Latest / FBI Files / Two Customs Inspectors, One Family, One Border Crossing: The 1984 Kidnapping of Richard Latham

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Two Customs Inspectors, One Family, One Border Crossing: The 1984 Kidnapping of Richard Latham · FBI Files

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: In Texas, an unsuspecting federal agent is abducted at gunpoint.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The men responsible escape unseen into the vast South Texas terrain.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Valuable minutes pass before the lawman's disappearance is discovered. With
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the life of one of their own in jeopardy, his
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: colleagues are determined. They will find the suspects, bring them in,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and make them pay.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: When the victim of a violent crime is a member
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: of law enforcement, the job of investigating becomes personal. At
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: a United States border crossing, armed fugitives kidnapped a customs inspector,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: then vanished. I'm Jim Kallstrom, former head of the FBI's
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: New York office. Desperate to find their colleague, local state
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: and federal authorities waged a full-scale manhunt in Texas and
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: in Mexico. Racing against the clock, they hope they resolve
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: would make the difference.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Authorities at the US port of entry at Del Rio, Texas,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: see hundreds of legal crossings between the United States and
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Mexico every day. But they also see an average of
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: $ 250 million in confiscated drugs all manner of criminal activities,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: and thousands of illegal immigrants every year. The men and
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: women of U.S. customs know the threat of danger is
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: always present. Hiding behind the throng of harmless civilians are
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: criminals who view them as the enemy. On the afternoon
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: of January 27th, 1984, A vehicle with Texas plates pulled
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: up to the port's primary checkpoint. Customs Inspector Jose Torres
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: asked the occupants for identification.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: What age are you?
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: I'm 15.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: The three passengers provided green cards showing they were legal
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: resident aliens allowed to work in the U.S. The driver
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: explained he was an American citizen, but produced only a
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: baptismal certificate as proof. Inspector Torres could not accept it.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Logging in the car's license plate, He ordered the driver
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: to a secondary checkpoint for further verification. The vehicle was
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: met by customs inspector Richard Latham.
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: Hello, man.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Baptismal certificate?
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: Can you step out, please?
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: A 10-year veteran at the border, It was his job
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: to handle questionable persons or vehicles. Latham brought the driver
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: inside to speak with an officer of the Immigration and
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Naturalization Service. The INS officer chastised the driver over his
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: insufficient papers. Since the man claimed he was a US citizen,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: born and raised in El Paso, the officer interrogated him
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: on details only a resident could know. In minutes, the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: man's detailed answers persuaded the official that his lack of
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: paperwork was his only indiscretion. The driver was cleared, but
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Latham still had to inspect the vehicle.
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: Stand over there.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: You can look inside your car.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Following routine procedure, he checked for illegal drugs or undeclared contraband.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Since there was nothing suspicious about the men or their behavior,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Inspector Latham was alone during the search. To everyone working
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: at the port that day, it seemed like every other day. Then,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: At about 4.45 in the afternoon, a detective with the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Del Rio, Texas police arrived. He informed border officials that
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: a jewelry store had been robbed 15 minutes earlier in
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: the Mexican border town of Ciudad Acuna, two miles away.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: His information was unfortunately sketchy, but he said Mexican police
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: were searching for four Hispanic males, at least one of
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: whom could speak English. Police and border officials went immediately
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: to alert each of the inspectors on duty. Since the
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: robbers might try to enter the United States, inspections at
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the primary checkpoints were doubled. Good afternoon. Where are you headed?
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Customs officials wanted to be certain that no one connected
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: to the robbery would enter the country. Got anything to declare?
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: But at around 5 o'clock, Inspector Torres received disturbing news.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Customs Inspector Richard Latham was missing. Del Rio Detective John
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Martin was at the port that day.
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: For him to just suddenly disappear, we knew something was wrong.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Although the time of the disappearance marked a shift change...
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Latham had not followed the required protocol for leaving his post.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: He had not left in his own vehicle. He had
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: not checked out and told anyone else that he was leaving.
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: And the standard procedure for those inspectors, even if they
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: were rotating off for a coffee break or to go
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: to the restroom, would have been to have notified other
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: inspectors at the port.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: None of this had occurred. Their only conclusion was Inspector
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Latham had been kidnapped.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: Our first investigative response was to determine when Inspector Latham
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: had last been seen and what he had been doing.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Customs Inspector Torres reported seeing Latham searching an older model
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: vehicle at the secondary checkpoint. He described the car as
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: a gray, late 1970s Pontiac Grand Prix with three or
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: four Hispanic males standing alongside. who matched the jewelry thieves
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: wanted by Mexican police. The inspector described the driver as
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: a male in his 20s, wearing an El Paso baseball cap.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Torres realized that as he turned to check the next vehicle,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Inspector Latham must have discovered something. And the kidnappers struck,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: then escaped the port unseen.
• 8:06
  Speaker 6: U.S.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Customs Service Special Agent Dennis Harlan helped lead the search
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: for Latham.
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: It was a race against time. It's been my experience
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: that if an officer is taken at gunpoint, he is
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: eventually killed.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Everyone knew the window of opportunity to rescue the kidnapped
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: officer was short. They sprang into action. a customs officer
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: retrieved the computer list of all license plates that passed
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: through the Del Rio port into the U.S. between 4.15
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: and 5 p.m., about the time Latham disappeared. The list
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: was less than 100 vehicles, but it did not contain
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: the owners' names and addresses. For that information, they had
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: to access the Department of Motor Vehicles database. Hindered by
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: 1980s computer technology, it would take valuable time to accomplish.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Del Rio police began creating a composite likeness using an identikit.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Based on Inspector Torres and other witnesses' recollections, pre-drawn facial
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: features merged piece by piece into an image of the driver.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: When the composite image was complete, Investigators sent it to
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: every local state and federal police agency in the area.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Police units fanned out in search of a gray Grand Prix.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Investigators now had a possible likeness of the driver, but
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: nothing specific on the passengers. Custom service helicopters supported the
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: ground units in the search. but with few leads, they
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: knew finding the men in the Texas-backed country would be difficult.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: One and a half hours later... had lapsed since Latham disappeared.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: A car traveling at an inconspicuous 55 miles per hour
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: could be anywhere within 20,000 square miles. The search area
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: was enormous. And with each minute, it got even larger.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: In record time, the DMV database returned the list of
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: license plate numbers with the owners' names and addresses. There
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: were eight Pontiac Grand Prixs on the list. Police officers
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: went to the six addresses in Del Rio to investigate
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the vehicles. But two were registered to owners in El Paso,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: where the driver of the suspect vehicle said he lived,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: and that was 10 hours away. A customs agent contacted
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the nearest FBI field office to seek their help and
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: informed Special Agent Don Weatherman about the kidnapping.
• 10:56
  Speaker 7: It was very discouraging to realize that we had a
• 10:59
  Speaker 7: missing customs inspector. No trace of where he might be,
• 11:05
  Speaker 7: what happened to him, and so very little information other
• 11:11
  Speaker 7: than the fact that he was last seen doing his job.
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: and no one knew or seen anything of him since
• 11:19
  Speaker 7: that time.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: The customs agent asked Weatherman to direct the field agent
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: in El Paso to track down the two registered Grand Prix's.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: FBI Special Agent Charles Riley was assigned to interview the
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: owners of the cars. But at both residences, the vehicles
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: were missing and no one was home. Agent Riley theorized
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: that the registration information he received may have been outdated.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: He returned to the El Paso FBI office determined to
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: find the cars and their owners.
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: That evening, I had the clerk in the office conduct
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: further license checks on the two vehicle vehicles license plates
• 12:17
  Speaker 6: trying to come up with the actual owners of the
• 12:20
  Speaker 6: vehicles at the current time.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: It would take hours to cross-reference the data. Much of
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: it would be done by hand. State and local police
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: manned roadblocks in every direction from the port.
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: Where you going? You got any ID?
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: All vehicles leaving the area were stopped and searched. When
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the San Antonio FBI agents arrived in Del Rio, they
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: were briefed on the latest developments of the search. Despite
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: the efforts of dozens of cooperating law enforcement agencies, they
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: had come up with nothing. Nearly seven hours had passed
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: since Inspector Richard Latham was abducted. By the end of
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the first night's investigation, there were still no promising leads.
