Ex-Attorney General in Mexico Linked to Inquiry Found Dead
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MEXICO CITY — The former attorney general of Quintana Roo state, reportedly implicated in a major drug investigation, has been found dead south of Mexico City, local news media reported Friday.
The body of Miguel de Jesus Peyrefitte was found Friday morning in a house in Cuautla, in the state of Morelos, about 40 miles south of Mexico City.
Jose Castillo Pombo, the Morelos state attorney general, said Peyrefitte appeared to have died of a heart attack, adding that authorities expected to have more information soon, the government news agency Notimex reported.
On April 5, Peyrefitte ended his term as attorney general under the administration of Gov. Mario Villanueva, who had fled several days earlier and is now wanted by the federal attorney general’s office on suspicion of protecting drug traffickers in the Yucatan Peninsula state.
Peyrefitte disappeared from public view April 13, a week after dozens of sealed federal warrants had been issued in drug trafficking investigations in Quintana Roo.
Some newspapers reported that officials had issued a warrant against him. Others reported that he was cooperating in the investigation of Villanueva and other former officials.
A spokesman for the federal attorney general’s office said he could not comment on whether a warrant had been issued for Peyrefitte.
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