Jose Gutiérrez works for a Cincinnati-based firm as an architect.
An Ohio man and his fiancée are missing in Mexico, according to his family, who fear the couple may have been abducted.
Jose Gutiérrez departed from the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on Dec. 22 for Mexico, Fox 19 reported.
Gutiérrez, 36, and his fiancée Daniela Márquez Pichardo, 31, were last seen dining at a restaurant on Christmas in the city of Zacatecas, Pichardo's sister Viviana Márquez, 26, and her cousin Irma Vargas, 27, told the Daily Mail.
Pichardo's sister, Viviana Pichardo, and cousin, Irma Montoya, were also with them, WLWT-TV reported.
Managers of the restaurant, Solana Resto Bar, looked at footage from their security cameras, and they could tell the group spent about two hours before leaving at 6:08 p.m., WLWT reported.
Several hours later, Pichardo's mother, Rosa Pichardo, reportedly received a strange text from her daughter. It only included her location.
"The mother did state, and her specific words were, 'I know something was not right. She sent this because they felt that they were in danger,'" Gutiérrez's sister, Brandie Gutiérrez, told WLTV.
The group's SUV was reportedly found abandoned in Vivoras, about 20 miles away.
Pichardo's family attempted to search for them, but they were stopped by police who warned them it was not safe, Gutiérrez's sister said.
"They were not allowed to enter that zone because it was too dangerous," Brandie Gutiérrez told WLTV.
She also told WXIX-TV that the bars in the area that her brother and future sister-in-law had gone out in heard what sounded like people screaming.
"There is something that is not right," she said.
Gutiérrez’s family believes that he and Pichardo were abducted.
Gutiérrez, who was born in Mexico and has U.S. and Mexican citizenship, works for a Cincinnati-based firm as an architect. He flies to Mexico to see Pichardo about three times a year, his family said. The couple have been in a long-distance relationship but plan to marry in 2023, Gutiérrez’s family told Fox 19.
"There were those who saw they were kidnapping them, there was a lot of panic, screams, but they didn't get them out and they took the vehicle," Pichardo told TV Azteca. "They took the girls, my daughter's fiancé... They took off, they went to Vivoras."
The U.S. Department of State has a “do not travel” advisory for the Mexican state of Zacatecas due to the threats of crime and kidnapping. “Violent crime, extortion, and gang activity are widespread in Zacatecas state,” the State Department's site reads.