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: You always hope that they'll turn them loose, but history
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: doesn't prove that out. So basically we knew we were
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: looking for a body after probably late that evening.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: The full-scale search was still ongoing the next morning. Fixed-wing aircraft,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: which could travel faster and farther than helicopters, widened the
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: search perimeter to cover the vast Texas brush. Texas state
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: troopers continued their roadblocks in the area surrounding Del Rio.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Although by that time, they knew the suspects were likely gone.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: In El Paso, Special Agent Riley eliminated his suspects, an
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: elderly couple who owned a gray Pontiac Grand Prix. But
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the other owner sold his vehicle to a man by
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: the name of Ricardo Cortez. Cortez had failed to register
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the vehicle in his name. A background check showed Ricardo
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Cortez had a criminal record for drug possession. Riley located
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: his most current address.
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: I went to that address, spoke with Cortez's mother, and
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: determined that he had been out of town for three
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: or four days. She was not sure when he was
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: going to be back. She stated that Cortez still owned
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: the car in question and had the car with him.
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: I went to the El Paso Police Department and obtained
• 15:11
  Speaker 6: a photograph of Cortez and wired a copy to the
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: port of entry in Del Rio, Texas.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Cortez looked similar to the composite of the driver.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: U.S.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Customs Office, El Paso. Finally, agents had their first suspect,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: something specific they could move on in hopes of finding
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Richard Latham and the men who abducted him. But as
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: their hopes rose, 50 miles away, a man collecting firewood
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: near Eagle Pass, Texas, made a grisly discovery. The body
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: of a man wearing a U.S. Customs uniform. In Del Rio, Texas,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: authorities believe jewelry thieves crossing the border in a gray
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Pontiac Grand Prix abducted U.S. Customs Inspector Richard Latham. Investigators
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: identified the driver of the car as Ricardo Cortez, who
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: had been missing since Latham's disappearance. But even as they
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: got that first real lead, they learned the body of
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: a man wearing a U.S. Customs uniform was discovered in
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: a ditch off Highway 277 near Eagle Pass, Texas. Local
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: officers secured the scene, but decided nobody would enter until
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the FBI arrived. While agents at the Del Rio Port
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: of Entry boarded a helicopter for the 60-mile flight to
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Eagle Pass.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Texas state troopers continued to man roadblocks throughout the area.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: The kidnappers were now most likely gone, but no one
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: could be certain. Though frustrated, Trooper Art Corral, who worked
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: the road from Del Rio to El Paso, was not
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: going to give up the search.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: We were out there for hours, checking cars and on
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: the roadblock, and, you know, it seemed like nothing was,
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: we weren't going to get anywhere. that our supervisor advised
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: to go ahead and stay on that road, but break
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: off the roadblock. So, in part, I decided to stop
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: cars that had three or more Latin males in the car.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: About that time, we saw this car go by, and
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: there were three people in the car.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: However unlikely, the men inside might be connected to the abduction.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: The driver got out and approached the troopers.
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: How you doing, sir?
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: How you been?
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Corral explained why he had pulled him over. The driver
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: gave his ID. He was a taxi driver from Eagle Pass,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: hired by the men in his car to take them
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: to Presidio, Texas. He admitted he was glad to be
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: pulled over. His passengers were agitated and made him nervous.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: The trooper decided to run a check on.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: Her.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: He got the green cards of the two passengers, Rafael
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Calderon and Jesus Ramirez. Neither of them fit the description
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: of the suspect driver of the Grand Prix, and there
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: were only two of them. Determined to be thorough, Trooper
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Corral and his partner would run a check on the
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: names just in case. Inside the car, Corral's partner tried
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: to radio dispatch. But there was no signal. He tried again. Still, nothing. Nothing.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: It's common around that area to lose contact. You had
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: a lot of valleys and peaks, and sometimes you would
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: lose contact with the radio station. You'd have to move locations.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: in order to make contact with one of our stations.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: He took down the passengers' information to call in from
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: a different position.
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: I'm going to pay you.
• 20:05
  Speaker 7: Say what, sir?
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: Here's your ID card. Follow me back to the vehicle, okay?
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: They believe they could afford the risk of letting the
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: car go.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: Out here, there's only one road. You may not have
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: another road for 100 miles. So when you let a
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: car go, you know, for whatever reason, and something comes up,
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: you probably have a good chance of finding them again.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: The troopers took the chance and doubled back to catch
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a radio signal. By 2.15, FBI agents arrived in Eagle
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Pass to process the scene where the body was discovered.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Everyone working the case had hoped they would find their
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: fellow lawman alive. But the evidence was clear. It was
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Richard Latham. The inspector had been bound by his own
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: handcuffs and shot twice in the back. The kidnappers were
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: now cop killers.
