Incredible stories of survival emerged Wednesday from northern Mexico as authorities
searched for clues into a massacre that took the lives of nine family members – three
women and six children.
Eight children managed to escape from cartel gunmen who ambushed three SUVs Monday
– killing the children's mothers – along a dirt road in a remote mountainous area of Sonora
state in an attack that left one vehicle a burned-out, bullet-riddled hulk.
The children hid amid the brush as bullets flew; some walked miles to get help
despite gunshot wounds.
The victims were all dual U.S.-Mexican citizens, relatives said. Five of the eight children
were seriously injured and flown to the border in a military helicopter to receive hospital care
in the United States. Sonora state health officials said the children were stable at the
moment of transfer.
The three remaining children were in the care of family members at the small settlement of
La Mora.
This photo shows a view of the car where part of the nine murdered members of the LeBaron
family were killed during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on Nov. 5, 2019.
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Kendra Miller, a relative, said Devin Langford, 13, was one of the few uninjured children and
quickly took charge, eventually walking about 14 miles back to La Mora for help.
“After witnessing his mother and brothers being shot dead, Devin hid his six other siblings in
the bushes and covered them with branches to keep them safe while he went for help,”
Miller told the Associated Press. “When he took too long to return, his 9-year-old sister left
the remaining five to try again.”
That girl, Mckenzie Rayne Langford, walked for hours in the dark before she was found
several hours after the other children were rescued. She was listed as missing for a while.
Altogether, the children were on their own from about 1 p.m., when the ambush began, until
about 7:30 p.m., when they were rescued. Relatives from La Mora tried to reach them
before that but were turned back by gunfire. The area is the site of a cartel turf war.
In recordings of calls between the rescuers, they can be heard debating whether it was
better to risk more lives or wait for an hour or two until Mexican Army troops arrived.
Christina Langford Johnson – one of three mothers who died Monday – reportedly stashed
her 7-month-old baby on the floor of her Suburban and got out of the vehicle, waving her
arms to show the gunmen she wasn’t a threat.
Her bullet-riddled body was found about 15 yards away from the SUV. Her baby, Faith, was
found alive in her car seat on the floor of the vehicle.
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Criminal investigators in northern Mexico initially said a suspect arrested Tuesday may be
connected to the massacre, but on Wednesday public security official Alfonso Durazo said
preliminary information indicates he was not involved.
The suspect had been found holding two hostages and in possession of four assault rifles
and ammunition, as well as various large vehicles that included a bulletproofed SUV. One of
the vehicles was linked to a robbery in Phoenix.
Officials have said the gunmen might have mistaken the group’s large SUVs for those of a
rival gang amid a vicious turf war.
Homero Mendoza, Mexico's general secretary of defense, said in a news conference
Wednesday that early Monday morning a gunbattle had taken place near the Sonora-U.S.
border between members of two criminal groups, Chihuahua-based La Linea and Sonora's
Los Salazar.