According to his final report on security in the Gulf of Mexico filed before he tendered his resignation in November 2014, as requested, the United States consul to La Eternidad went to an abandoned house in Colonia Huasteca, on the outskirts of the city. He was helping a couple who had recently gained United States citizenship find their daughter, also a US citizen. The consul states that he went with his consulate-assigned driver and two pickup trucks carrying the magnate’s security team, and that when they got to the house, they found the front door open and chaos inside: as soon as they entered, they saw bloodstains on the floor and bits of food scattered all around, as if there had been a fight. A bit farther in, they found clear indications that at least two women had been living in different rooms of the house, based on the clothes they recovered. And that was all they found. There wasn’t a living soul in the place. The consul states that he was surprised not to find Treviño or the US citizen there and told the others to park the trucks at a good distance. Following his orders, they reentered the residence without touching anything and left the doors open, as they’d found them. He says he knew none of it would do any good.
The consul’s report states that he left the magnate’s bodyguards at the scene and told his driver to take him home. They passed the university, which had been practically deserted for months, then the gas station and the empty lot beside it; and then, as they neared what once was the fairground, the consul told his driver to stop the car. He got out and walked over to what was left of the rides. Next to the carousel and the bumper cars, a couple with three little girls were boarding the old, run-down Ferris wheel. They were the only customers, but the attendant agreed to start up the wheel. The consul spent a long time standing there, watching that Ferris wheel go around and around. Watching the girls. They were the only people in La Eternidad he’d seen smile for a long time. His cell phone had been ringing the whole time. The consul glanced at the screen, but he didn’t answer.