• 21:13
  Speaker 6: U.S.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Customs Agent Dennis Harlan was distraught over the loss of
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: his friend.
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: We lost one of ours. One of brother officer has
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: been taken and murdered. And those of us that have
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: been in the field, we take that personally. And I
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: was sorry that Richard was dead. But in a criminal
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: investigation of this nature, finding of the body is very,
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: very important. The body becomes evidence. So I felt a
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: sense of relief that we had found the body. A
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: sense of sadness that a friend of mine was gone.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Examiners would determine he had been shot with a. 38
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: caliber handgun, the same as his service weapon, which was missing.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: For Del Rio detective John Martin, the execution-style murder shed
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: a chilling light on the type of criminal they were after.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: Someone that has the temerity to kidnap a law enforcement
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: officer and to subsequently murder that officer, knowing the response
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: that you're going to receive, that is the most dangerous
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: type of individual. That means they don't take anyone's life
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: in any regard whatsoever, and they would kill the average
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: person on the street in a moment.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Back on the highway, the troopers kept trying the radio.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: After several minutes, they made contact. Dispatch officers ran checks
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: on the men in the taxi.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: They came back with a return and said there was
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: a possible hit on one of the passengers, which was
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: Ramirez in the backseat.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: There was an outstanding DUI warrant for a Jesus Ramirez.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: It might not be the same Ramirez, but the troopers
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: needed to verify his identity.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: So we decided to go ahead and try to catch
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: up to the car.
• 23:56
  Speaker 8: Fortunately, the taxi was still on the highway.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: The driver pulled over for a second time. Trooper Corral
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: cleared the driver and approached the vehicle to speak to
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Jesus Ramirez.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: I start yelling for the guy in the back seat.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: Then I talk to him to come on out. At
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: this time I see the passenger kind of slouch in
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: the back seat and he's moving around. I can see
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: his head and shoulders kind of squirming in the back seat.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: So I keep calling him back and all of a sudden.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: On investigating a federal officer's abduction, Texas state troopers pulled
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: a car over to question a man inside. But the
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: traffic stop quickly turned dangerous for Trooper Art Corral and
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: his partner.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: When the shot was fired, my partner reached for the shotgun,
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: and we didn't have time to call anybody. You know,
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: it was just us two. And when there's a shooting,
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: you got to react quickly, you know, because that That
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: could mean life.
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: Or death.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: With his partner covering him, Corral got Rafael Calderon out
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: of the vehicle and into custody. He placed him behind
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the squad car, away from any weapons. Then they went
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: to check on the man in the back seat. Jesus
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Ramirez had shot himself in the head with a.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: 357.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: The troopers recovered that weapon and a. 38 caliber revolver.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Now they needed to know why the traffic stop turned deadly.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: One trooper retrieved Ramirez's identification and a piece of paper
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: from his jacket, while the other removed Rafael Calderon's belongings.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: Guns on you?
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: That's all you got? Including a large knife and a
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: cloth bag. Corral suspected that Ramirez would not have killed
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: himself over a DUI warrant. He knew there had to
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: be another motive. The troopers called in the incident and
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: learned that Latham's body had been discovered. Customs agents and
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the FBI believed the highway shooting was connected to the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Latham case and flew to the scene. When they arrived,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: they reviewed the evidence... along with the. 357 Ramirez used
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: to kill himself, was a. 38 caliber handgun. A service revolver,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: later determined to be Inspector Richard Latham's, the gun that
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: killed him. In the pillowcase taken off Calderon, they discovered
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: tens of thousands of dollars of jewelry that matched the
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: items stolen during the robbery in Mexico. They also found
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: a handwritten bill of sale for a 1975 Pontiac Grand
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Prix taken from the dead man's jacket. The seller's name
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: was Ricardo Cortez, the first suspect identified hours earlier. Now
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: with Rafael Calderon in custody, it was time to get
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: some answers. On the way back to Del Rio... FBI
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Special Agent Moses Alanez interrogated Calderon.
• 28:19
  Speaker 9: I was in back seat, a ranger's vehicle.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: On the way, Mr.
