A Mexican national will spend 21 years in a U.S. prison for taking a female migrant hostage, demanding ransom from her family, and then dumping her nude remains on the side of a road.
This week, 43-year-old Nelson Bahena Garcia went before U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey who sentenced him to 21 years in prison for having taken hostage a woman from Honduras he was supposed to smuggle into Texas. Bahena Garcia pleaded guilty to one count of hostage-taking on November 21, 2021.
Bahena Garcia is a Mexican national who had been living illegally in Mission, Texas, where he operated stash houses. Bahena Garcia would prepare trips where migrants would trek through rough terrain to avoid a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint approximately 80 miles north of the Texas border.
The case began in May 2018, when the victim’s fiancé contacted U.S. law enforcement asking for help in finding her. The man told authorities that he made arrangements with smugglers to get the female victim from Mexico to Houston, Texas.
The victim’s fiancé had been smuggled by Bahena Garcia in the past and had settled in Florida. Several relatives also used his services in the past.
The smugglers held the female victim hostage, forcing her loved ones to wire money. When they were to smuggle her north of the Texas border, they left her behind to die.
Documents from the plea agreement revealed the woman suffered from intense vaginal bleeding and had to be carried, but was instead left by a road. The U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed that the victim pleaded “please, don’t leave me” when Bahena Garcia’s smuggler left her.
Authorities found her nude body showing signs of trauma. While court documents and transcript mention that the case possibly involved “serious sexual assault,” the available information does not identify the predators.
Luisana Moreno is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
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