"Narcos" series location scout murdered in Mexico

Chivis Martinez Material from El Pais and Variety 

Narcos scout was only 37 years olf

Variety reports; Mexican location scout Carlos Muñoz Portal was shot to death in a violent region in central Mexico Monday while scouting for season four of Netflix’s hit show “Narcos.” The seasoned scout, who worked for Stacy Perskie’s Mexico City-based production company Redrum, has a slew of high profile credits to his name, including, “Sicario,” “Spectre,” “Fast and Furious” and “Apocalypto.”

Netflix issued the following statement: “We are aware of the passing of Carlos Muñoz Portal, a well-respected location scout, and send our condolences to his family. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate.

Muñoz’s bullet-riddled body and car were found in a remote area near the borders of Hidalgo state, which is said to have the highest murder rate in Mexico. In July, 182 cases of homicide were reported in the densely populated state, a ratio of 12.2 for every 100,000 inhabitants.

According to local reports, authorities have had trouble piecing together the circumstances that led to his killing, given the lack of witnesses.

From Narcos

According to sources in El País, Muñoz traveled in his car in search of locations in certain areas of the State of Mexico, the most populated region of the country and one of the most violent, with 182 homicides recorded in July. The technician wanted to take pictures of the area, but was found shot in his vehicle on a rustic road in San Bartolo Actopan, in the northeast of the state.

"The car of the victim was embedded in a nopalera, [catus]" said the spokesman, a statement that makes it appear that the man was involved in a foot chase."

"We do not know if he was in Hidalgo and from there they followed him, or if he was in the State of Mexico and tried to flee to Hidalgo," said the official.

Mexican authorities have encountered various problems in rebuilding the scene of the crime, mainly due to the lack of witnesses. A friend of Muñoz, in statements to El País, assumes that the presence of a foreigner with a camera was suspicious and that "perhaps they thought that he was gathering information and unknown persons began following him in a car”.

Season 4

Netflix’s season 4 is said to be exploring the origins of Mexico’s infamous Juarez cartel just as season 3 focused on the rise and fall of Colombia’s Cali cartel and heralded the shift of the drug wars to Mexico.

Munoz’s murder raises doubts on whether the production will continue in Mexico or move back to Colombia where it began. Such a decision would imperil hundreds of jobs that the series’ production would have generated in Mexico.