MEXICO: Authorities confirm Austin parish priest, Father Jesse Euresti, is dead as relative members identify the body dumped next to a highway in Nuevo Laredo

Record ID: 303760

  • Title: MEXICO: Authorities confirm Austin parish priest, Father Jesse Euresti, is dead as relative members identify the body dumped next to a highway in Nuevo Laredo
  • Date: 8th April 2009
  • Summary: NUEVO LAREDO, TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS STILL PHOTOS OF FATHER JESSE EURESTI
  • Embargoed: 23rd April 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVADUCVWTLLE6KFAWAR7PM8ELEAT
  • Story Text: A body found dumped next to a highway in Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas was confirmed by authorities as that of a missing Austin parish priest on Monday (April 06) after it was identified by relative members.
    Sixty-nine-year-old Father Jesse Euresti was planning to retire from active ministry in the priesthood in July of this year.
    He had purchased a home in Nuevo Laredo for his retirement and would make trips almost weekly to prepare the house for his eventual move.
    Euresti left Austin late evening last Monday (April 30) week. He called family relatives at 2:30 am (8:30 GMT) last Tuesday (April 31) to let them know that he was still driving but was about to arrive at his house in Nuevo Laredo. At around noon on Tuesday a neighbour stopped by, entered the home and saw blood on the floor and walls and called the police.
    Authorities believe Euresti was murdered somewhere between 3:30 am (9:30 GMT) and 8:00 am (1400 GMT).
    His body was then moved to a different location and authorities found a rug taken from the house together with his body.
    "We have identified the person who saw the dead body, investigations are being carried out to present him beforehand to the corresponding authorities," said Francisco Saldivar, a spokesperson from the State Attorney's office.
    Euresti had been the pastor of Cristo Rey Catholic parish in east Austin, since 2006. He was ordained in May of 1965 and had been a priest in the central Texas area since his ordination. He also served 10 years in the US Air Force as a chaplain. The parish of Cristo Rey was his last assignment before his retirement and he had specifically asked to go to that parish because it was the parish of his childhood, where Euresti wanted to finish his priestly career, according to the spokesman for the Diocese of Austin, Christian Gonzalez.
    Forensic experts said he had injuries all over his body.
    "Everywhere and on the forearm, used in defense," said forensics expert Luis Cespedes. "The right forearm shows a fracture because we consider it was a strong and large weapon (off camera - Machete?) Machete."
    The prime suspect is a caretaker that Euresti employed to watch over the house while he was away and is at large but authorities are actively searching for him.
    Euresti's funeral will be held in Austin but the date is pending until Mexican authorities release the body so that it may be taken to the US for burial. The Diocese has not been informed how long the process will take.
    As part of Euresti's retirement plan an associate pastor was named earlier this year and was being trained on the job but was appointed as the official pastor of the Cristo Rey parish by Bishop Gregory Aymond on Monday.
    Once an easygoing Mexican border town thronging with U.S. tourists, Nuevo Laredo is becoming a ghost town because of a brutal, three-year-old turf war between rival drug cartels that has driven residents and businesses across the Rio Grande to the safety and prosperity of its Texan sister city, Laredo.
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