Zane Plemmons

Disappearance of Zane Plemmons, a Mexican-American photojournalist who does freelance work for the Sinaloa newspaper El Debate, occurred on 21 May 2012 in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico after covering a shootout.

Plemmons was last seen leaving from a hotel to photograph a shootout between rival drug cartels. He did not return from the scene and has been missing ever since.

The investigation into his disappearance is ongoing and the US Consulate there is tracking its progress.

Early life Zane Alejandro Plemmons Rosales was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, and grew up traveling through the border that divides Mexico and California and Texas. His father was a former U.S. Marine, while his mother owns a hair salon near the city of San Antonio, Texas. Plemmons attended Medina Valley High School in Castroville, Texas, which is on the outskirts of San Antonio. From there, he went on to San Antonio College and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Plemmons is a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, and has epilepsy.

In 2009, Plemmons returned to his hometown to work in several jobs after living in San Antonio for several years. The following year, he began to work as a freelance journalist for several local newspapers, covering crime beats and writing articles on the poor living conditions of people who lived in the area. Plemmons' family says that he had plans to visit relatives in Mexico after he left the shooting but never arrived by bus. El Debate has not heard from him since the shootout.

Prior to Plemmons' disappearance, US journalist Mariano Castillo of the San Antonio Express-News was moved out of Mexico because of credible threats on his life.

Impact Plemmons was doing freelance criminal photography in the city of Nuevo Laredo when he went missing. Due to the escalating crime rate, Nuevo Laredo newspapers have temporarily ceased reporting on stories concerning organized crime.

On 22 May 2013, his family met one year after his disappearance. Plemmons' father said, "We haven't lost him. We've just misplaced him."