Alexis Marron, Chicago-Area High School Student, Found Dead In Mexico

An 18-year-old student at a suburban Chicago high school was found dead in an apparent homicide over the weekend in Mexico, where he was visiting family, police said Monday.

Alex Marron and two other men were found dead in the trunk of a burned car in Michoacán, Mexico, the Daily Herald reports. Police say Marron was visiting relatives in the small town of Quiringüicharo in central Mexico.

The families of the victims said none were involved in any kind of trouble, a police representative told NBC Chicago. The car's owner was reportedly driving Marron to visit his girlfriend.

Marron was halfway through his senior year at Rolling Meadows High School, ABC7 Chicago reports. Classmates currently on winter vacation have posted tribute videos on YouTube and set up memorial Facebook pages for Marron, one of which calls for a memorial service Jan. 3, when students return to school.

An investigation with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City is ongoing, but no suspects have been named.

Comments

[MA2AW]

11:17 AM on 01/01/2012

Wow, here is some news. 1 guy found dead in mexico. What about the thousands found dead in the last year? Must have missed the travel warings to mexico and Obama's speech that said the border was safe, just not mexico.

[RobietheCat]

07:08 PM on 01/01/2012

How about the many that have died in the Sanctuary City of Chicago?

[bigbaybeh11]

08:23 PM on 12/31/2011

I just came from mexico (zacatecas)this week, i was there a week and there wasn't any violence where i was going to visit. Michoacan is one of the dangerous states ,yet i do understand the sense of thinking that nothing is going to happen to you especially in such a small town and with your family.There are bad people everywhere and this could of just been a cse of being at the wrong place a the wrong time. My prayers are with this young man and his family

[RobietheCat]

07:10 PM on 01/01/2012

So which is it? Is Mexico so dangerous for everyone that people just have to flee to the US?

Or as you say, it depends, and therefore no reason to invade the US for personal safety?

[Bmori]

09:47 PM on 12/29/2011

It's very hard to comment on this because there are parts of Mexico that are safe. However my empathy gets the better of me when I say, this is bad.Around 50,000 people dead and what aggravates me more is when people or the government try to put a positive spin on it such as "well it's just drug gangs" because it isn't always the case. One of the district attorneys in the State of Mexico claimed a few months ago that 6 out of 10 kidnappings are narco related. Because that even if at first glance they don't see it, eventually they find a "black thread". It is the same sweeping under the rug they love to do.

[erosob1]

07:46 AM on 12/29/2011

GOD help this people to see the light to be better as a human beings to serve ourselves and the humanity. to do constructive things and not destructives and do not died without Jesus GOD BLESSYOU AMEN.

[erosob1]

07:29 AM on 12/29/2011

sorry about this dead that is a shame what is happening in this country, I am from guatemala c.a.when a I left to the u.s.a it was bad but in mexico is worst, my wife is mexican I been telling her that even if I would get a free ticket I never would fly to her country.

[godfreyofbouil]

02:23 PM on 12/28/2011

Is anybody surprised at this?

[dhanuw]

02:00 PM on 12/28/2011

Mexico is the biggest drug peddler to the biggest drug consumer of the world, America.

[euug0701]

11:52 AM on 12/28/2011

Mexicans obviously deserve some of the blame for the situation in their country. But think of how much nicer the country would be if demand for hard drugs in the U.S. didn't lead to cartel violence (Mexico is just the crossroads for the one way drug trade between the South America and the U.S., most of the drugs are NOT consumed in Mexico). Don't forget that almost all traceable guns found in Mexico are from the U.S.. Oh, and think about how much better off the country would be if it had autonomous control over its industrial and agricultural policy, and if it didn't have to compete with cheap, highly subsidized U.S. imports (i.e. - corn, and other highly subsidized American agricultural product), all of which are results of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the Clinton shoved down the countries throat. Don't forget, the rate of illegal immigration zoomed after NAFTA was passed; this is because NAFTA decimated the country side and the poor by destroying the nation's agricultural economy, which couldn't compete with America's more efficient and HIGHLY SUBSIDIZED agribusinesses.

[firststatemate]

11:30 AM on 12/28/2011

American friends of mine mine have a little vacation home in Cozumel. I visit them each year and have never found the Mexican people to be anything less than sweet, humble, hospitable, hard working people who treat guests like family and are pride of their beautiful island and country.

It's very sad that there are pockets of drug and gang related violence in other areas of the country souring people's opinions about the entire nation.

[seattleite4]

01:14 PM on 12/28/2011

Are you sure you don't have it backwards and there are pockets of civilized people?

[entreMundo]

01:37 PM on 12/28/2011

Nope. The vast majority of the country is friendly, warm, and hospitable. There are pockets of problems.

Hey, now ya know.

[malander]

02:02 PM on 12/28/2011

The vast majority of Mexican people are polite, considerate and hard working. Unfortunately the criminal elements who are the minority have learned well and adapted terrorist methods in controlling a population by abject fear. A tactic that has been used around the world for centuries. The criminals in Mexico are excellent students of human behavior and history.

[Llib Noswad]

09:17 AM on 12/28/2011

Why would an American citizen be in Mexico?

