SLAIN MAN'S FUGITIVE BROTHER TO BE SOUGHT AT FUNERAL

As family members say goodbye to Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife,
Yessica, and their two toddler boys, Luis Damian and Luis Julian, in
Brownsville, Texas, Monday, authorities will keep a close watch at
the funeral for Escobedo's younger brother.

Jose Manuel Escobedo was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for
conspiracy to distribute cocaine in 2003. Labeled an escapee by the
federal Bureau of Prisons, he disappeared on his way to a work camp
seven months ago.

The younger brother arrived at Oakdale Correctional Complex in
Louisiana, a minimum security prison, in March 2005. Rolando Jimenez,
an executive assistant at the facility, said Escobedo had no
discipline problems and took public transportation to transfer to a
work camp less than a year after arriving at Oakdale. But he never
reported to the work camp.

The younger Escobedo was born one day short of exactly one year after
his 29-year-old brother. His Oct. 13 birthday is the day his brother,
his sister-in-law and his 3- and 4-year-old nephews were shot to
death alongside Florida's Turnpike in Port St. Lucie.

A Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman from Houston would not
comment on a possible connection between Jose Luis Escobedo's death
and his brother's drug-trafficking past.

Rita Flores, the Escobedos' sister, said the family has not heard
from Jose Manuel and does not know where he is. The family also
didn't know about extra security planned for the funeral services.

Brownsville police Lt. James Paschall said officers will be on hand
not only to provide traffic control and relief from the heat, but
also to be on the lookout for Jose Manuel Escobedo.

While the younger brother has no arrest record in Brownsville,
Paschall said his arrest on federal charges in 2003 was a "big story"
in the border town.

"We are familiar with him," Paschall said. "We'll get real excited if
he does show up."

Paschall had not heard of any sightings of the younger Escobedo since
his escape.

Jose Manuel Escobedo's 2003 indictment shows that he and two other
men planned to sell at least 5 kilograms of cocaine, worth as much as
$150,000, between 2002 and 2003.

Robert Hobbs, assistant U.S. attorney for the eastern district of
Texas, prosecuted Escobedo during the sentencing phase of his trial.
He said Escobedo and the two other men were part of a second round of
nearly 20 indictments.

Hobbs said Escobedo "was one of the suppliers selling large
quantities of cocaine" in the Houston area.

He said defendants from Brownsville, such as Escobedo, are often part
of the notorious Gulf cocaine cartel, which has a hub directly across
the border in Matamoros, Mexico. Hobbs did not know whether Escobedo
was involved in the cartel.

Hobbs said Houston, where Escobedo was arrested, has replaced Miami
as the country's drug capital.

"Houston is a source city," Hobbs said. "Along the Texas-Mexico
border, it has supplanted (Miami )."

The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office declined to comment on Friday.

The Jose Luis Escobedo family moved to Greenacres in June and rented
a home. Three days after they were slain, their Jeep Cherokee was
found in a warehouse district in West Palm Beach.