Third Mexican musician found dead within several days

A trumpet player was found dead in southern Mexico. It is the third murder of Mexican musician within a week.

Photo: Third Mexican musician found dead within several days

Jose Luis Aquino, 33, had been hit repeatedly on the head, said a spokesman for the Oaxaca state attorney general's office who could not be named according to departmental rules. He said authorities were still investigating possible motives but suspected a crime of passion.

Aquino played for Los Conde, which was founded in Tututepec, Oaxaca , and later moved to the resort town of Puerto Escondido , according to its Web site. The band has recorded a half-dozen albums, and members appeared in the early-1990s film "Mafioso pero Gracioso," or "Funny Mobster."

Los Conde singer and guitar player Francisco Conde said Acquino played for 14 years in the band, was married and had two children.

"He was a good person and never fought with anyone," Conde said. "He didn't smoke or do drugs."

A wave of organized crime violence has terrorized many parts of Mexico and the latest victims appear to be popular musicians.

Most disquieting were the weekend slayings of two singers who had crooned only about love and loss, not drugs and guns like some "narcocorrido" celebrities killed in the past.

The murders of Sergio Gomez, lead performer for the top-selling group K-Paz de la Sierra, and Zayda Pena of the group Zayda and the Guilty Ones has mainstream singers worrying they may become targets by becoming identified with one or another of Mexico's warring drug gangs.

Made up mostly of brothers and cousins, Los Conde has toured the United States , Conde said.