[myline2]

09:47 AM on 12/28/2011

To visit relatives who live there. Some American citizens have relatives living abroad -- it's amazing.

[Jose Soberanes]

10:58 AM on 12/28/2011

Why would you drive a car when so many people die in car accidents? Nonthinking individual! Just plain ignorant!

[ebanks84]

08:38 AM on 12/28/2011

Mexico don't seem to be a stable place to visit nowadays, especially for men. Too many stories of men being found in vehicles burnt to a crisp and no one knows who, what, why, or when it all happened. I think there needs to be some signs or something at the border indicating that you're entering that country at your own risk.

My condolences to this family and friends of this boy and I can feel their pain. No child should be taken away from their loved ones like this.

[entreMundo]

09:16 AM on 12/28/2011

If you look at the daily stories of problems that men get into in the US – murdered, ganged up, raped, beaten – can you honestly say that it's a stable place to visit?

I know it may not seem that way, but if you actually look at statistics, you'll find Mex is incredibly safe place for tourists who mind their own business and stay out of problem areas. Even if you wanted to, you couldn't come up with more than a story or two, and either of those cases would involve unusual circumstances (like the woman who was killed in Cancun... by her American MTV producer husband, for example).

[entreMundo]

03:10 AM on 12/28/2011

I've noticed that one of the posters on here throwing out the most generalizations about "all" of Mexico dangerous out actually claims to live on the edge an infamous ghetto area in Southwest Florida (where two British tourists were recently murdered in cold blood), and states that his house has been broken into and robbed again and again and again.

My recommendation for someone like that would be Oaxaca City. Anyone else have thoughts on where someone with that problem could get their mind straight and live in a safe place in Mexico where they wouldn't have to be repeatedly victimized? I don't think the poster is a particularly bad person like others who have been commenting, just in need of a new perspective.

[TommyMcCarthy]

05:13 AM on 12/28/2011

Michoacan...is SO beautiful....

Sad to think of tragedy there
tm

[entreMundo]

09:18 AM on 12/28/2011

So true... it's one of the states that I know the least, but dream of all the time. Morelia is a magical place. Despite it all, there are plenty of expats around Chapala, not one of whom I recall running into any real probs lately (and as we know, if a foreigner gets killed in Mex, we hear about it).

[TroopAbn]

01:41 AM on 12/28/2011

We need to bring our army back from Afghanistan and put them on the Mexican border. Only folks crossing the border would be those that aren't here legally. We can put them back on the other side of the Rio Grande to repatriate them from whence they came.

[marianproletarian]

07:00 PM on 12/28/2011

Please, what does illegal immigration have to do with this story?

[TroopAbn]

11:46 PM on 12/28/2011

Oh my,

I'm sorry. I'm sure he's a 100% pure American from the USA. Pardon me for upsetting your "super-liberal" ways. Mexico is the next war that we will be getting into. And if you don't know that. What planet are you on?

[darlena1977]

01:30 AM on 12/28/2011

The story states that he went to visit family; therefore he wasn't there unattended. This is such a young life lost and his family may never know why. Prayers are all that people can give at this moment. Many of these post are very rude and there is no reason to talk this way about a child that none of us knew personally. I'm sure people would be more sensitive if this were their child or brother. God bless his soul and his family. Very sad. Also, prayers go out to anyone that has lost a child or family member.

[entreMundo]

01:56 AM on 12/28/2011

Thank you for being a kind soul among all of these nasty, spiteful comments. The utter evilness of people about this tonight had really gotten me down. Your human thoughts are highly appreciated.

[briock]

01:17 AM on 12/28/2011

Again with the horrible parenting. All we have heard from Mexico in the last two years has been drug cartels killing everyone, kidnapping, taking over entire Mexican states, Americans being killed right along with Mexican citizens by the dozens, Cruise ships no longer stopping at most tourist ports... with warnings from the State Department not to visit Mexico... and you send your kid there anyway? Really?

[entreMundo]

01:26 AM on 12/28/2011

The only horrible parenting at hand the one that results in the ignorance, hatred, and unhelpfulness that people like you spew. Weren't you taught any manners or respect for your fellow neighbor?

Cite a source for "Americans being killed... by the dozens." Otherwise it's just worthless drivel... though admittedly probably due to poor parenting, as you say. Of course you won't be able to, since it is a load of nonsense you just made up on the spot.

To be fair, I'm sure you have harsh words for the families of tourists who have been brutally raped, murdered, and harmed in the US this year.

[briock]

03:37 AM on 12/28/2011

Crap runs downhill, and that makes Mexico the septic tank of the Americas... A cow patty in the field of life. Drug smuggling, people smuggling, arms smuggling, poison water, Mexico City the most polluted city in the world, the biggest police corruption in the world, drug cartels run everything and kill at will, even busloads of people, tourists included. Cruise ships now bypass almost all shore leave in Mexico. Over 100 Americans missing and presumed dead in Ciudad Juarez alone. TheMexican governmet's inability and/or unwillingness to eradicate the drug cartels have completely destroyed Mexico. It is nothing more than a third world country that makes other third world countries look like paradise.