• 28:24
  Speaker 9: Calderon began relating to me what had transpired the previous
• 28:28
  Speaker 9: two days from the point that they left El Paso,
• 28:34
  Speaker 9: himself and three other friends into Mexico.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Calderon claimed that Jesus Ramirez planned the robbery. He said
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Ramirez picked the jewelry store in Mexico, believing it was
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: easier to get away with armed robbery there than in
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: the U.S. While Calderon, Ramirez, and a third man he
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: knew only as Carlos robbed the place, their driver, Ricardo
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Cortez waited in the getaway car. They took as much
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: as they could grab in a few minutes. Then left. Calderon.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: said they headed for the border, crossing a Del Rio.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Everything seemed fine when Cortez passed the INS interview and
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: the customs inspector searched the trunk. They began to get
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: nervous when he checked the back seat. He found the
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: bag of stolen jewelry, so Ramirez pulled a gun. As
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: they left the port, Cortes, a man named Carlos, took
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: the inspector's service revolver and secured him with his own handcuffs.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: According to Calderon, Jesus Ramirez was in charge the entire time.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: He decided the inspector had seen too much. They had
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: to get rid of him. Calderon said he and Ramirez
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: forced Latham into the ditch. He claimed it was Ramirez
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: who shot the inspector twice in the back with his
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: own service revolver. After leaving the customs inspector to die,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: the men continued to Eagle Pass where they crossed the
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: border back into Mexico. At a motel there, they went
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: through the jewelry, putting the most valuable pieces into pillowcases.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: The plan was then to separate. Calderon and Ramirez would
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: take the jewelry back into the United States. Ricardo Cortes
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: and Carlos were supposed to keep the car in Mexico
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: for a few days. They would all meet later in
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: El Paso. The agent noted that during Calderon's version of events,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: he repeatedly named Ramirez as the trigger man. As the
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: suspect was taken to jail in Del Rio, agents reviewed
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: the facts of their case. Rafael Calderon was in custody.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: According to him, the shooter was Jesus Ramirez, who had
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: killed himself at the traffic stop. The driver of the
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Grand Prix Latham searched was Ricardo Cortez of El Paso.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: The fourth suspect was a man Calderon knew only as Carlos.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: He and Ricardo Cortez were still at large. Customs Special
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Agent Dennis Harlan was determined to find them.
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: Every effort was going to be made to capture and
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: prosecute the people that were involved.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: After the abduction and murder of U.S. Customs Inspector Richard Latham,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: investigators developed four suspects. One suspect, Rafael Calderon, was in jail.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: Another was dead, and two more were still at large.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Six hours after Latham's body was recovered, the state police
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: in Piedras Negras, Mexico, asked FBI agents to come to
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: their office. Some of the customs inspector's personal effects had
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: been discovered in a parking lot across the border from
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Eagle Pass, where his body was found. Included were Latham's wallet.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: a police-issued canister of mace, and several documents of interest
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: to FBI Special Agent Don Weatherman.
• 34:11
  Speaker 7: We also located two California Highway Patrol traffic citations, one
• 34:18
  Speaker 7: listed to Rafael Calderon, the subject in custody, and the
• 34:22
  Speaker 7: other listed to Carlos Pena.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Less than 24 hours after the abduction, investigators had an I.D.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: on the fourth suspect. Carlos Pena was a Mexican native
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: legally residing in the U.S. Investigators received his photo from
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Now they had to find
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: Pena and his associate, Ricardo Cortez. It seemed that wouldn't
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: take long. The next day, El Paso police received a
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: tip that Cortez and Pena were hiding in an apartment
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: in South El Paso. In minutes, an arrest plan was underway.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: The two-block area surrounding the apartment building was locked down.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Coordinating units on the ground and in the air was
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: FBI Special Agent Charles Riley.
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: The streets were cordoned off in that area and roadblocks
• 35:19
  Speaker 6: were set up. U.S. Border Patrol helicopters were in the
• 35:24
  Speaker 6: air looking on the rooftops and officers were posted throughout
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: the area while the search was conducted.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: The search for the fugitives was a sensitive mission. SWAT
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: teams cleared the building apartment by apartment. It was dangerous work.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: The hallways were narrow and provided no cover if the
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: two desperate men were to attack. Despite the thorough search,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: they came up empty.
• 36:07
  Speaker 6: U.S.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Customs Agent Dennis Harlan was undaunted.
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: You can throw tons of manpower at a case like this,
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: but you need some luck. And good luck is brought
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: about by good, hard, aggressive police work.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Then a new lead came. when state police in Piedras Negras, Mexico,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: discovered a gray 1975 Pontiac Grand Prix abandoned in a
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: nightclub parking lot. FBI agents crossed the border to search
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: the car. But Mexican law prohibited a full-scale processing of
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: the vehicle.
