Last Cop Kidnapped in Mexican Town

(Guadalupe, Mexico) The lone remaining police officer in the Juarez Valley town of Guadalupe, 28-year-old Erika Gandara, was kidnapped last Thursday by ten unidentified gunmen. Her house and cars were also set on fire.

Gandara's fellow law enforcers had previously been killed or fled.

An officer was shot dead the week Gándara joined the Police Department as a dispatcher in June 2009. The other seven officers resigned out of fear within a year.

Some quit after gunmen killed the mayor of Guadalupe, Jesús Manuel Lara, in June of this year.

So Gándara alone was left to police the dangerous ranching towns of the border.

Gandara's abductors are believed to be part of either the Sinaloa or Juarez drug cartels who are fighting for control of smuggling routes in the Ciudad Juarez region.

Guadalupe has a population of 9,000 and it sits about 35 miles southeast of Ciudad Juarez.