Mother who survived kidnapping was traveling for a medical procedure

Two of the Americans who were kidnapped at gunpoint in a Mexican border city on Friday have returned to the US and are being treated at a hospital, while the remains of the two Americans who were killed are expected to be repatriated back to the US soon.

Here’s a timeline of what happened:

Driving into Mexico: A tight-knit group of four friends — LaTavia Washington McGee, Eric Williams, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown — had driven to Mexico from South Carolina so Washington McGee could undergo a medical procedure in Matamoros, two family members told CNN. The group crossed into Matamoros at about 9:18 a.m. Friday, Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal said.

Getting lost on the way: After becoming lost on their way to the clinic, the friends tried to reach the doctor’s office for directions but were having difficulty because of a poor phone signal, a close friend said.

The kidnapping: At some point as the friends were driving, unidentified gunmen fired on their minivan and then loaded the Americans into their vehicle and took them away, according to the FBI. A Mexican official said Tuesday that the gunmen were driving a pickup truck.

A video obtained by CNN that matches the description of the incident shows a woman and other unidentified people being roughly loaded into a white pickup. The video showed the woman being pulled or pushed onto the bed of the truck by two unidentified people as a third armed man watches before the men appear to drag at least two limp people onto the truck bed. CNN has not independently confirmed it is the four Americans who are shown in the video.

Authorities start investigating: When Mexican authorities arrived on the scene, they noticed the Americans’ van had North Carolina license plates and reached out to US officials, who were able to run the plates, according to Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica.

Investigators began processing vehicles, obtaining ballistics and fingerprint data, taking biological samples for genetic profiles and gathering surveillance camera footage, Mexican officials said.

Gunmen identified: Police were able to identify the gunmen’s truck, Barrios Mojica said. Officials then initiated “several searches” with different agencies, he said.

Americans found: The Americans were finally found at a house outside Matamoros on Tuesday morning, the attorney general said. At the scene, two of the friends – Woodard and Brown – were dead while Washington McGee and Williams were still alive.

Washington McGee is expected to come home Wednesday, her mother, Barbara McLeod Burgess, said in an interview with CNN. Williams was shot in the legs three times and was brought to a hospital in Texas to undergo surgery, his wife, Michele Williams, told CNN.

CNN’s Abel Alvarado, Sharif Paget, Amanda Jackson, Gloria Pazmino, Norma Galeana, David Shortell, Jennifer Hansler, Caroll Alvarado, Betsy Klein, Karol Suarez, Chenelle Woody, Paradise Afshar and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.

The kidnapping and killing of US travelers this week in the Mexican city of Matamoros, just over the border from Brownsville, Texas, has put a glaring spotlight on violence in a country that millions of international visitors flock to each year.

Here’s what to know about travel safety in Mexico:

The US has “do not travel” advisories in place for six out of Mexico’s 32 states: This includes the Tamaulipas state, where Matamoros is located. But that’s far from some of the most sought-after tourist destinations in the country, according to Zachary Rabinor, founder and CEO of travel company Journey Mexico. “To put things in perspective, Matamoros is about 1,360 miles away from Cancun; that’s about the equivalent distance from the Texas side of the border to Chicago, Illinois.”

The US advises travelers to “exercise increased caution due to crime and kidnapping” in popular destinations like Playa del Carmen and Cancún. Rabinor highlighted other popular destinations carrying the “exercise increased caution” advisory, including France and the Bahamas. France receives the caution because of possible terrorism and civil unrest. Crime is listed as the reason for caution in the Bahamas.

The State Department notes in its advisory that violence and criminal activity may occur anywhere, “including in popular tourist destinations.”

Caution and situational awareness are key all over the world. For Mexico, Lopez-Aranda recommends the following safety steps:

Two of the four Americans who authorities say were kidnapped in Mexico have been found dead, according to the Tamaulipas governor. The two surviving Americans are now in the care of the FBI and have returned to the United States, an official familiar with the investigation tells CNN.

One of the survivors was Latavia Washington McGee, a mother of six children who was traveling to Mexico for the second time for a medical procedure, her mother, Barbara Burgess, said.

She traveled to the country for surgery about two to three years ago, Burgess said. But this time, Burgess was informed by the FBI on Sunday that her daughter had been kidnapped and was in danger.

Receipts found in the group’s vehicle indicated the Americans were in Mexico for medical procedures, a US official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.

Washington McGee’s close friend told CNN the trip was for a cosmetic surgery. The group booked a hotel in Brownsville and planned to drive into Matamoros for the surgery, according to the friend.

A day after the kidnapping, the friend became concerned and reached out to the doctor’s office for more information.

“When I reached out to the doctor’s office they told me that Latavia had reached out to them to ask them for directions because she was lost,” the friend said. “They sent me a screenshot of the messages and they said they sent her the address and asked her if she was using a GPS.”

The disappearance of the four was reported to Brownsville police on Saturday, according to a police report. The report states that Brownsville Police checked a local jail to make sure that no one in the party had been taken into custody, but no other action was taken.

Mexico has become a particularly popular destination for “medical tourism,” attracting travelers who may be seeking cheaper alternatives or medical treatments that are unapproved or unavailable in the US. But the CDC warns the growing trend can carry dangerous risks depending on the destination and facility, including infection and possible post-procedure complications.

Matamoros, however, is “not considered a primary medical travel destination,” said Josef Woodman, the company’s founder, “largely because there are no internationally accredited medical centers/speciality clinics there, or in the immediate region.”

Watch here:

Before the four Americans were found Tuesday, federal and local Mexican authorities worked on the effort to locate the kidnapped Americans, and they had set up a joint task force to communicate with US officials, Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica said.

US law enforcement was not involved on the ground in Mexico in the search for the missing Americans, Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal said at a news conference Tuesday after two of the Americans were found alive and two were found dead.

At a news conference yesterday, Mexican officials displayed a timeline of the search, including photos of the cars believed to be used by the kidnappers, before they were found Tuesday morning. Mexico Secretary of Security Rosa Icela Rodríguez said that authorities in Mexico have been in constant communication with the US ambassador and other US officials since Sunday.

Also on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price thanked Mexican partners for facilitating the recovery of the Americans.

He also did not rule out designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations – something that some Republican lawmakers have called for – but said “we are always going to look at every tool that is by law or any other authority available to us to attempt to work with our Mexican partners to crack down on what is the threat to Mexicans and to Americans alike.”

Two of the four Americans who authorities say were kidnapped in Mexico have been found dead, according to the Tamaulipas governor. The two surviving Americans are now in the care of the FBI and have returned to the United States, an official familiar with the investigation tells CNN.

Investigators believe a Mexican cartel likely mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers, a US official said.

Here’s what we know so far: