Bodies of 4 men slain in Cincinnati being returned to Mexico

CINCINNATI (AP) — The bodies of four Mexican construction workers who were beaten and stabbed in the heart in their suburban apartment have been released to be returned to Mexico.

About 100 people attended a funeral service Thursday night at St. Charles Hispanic Ministry for the men, who had been dead more than a week when their bodies were found Dec. 13.

It was several days later when the men were identified by the Hamilton County coroner as brothers Manuel Davila Duenas, 31, and Jose de Jesus Davila Duenas, 21; Lino Guardado Davila, 45; and Manuel Lopez Guardado, 21.

All were from the town of Zacaton in the northern Mexican state of San Luis Potosi.

“When you have not one but four men killed with such brutality, it shakes your faith in humanity,” said Rodney Galloway, a funeral director with Walker Funeral Home. Police in Sharonville, where the men lived in the Timber Ridge Apartments, have not released a motive for the slayings. Relatives in Mexico said the men had withdrawn a large amount of money to take with them when they returned to Mexico to be with their families for Christmas.

No identification was found in the sparsely furnished apartment the men shared, police said, and there was only one wallet containing $1,300.