Inspector Richard Mack Latham, 50, was shot and killed after being abducted from the Del Rio Port of Entry on January 27, 1984. Latham, a United States Customs Inspector, had discovered stolen jewelry in a van that had crossed the border from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico when four men pulled weapons and kidnapped him. His body was found the next day in a ditch about 200 yards off Highway 277, north of Eagle Pass, Maverick County. He was handcuffed and had been killed with his own service weapon, a .357 magnum pistol, the fatal shot delivered to his back.

Two of the kidnappers later hired a taxi from Eagle Pass to Presidio; state troopers stopped that taxi near Dryden in Terrell County, about 140 miles from Eagle Pass. One man surrendered and another committed suicide with Latham’s service weapon. The remaining two suspects were arrested in Mexico and charged along with the man who had surrendered. The man convicted of shooting Latham, Raphael Calderon-Velasquez, received a life sentence; the other two received 23-year sentences. Latham was buried in Westlawn Cemetery in Del Rio. His grandfather, Inspector James Wallen, had also been shot and killed near the same port of entry on March 6, 1923.

Anyone who knew Inspector Latham, worked at the Del Rio port in 1984, or has information about the abduction and shooting is asked to share what they know.