“HEARST” for Borderland Beat
Luis Alberto Beltran Lopez, the alleged cousin of Sinaloa Cartel’s Ovidio and Joaquin Guzman, was found dead in a remote part of Sinaloa after going missing while motorbiking through the wilderness.
The Disappearance
On Saturday, August 26, 2023, Luis Alberto Beltran Lopez went missing while motorbiking through a remote section of wilderness in Agua Caliente, located within the municipality of Tepuche, Sinaloa.
The cartel news Twitter account Calvariae Locus alleges that Luis Alberto Beltran Lopez was the cousin of two of the Chapitos (the sons of El Chapo) from the Sinaloa Cartel.
Based on his last names of “Beltran Lopez”, it’s likely that Luis Alberto is the son of a sister of Griselda Lopez Perez, who was a wife of Chapo and the mother of Ovidio and Joaquin.
Luis Alberto spoke to his brother on the phone, he also texted him and sent him photos he had taken with his phone.
At approximately 2:45pm, Luis Alberto contacted his brother on his smartphone and told him that he had crashed his motorcycle
He asked his brother to come help him out of the woods and he sent his GPS location.
The brother told him that he’d drive out to help him but his current location was high up a mountain and inaccessible by road.
There are no further details about the communication between Luis and the brother. Whether the two of them arranged for Luis to walk to a more accessible location or if Luis indicated he was injured is unknown.
Hours passed and the brother eventually reached the GPS location that Luis had given but Luis was not in the area.
At 5:00, Luis’s wife, Ana Paola, was told that Luis was missing. More family members joined the search and traveled to his last known location.
The authorities were contacted and they sent officers to help search for Luis.
At some point in the night, relatives found Luis’s blue and yellow motorcycle alongside his helmet. It was abandoned in a heavily wooded area. How far away the motorcycle was from the GPS coordinates is unknown.
The next morning, the search continued.
Personnel from the following groups participated in the search: state level Civil Protection officers, the Culiacán Fire Department, the Municipal Police, the State Police, the Commission for the Search for Missing Persons of Sinaloa, and the Red Cross.
A small helicopter was used by authorities as part of the search.
Personnel walked through the forested region, calling out Luis’s name while scanning the ground for possible remains.
During the afternoon, Luis Alberto’s wife posted on social media, asking if people who owned Razers (ATV like vehicles) could help in the search.
In response to her request, some members of local motorcycle and hiking clubs volunteered to help with the search.
Luis was not found by the time of night fell so plans were made for the search to continue the next day, on Monday.
The Discovery
At 10:46am, on Monday, August 28, members of the search party found the remains of Luis Alberto Beltran Lopez.
The 5’9″, 30-year old man was found lying face up, wearing blue pants and a white shirt.
His body was located within an area where firewood was chopped, according to Reflectores. Photos appear to show a very densely wooded area that isn’t ideal for firewood chopping.
Reflectores alleged that his body was “in an advanced state of decomposition,” when it was found. The body was placed on a stretcher and brought to an area where vehicles could reach and loaded into a coroner’s vehicle. It was driven to a facility for an autopsy.
Dario a Discusion claims that they spoke to “security sources” who said Luis Alberto was killed by “multiple insect stings.”
They write that he “died from bee stings when he was attacked by a swarm.”
They added that they believe Luis was stung “during the afternoon [that he went missing], judging by the state of decomposition in which he was found.”
It’s interesting to note that his body was said to have been found near El Rancho de Los Arballo.
Los Noticieristas alleges that Rancho de Los Arballo is owned by “Mr. Ángel Beltrán.” Meanwhile Reflectores writes that Rancho de Los Arballo is where to Luis Alberto’s grandfather lives.
None of the reports have stated whether or not Luis Alberto was allergic to bee stings, but it seems that he likely was because bee stings are typically not fatal for a healthy adult.
It appears, based on the reports available, that Luis Alberto died in a freak accident caused by unforeseen circumstances.
It’s likely that if Chapitos figures Ovidio and Joaquin Guzman heard that their cousin had gone missing, they may have pulled a few strings to “encourage” government agencies to find him as soon as possible.
Sources say that approximately 100 members of various government agencies participated in the search for Luis Alberto. Over seven different government agencies participated in the search effort.
A state police helicopter was deployed to survey the area from the skies. Luis Alberto was found within two days of going missing.
Meanwhile, when four boys went missing in 2021, while on their way to watch a race at the Humaya river, the Sinaloan government deployed no more than five agents from just one agency.
The boys, age 13-15, went missing in Lomas de Rodriguera, in an area north of Culiacán city, that was known to have been heavily contested in a Sinaloa Cartel struggle. The boys have still not been found. They went missing more than two years ago.
It’s remarkable, truly… the difference in how the Sinaloan government acts when it’s looking for people the Chapitos want found versus the people who they don’t.