• 36:47
  Speaker 7: We could not remove the vehicle and bring it back
• 36:50
  Speaker 7: to the United States. We couldn't remove anything except prints
• 36:55
  Speaker 7: from the vehicle.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: The FBI agents photographed the car to document the items
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: they could not collect and dusted for any latent prints.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: It was a surprisingly low-tech process. Scotch tape and index cards.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: But it paid off. When the fingerprints were sent to
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: the FBI lab in Washington....
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: We.
• 37:24
  Speaker 7: determined that all four suspects that were identified had matching
• 37:29
  Speaker 7: prints lifted from the vehicle.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: In El Paso, Texas, U.S. Customs agents continued their search
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: for Ricardo Cortez and Carlos Pena. They learned Pena and
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: the now dead suspect, Jesus Ramirez, had lived in the
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: same apartment complex. They interviewed the apartment manager who identified
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: the photo of Pena. She said she last saw him
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: and Ramirez on the night before the Latham murder. The
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: two were moving boxes from a gray Grand Prix into
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: an apartment. A third man arrived, driving a blue car. Hello.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: From the agent's other photos, she identified him as Ricardo Cortez.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: She said the three men drove away that night in
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: the Grand Prix, leaving the blue car in the lot.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: The manager got a call from Ricardo Cortez the next day,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: asking her not to tow the car. Either he or
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: his mechanic would pick it up soon. That blue car
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: was their best chance of getting to Cortez. Through the
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: night and into the morning, Agents maintained surveillance. Around noon,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: a man came and drove the car away. It was
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: not Cortez or Pena. The agents followed. The man drove
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: to a quiet part of town. He entered a bar.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: A few minutes later, he came back out alone. and
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: was stopped by the agents. The man admitted the car
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: belonged to Ricardo Cortez. He said Cortez asked him to
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: pick it up and meet him at the bar. But
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Cortez never showed, so he left the keys with the bartender.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: He said he didn't know where Cortez was staying. The
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: agents verified his story with the bartender. He'd not seen
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Cortez either. While surveillance continued on the blue car, FBI
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: agents located Cortez's girlfriend.
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: We think your daughter's boyfriend might be involved.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: They asked if she knew where Cortez was. She said
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: that she had not seen or heard from him in
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: over a week.
• 40:52
  Speaker 7: Ma'am, this is very important. It's been over a week.
• 40:54
  Speaker 7: I don't know.
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: But agents, even the woman's own mother, doubted her story.
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: They asked the mother if they could install a tap
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: and trace on her phone. With her consent, investigators could
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: locate the source of all incoming calls.
• 41:32
  Speaker 5: We needed to apprehend the other two suspects involved in
• 41:35
  Speaker 5: the kidnapping of Richard Latham and his subsequent murder. So
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: that's where the focus went from there. I mean, where
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: in the hell are these guys, you know?
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: All investigators could do was wait for Ricardo Cortez to call.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: The FBI, U.S. Customs Service, and other agencies were closing
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: in on two remaining suspects in the murder of a U.S.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: Customs officer. Agents had contacted the girlfriend of one of
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: the suspects, Ricardo Cortez, and were monitoring her telephone Hello?
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: Ricky?
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Where are you? Two days later, she received a call.
• 42:22
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: Be careful.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: It was Cortez. And where was he at? He didn't
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: tell her where he was, but agents traced the call
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: to a motel in El Paso. Special Agent Charles Riley
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: was ready.
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: Myself, other agents... members of the El Paso Police Department
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: and U.S. Customs proceeded to the motel.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: A SWAT team surrounded the building. Ricardo, come out of
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: the hotel. Through the combined efforts of three law enforcement agencies,
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: investigators accomplished their mission, according to Special Agent Don Weatherman.
• 43:05
  Speaker 7: The El Paso Office of the FBI Customs and the
• 43:09
  Speaker 7: police department there did a very good job investigating Cortez
• 43:14
  Speaker 7: was arrested with that motel.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: Eight days after Richard Latham's murder, Texas authorities had Ricardo
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: Cortez in custody. A search of the room revealed no
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: sign of suspect Carlos Pena. the driver of the Grand Prix,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: Ricardo Cortes, and Rafael Calderon were now in custody. Jesus
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Ramirez had killed himself at the traffic stop, but Carlos
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: Pena was still at large. When questioned about the murder,
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: Cortes gave a different account from that of the first
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: suspect interviewed, Rafael Calderon. Cortes agreed that after they kidnapped Latham,
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: Ramirez and Calderon led the inspector into the ditch. But
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Cortez said the fatal shots were fired not by Ramirez,
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: but by Rafael Calderon. After the traffic stopped by the
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: Texas state troopers and Ramirez committed suicide, Calderon saw an
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: opportunity to blame his dead associate.
