US JOURNALIST IN MEXICO SEXUALLY ASSAULTED, SLAIN

Crime: Philip True,a UCI graduate,might have been killed while investigating
drug trafficking.

Mexico City-An autopsy has revealed that Philip True, a Mexico City-based
reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, was sexually assaulted and slain
in a remote area of western Mexico, authorities said Thursday.

The U.S.Embassy had said Wednesday that True, 50, a graduate of the
University of California, Irvine, apparently died of injuries suffered in a
fall while hiking in the mountains of Jalisco. But Gerrry Keener, an embassy
spokeswoman, said Thursday that an autopsy had shown True was the victim of
foul play. She would not elaborate.

Mexican government officials, however, said in television interviews that
True had suffered head injuries and had been strangled with a cord. He also
had been sexually brutalized, officials said.

Word of True's slaying sent a chill through Mexico's journalism community
because it appears he might have been killed while investigating drug
trafficking.

Although on vacation, True apparently was reporting on the Huichol Indian
community. The area reportedly has ruthless drug-trafficking gangs who often
employ the local indigenous population.

Joel Simon, program coordinator for The Committee to Protect Journalists in
New York, said True might have stumbled upon an illegal enterprise, like
drug running or illegal logging.

"I'm afraid that there are strong suggestions that this was carried out
because of his work," Simon said. "He wasn't robbed."

True's body was recovered in a canyon Wednesday on the border of the states
of Jalisco and Nayarit. He was wearing his watch and his wedding ring, and
his wallet was on him.

People familiar with the drug trade in Mexico speculated that the sexual
assault could have been an attempt by drug barons to intimidate reporters.

On Thursday, the office of President Ernesto Zedillo issued a statement
condemning the slaying. Zedillo ordered federal authorities to launch an
all-out investigation.

The president also asked the governments of Jalisco and Nayarit to cooperate
in the investigation.

Although the motive is uncertain, True's slaying has rattled some of his
colleagues in Mexico. American reporters generally have believed they are
off-limits to violence at the hands of narcotics traffickers.

Mexican journalists often are targeted by the cartels.

Born June 18, 1948, in San Fernando, True graduated from UCI and had planned
to be a teacher. Among the high-profile stories he covered for the San
Antonio paper were the Zapatista rebel conflict in the southern state of
Chiapas and Pope John Paul 11's trip to Cuba.

The Express-News managing editor said True's wife, Marta, is expecting their
first child.

Checked-by: Don Beck