutor’s Office, parked next to a ruined house, signaled for her to stop. They asked her if she knew who lived there. She replied no, that the house had always been abandoned. They asked her to identify herself and searched her car. More than an hour passed, and they wouldn’t let her leave. They wouldn’t let her use her cell phone when she received a call and they forced her out of her car. It was her husband calling her. Felicidad managed to answer. She yelled that they were detaining her in the old abandoned house near her home.

After the woman alerted him, her husband and daughter called friends and co-workers, believing she had been kidnapped. They were Yonier Mantilla, Leandro Quintero, and Juan Fernando Córdoba, all Colombians, as well as two other Mexican colleagues, who are also detained. They all worked for a company supposedly dedicated to loans, although sources consulted by this newspaper claim that they practiced drop-by-drop lending, accompanied by intimidation or physical aggression in case of non-payment. They were able to locate their colleague using portable trackers installed in company vehicles.

Quintero arrived at the location and found officers from the Prosecutor’s Office standing next to Felicidad’s car. They told him that no one had been in the SUV when they found it. Quintero called his friend to tell him his wife wasn’t there. When he asked the officers where she was, they took his wallet and told him he had to come with them to take his statement. They handcuffed him and put him in the SUV. They didn’t explain the motive, and he was taken to the Texcoco Prosecutor’s Office. There, according to the documents and sources consulted, officers from the State of Mexico suffocated him with a bag and hit him in the face while asking him what he had to do with the musicians’ murder. He told them he knew nothing. The third time they tried to choke him, he fainted. They revived him with alcohol and beat him again.

This wasn’t the only case of abuse. Mantilla, Córdoba, and the two Mexicans went directly to the ministerial office in the State of Mexico after Felicidad’s family alerted them. They were arrested there. The Colombians had their cell phones, wallets, and permanent residence cards confiscated. No record was made of their arrest. One by one, like Quintero, they were taken to the same room and tortured. Amid beatings and attempts to suffocate Felicidad and Mantilla, they were shown a photo of a gunmetal-colored Mercedes Benz and tried to force them to identify it. None had ever seen it before.

The Mercedes is the same car that transported B-King and Regio Clown on September 16 and was located on September 24 during a search of the abandoned house where Felicidad and Quintero were arrested, according to her family, and according to the National Arrest Registry. The car was taken to a ministerial agency, where a search was conducted for fingerprints and evidence. However, no official information has been released confirming whether the musicians were ever at the site where the car was found.

In a five-day period, from September 24 to 29, the National Arrest Registry shows that Quintero, Mantilla, and Córdoba were detained at least twice, while Felicidad’s arrest record only shows one, on September 29, despite the fact that she was arrested five days earlier. During that time, they were shuttled back and forth between the Specialized Unit for Combating Kidnapping (UECS) and the Special Affairs Prosecutor’s Office. The families of these Colombians have reported that during that time, up to four investigation files were created against them, three of them accusing them of homicide, one of drug dealing, and one of bribery of a public official.

Relatives have reported that on September 28, their loved ones signed them out over the bribery charges. As they were preparing to leave, an arrest warrant was issued for alleged extortion. The warrant indicates the four were arrested on September 29 at 9:10 p.m., on Miguel Hidalgo Avenue. “A few meters from the Esperanza bakery,” the document specifies, in the San Sebastián neighborhood of Toluca. This is the exact address of the State of Mexico Prosecutor’s Office for Special Affairs. They have also reported that their loved ones were arrested without due process and imprisoned in the Texcoco Penitentiary and Social Reintegration Center (Cereso).

No progress in the investigation

The families of the four detained Colombians believe the goal was to use their loved ones as scapegoats for the disappearance and death of the singer and DJ. Prosecutors have not released any new information on the progress of the double homicide of the musicians. One hypothesis, although not officially confirmed, points to a possible conflict over drug sales, apparently tusi, better known as pink cocaine, an elite drug. According to security experts, this drug is sold in Mexico City by the criminal organizations Unión Tepito and La Chokisa.

There’s no official confirmation pointing to a specific criminal organization. However, at the scene where the bodies were found, a narco-banner was also found with a threatening message and the initials “FM,” allegedly attributed to La Familia Michoacana. The singer’s entourage agrees that it was likely retaliation against the DJ for not paying the fee for drug dealing, with the unfortunate fact that B-King found himself “in the wrong place.”

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