• 44:43
  Speaker 6: When Cortes stated that it was in fact Calderon who
• 44:48
  Speaker 6: had shot Inspector Latham, this was somewhat.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: Of a surprise. Cortes said that after the four split up,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: he and Peña abandoned the car and took a bus
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: to Juarez, Mexico.
• 44:59
  Speaker 6: Cortes advised that Peña was still in Juarez and had
• 45:04
  Speaker 6: not come over to El Paso.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: The FBI realized that they could not arrest him on
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: their own.
• 45:18
  Speaker 6: One of the other agents that I was working with
• 45:20
  Speaker 6: contacted the Mexican authorities and provided them with the background
• 45:24
  Speaker 6: information on Peña, and they started looking for Peña in Juarez.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: The U.S. Customs Service offered Mexican police a reward in
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: exchange for information leading to Peña' s arrest. Police in Juarez
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: made sure Peña' s friends and relatives understood that authorities would
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: not leave any of them alone until the fugitive surrendered.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: Two days later, the tactic proved successful.
• 45:56
  Speaker 6: Peña contacted the El Paso FBI office and advised that
• 46:00
  Speaker 6: he wanted to turn himself in. Arrangements were made with
• 46:04
  Speaker 6: him to meet at the top of the Santa Fe Bridge.
• 46:08
  Speaker 6: The top of the bridge is the border between Mexico
• 46:10
  Speaker 6: and the United States, and there's a marker there. We
• 46:13
  Speaker 6: are not allowed to proceed into Mexico for any interviews
• 46:17
  Speaker 6: or any apprehensions. So by meeting him at the top
• 46:20
  Speaker 6: of the bridge, we asked him to step across into
• 46:22
  Speaker 6: the United States, which he did, and we took him
• 46:26
  Speaker 6: into custody.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: The manhunt was over. the investigators took Carlos Pena to
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: the El Paso port of entry. When questioned, his story
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: matched that of Cortez down to the slightest detail. FBI
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: Special Agent Don Weatherman.
• 46:50
  Speaker 7: In my mind, the arrest of Carlos Pena pretty much
• 46:53
  Speaker 7: summarized and concluded the investigation as to who was responsible
• 46:58
  Speaker 7: for Richard Latham's murder. Their story was so consistent, um,
• 47:03
  Speaker 7: I'm convinced that Calderon was the shooter and not the
• 47:07
  Speaker 7: deceased Jesse Ramirez.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: In San Antonio, a federal grand jury indicted Calderon, Cortez,
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: and Peña on six counts. In exchange for his cooperation,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: Ricardo Cortez was allowed to plead guilty to conspiracy and
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: assault on a federal officer. Carlos Peña pled guilty to
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: the same charges. They were also convicted of state kidnapping
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: charges and each received 23 years. Rafael Calderon, the man
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: who killed Richard Latham, was charged with assault and murder
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: of a federal officer. He pled guilty and was sentenced
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: to life in prison. No one had been able to
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: stop the men from taking U.S. Customs Inspector Richard Latham's life.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: But his peers, his friends... made sure the killers paid
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: the price. Customs Service Special Agent Dennis Harlan.
• 48:07
  Speaker 5: When anybody is murdered, it's serious business. But when an
• 48:10
  Speaker 5: officer serves the country and protects the people, when he
• 48:16
  Speaker 5: or she is murdered, there's something that happens within law
• 48:23
  Speaker 5: enforcement that's very, very positive. Nobody cares about who gets credit.
• 48:28
  Speaker 5: Everybody is interested in capturing those who were involved and
• 48:34
  Speaker 5: seeing that justice is done.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: Memorial services for Richard Latham were held at the Del
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: Rio Port of Entry on January 31, 1984, at 2 p.m.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: At 2.30, U.S. Customs officers in every port of entry
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: in the country observed a moment of silence out of
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: deep respect for were their fallen friend.
• 49:31
  Speaker 5: Bye.