Emily Brown
A drug cartel leader and hitman has mysteriously disappeared from the federal prison database despite his release date being more than 30 years away.
Edgar Valdez-Villareal, who is known as La Barbie, grew up in Laredo, Texas, but was captured at a rural home northwest of Mexico City and was extradited to the US in 2015.
He is thought to have worked with various drug cartels before joining the Sinaloa cartel under El Chapo, and became known for filming torture sessions with victims, as well as being suspected of decapitating likely dozens of his enemies.
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Valdez-Villareal was sentenced to 49 years in prison following a firefight with Mexican police in 2010. He was set to be released on 27 July, 2056, but as of last month he had been removed from the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website.
He was being held at a facility in Florida, but his name is now listed alongside the status 'not in BOP custody', and the BOP says the cartel leader was released on 27 November, Fox News reports.
However, the bureau frequently lists inmates as 'released' when they have been transferred to the custody of another group, raising questions about the status of Valdez-Villareal.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was among those seeking answers about Valdez-Villareal's whereabouts as the matter was brought up by reporters during a press conference last week.
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Commenting on the news of the criminal's apparent movement, Obrador said: "It’s very strange what is going on in the United States with Mr. Villareal, who is no longer registered among those in custody, and we want to know where he is.
"There is no reason for him to leave prison, because he was condemned to many years, unless there was some kind of an agreement."
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons refused to say why Valdez-Villareal was no longer in federal custody, but told UNILAD there could be a number of reasons his status had been changed on the website.
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They explained inmates can be temporarily removed from the site if they are undergoing court hearings, medical treatments or 'other reasons', and added: "We do not provide specific information on the status of inmates who are not in the custody of the BOP for safety, security or privacy reason."
With his exact whereabouts still unknown to the public, some experts on the Mexican cartels claim the hitman could have made a deal with federal authorities, potentially in exchange for information on other criminals.