American death reported in Guadalajara suburb

Guadalajara -
MGR has learned of the murder of a U.S. citizen in Zapopan in February.

Kyle Eugene Kester, 38, was found shot to death in his partially completed home in Colonia Bosque de la Capilla on Feb. 10. Investigators concluded he had been killed more than two days before.

Zapopan is a sprawling suburban community which encircles most of Guadalajara proper.

Kester's death was not widely reported in the Spanish press, although the city's main daily, El Informador, carried a brief story on Feb. 11. Highlights of that account:

Mr. Kester, 38, was found in a home still under construction He was semi-clothed and had been shot several times with a .22 caliber weapon. Evidence of alcohol consumption was at the scene. The rural property was in a state of disorder, and authorities suggested robbery might have been a partial motive. A laborer who was working on the home discovered Kester's body and contacted police.

Another Spanish news service reported more sensitive circumstances of the crime: Asesinan a estadounidense en Zapopan.

An obituary published today in the Minneapolis Star Tribune said that Kester had just moved into the home, which he had spent two years building. He is survived by parents and family members in Apple Valley and Farmington, both suburbs of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro. Kester once lived in Phoenix.

Zapopan is the scene of frequent brutal drug war violence, as well as common crime. On Mar. 9 the Jalisco state secretary of tourism was chased by a team of gunmen and assassinated while driving on a busy freeway in one of the suburb's best areas. On Feb. 8 a Poncitlán police chief was executed in front of his Zapopan residence. Poncitlán is a town near Lake Chapala, southeast of the GMZ, and Chapala is home to a large U.S. and Canadian expatriate community. Area police chief executed in Guadalajara Metro Zone.

Note: MGR endeavors to report all suspicious or criminal deaths of American and Canadian nationals in Mexico as soon as they appear of record, regardless of the circumstances. Sometimes that does not happen, as in this case. MGR thanks the reader who forwarded today's Star Tribune obituary.

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