The Surreal World

I'm still in shock. Trying to process the news I received last night and today. How does one process hearing a friend has been kidnapped by gunmen, hasn't been heard from since, and has most likely been murdered?

Last night I was at a bar showing photos from a wedding I'd recently photographed. An acquaintance came up to me and said he was at another bar earlier and one of the waiters there mentioned that J0nathan is missing. That maybe he owed someone money and he hasn't been heard from in about a week. Later when I got home I called @lejandro. We went through the usual "Hi, how are you? I'm fine." and then he asked me, "Y J0nathan?" I asked what happened and if he'd heard from him. He told me in Spanish, "I think they killed him". Both questioning whether I'd understood him correctly and not really wanting to think I did, I asked him to repeat himself. He went on to say that he had heard J. owed money and 2 guys with guns kidnapped him into a car and no one has heard from him since. He told me I should try to talk to J.'s girlfriend or another mutual friend because they had more details.

I was in such shock that I just laid in bed for over an hour and a half staring at things on my nightstand and trying to come to terms with the news. I called his girlfriend, but she didn't answer the phone. I finally fell asleep but had a fitful sleep and woke up earlier than usual today and couldn't get back to sleep. I managed to contact the mutual friend who confirmed that J. had been eating at a taco stand in the neighborhood when 4 guys came up with at least one gun and forced him into a car. This friend wasn't very sympathetic and said that J. knew what he was involved in, but he wanted the fast lifestyle of getting into all the clubs and all the women and everything and then he owed someone $20000 pesos (about $1800) and it was just a matter of time before he had to pay the price. I actually started feeling angry and made the point that J. is who he is and if anyone is stupid enough to lend him that much money then really it's their own stupidity and they should kill themselves. It's incredible to me. Sure it's not a small amount of money, but enough to kill someone over? I don't think so!

I then sent a text to J.'s girlfriend thinking that before she didn't answer because she didn't recognize my number. I asked if I could call her and she texted back ok. When I called I could hear that she was obviously totally strung out on pills (which she later confirmed). She said she was a wreck and couldn't sleep or do anything. She said that usually when someone is kidnapped, they hold the person 2-3 days and torture them, call to ask for a ransom and if paid, let them go. But the fact that no one has heard a thing and it's been almost a week is a really bad sign and it's highly likely that they killed him. She said she felt bad too because she can't get too involved with things or do too much because she's afraid for her own safety. We both agreed to call each other if we heard anything and stay in touch.

So that's it. I too feel like I can't get too involved because the police and the FBI equivalent aren't trustworthy and I also don't want to be connected to J. But it really makes me realize how fucked up this country is. It's not to say no corruption exists in the US, but I'd go to the police there and feel they were at least sort of trying to do something in this type of situation. Here it feels like life is so cheap and what can you do?

And I feel sad because J. was no angel but I always felt out of all of the guys, he had potential to make it out.

At least for awhile, I'm going to hope that somehow he got away or was let go and that he's hiding out somewhere. Maybe he'll show up in Mexxico City and be with @lejandro. I really want this to be the truth. Iwant a happy ending to this part of the story.