By WBTV Web Staff
NORTH CAROLINA (WBTV) - A teacher from North Carolina who went missing while hiking in Mexico was killed by a “criminal organization.”
Patrick Braxton-Andrew, a 34-year-old Spanish teacher, was last seen on October 28 by personnel at a hotel he was staying at in Urique, a former mining village at the base of one of the many canyons that make up the Copper Canyon National Park.
[ Teacher, a Davidson grad, went on a walk in Mexico. He hasn’t been heard from since ]
According to a Facebook group that has been following Braxton-Andrew's disappearance, the Davidson College graduate was killed on Oct. 28 "at the hands of a criminal organization that operates in the area where he was traveling."
The Facebook group says they got the new information from Chihuahua State authorities. Braxton-Andrew's body has not been found.
"Patrick died doing what he loved—traveling and meeting people," the post announcing the news read. "Join us in celebrating his life as he would want us to do. We will always remember Patrick and his joy for life. We love you PBA."
Two weeks before the terrible news, more than a hundred police officers fanned out in the northern Mexico state to search for Braxton-Andrew.
The Chihuahua state prosecutors' office shared pictures of police and volunteers searching for him along rocky paths and steep gorges.
[ Mexicans search Copper Canyon for missing North Carolina man ]
The picturesque network of canyons is also plagued by violent conflicts over illegal logging, which locals accuse of being fronts for money laundering by Mexican drug cartels.
There is no word on how Braxton-Andrew may have been killed or what evidence led authorities to believe he was killed by a criminal organization.
Copyright 2018 WBTV. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
