Decaptitated Mans Body Found Chandler AZ
A man was found decapitated in a suburban apartment in Chandler Arizona after lying to Mexican drug cartels about stolen drugs. Experts believe this is the first documented decapitation in the United States carried out by the Mexican Cartels.
In October 2010, neighbors found Martin Alejandro Cota-Monroy, 38, laying in a pool of his own blood with his head just a couple of feet away from his body. He had suffered multiple blows and multiple stab wounds to his head and had defensive wounds on his hands. 
A report released on Wednesday showed that Cota-Monroy had stolen 400 pounds of marijuana and some methamphetamines from a very dangerous drug trafficking organization known as PEI-Estatales/El Chapo.
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera is the leader of the Sinaloa Mexican State Cartel. The report claims that Cota-Monroy told the organization that the border patrol seized the shipment of drugs. When the organization found out he stole the drugs they sent out some assassins to find Cota-Monroy and make an example out of his betrayal.
The assassins found Cota-Monroy in Nogales Mexico, according the report released on Wednesday; he negotiated a payment plan with the cartel organization while putting his house up for collateral. Soon after, the cartel found out that the house that Cota-Monroy put up for collateral was is not his. He fled to Chandler Arizona, where the assassins followed.
The assassins found Cota-Monroy and befriended him gaining his trust. Then on October 10, 2010, Cota-Monroy, Crisantos Moroyoqui, 36, and three other individuals where seen drinking into the late night hour. Witnesses say they saw Cota-Monroy alive at 4:30 a.m. drinking with the other individuals. Police say that the murder happened between 4:30 and before 5:30 a.m.
One man was arrested and charged for the murder, Crisantos Moroyoqui. He was a day laborer, who had been living in the apartment complex where the killing occurred. He is charged with second-degree murder. He was found asleep in his apartment with the bloody shoes and pants still on. The other three suspects were seen leaving the crime in a red Ford Explorer.
The U.S. has had its share of crossed-border violence due to the drug trafficking. One example is when a group of drug traffickers got indicted for the nine murders in San Diego, were two of the victims where dissolved in acid.
But Tony Payan, a political science professor at the University of Texas at El Paso who has done extensive research on border violence says, that this Arizona case could possibly be the first known beheading carried out by the cartels in the U.S.
In Mexico it is a common occurrence for drug cartels to retaliate or fight for territory with decapitations. Headless bodies have been discovered dangling by their feet over bridges, or heads have been sent to families homes. Cartels have also been known to drop off bags of up to 12 heads in high-profile places. More than 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence since December 2006.
"It was a very gruesome scene," Chandler police Detective David Ramer said Wednesday. "Anytime you see a headless body stabbed multiple times, obviously that's gruesome. And this is a message being sent - not only are they going to kill you but they're going to dismember your body, and 'If you cross us, this is what happens.'"
