How Mencho's Son-in-Law Fled to California After Faking His Death

SEMAR Kidnapping Aftermath

Prosecutors say Cristian faked his own death and fled to the United States to avoid Mexican authorities after the kidnapping of two elements of the Mexican Navy in November 2021. The kidnapping was done with the hopes of securing the release of “El Mencho’s” wife, Rosalinda, after she had been detained by Mexican authorities.

At this time it was reported that the kidnapping was orchestrated by daughter Laisha Michelle and her boyfriend Cristian. It is not known if they were married at the time. On November 30, 2021, Laisha was granted an Amparo by a Jalisco judge against being arrested for crimes that don’t warrant preventative detention.

“El Mencho” with youngest daugher Laisha and “El Menchito”

Little was known or even reported about Laisha or Cristian before the kidnappings. In an investigation carried out in 2019 in the Public Registry of Property and Commerce, Zeta Tijuana found that Laisha’s name appears as the owner of some properties in Tijuana.

One of these properties was in the Jardines de Chapultepec subdivision, Tijuana, which was designated as part of the assets of Mencho’s youngest daughter. Laisha, Jessica Johana, and her mother, Rosalía González acquired several residences in Playas de Tijuana between 1998 and 2009, some of which are insured by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), according to Zeta Tijuana.

Rosalinda was recently released from preventative detention in Mexico after multiple money laundering charges failed to proceed.

Death Rumors

Gutierrez-Ochoa is accused of living in the United States using a false name, after faking his death. Court documents showed that Gutierrez-Ochoa lived under the name Luis Miguel Martinez.

Cristian reportedly went missing in Mexico in December 2023. Rumor had it that he was murdered for lying to his wife’s father, “El Mencho.” A DEA confidential source later reported that Gutierrez-Ochoa had gone missing, murdered by his father-in-law. By that time, he had already been in the United States. 

The cartel leader himself is believed to have told his associates that he had killed Gutierrez-Ochoa for having lied to him, according to court documents. This helped Gutierrez-Ochoa create a life of his own in the United States to be with his wife, “El Mencho’s” daughter, Laisha Michelle Oseguera González who is a US citizen.

Databases indicated that Gutierrez-Ochoa used a Social Security number under the name Luis Miguel Martinez to apply for a driver’s license in the US in September 2023. After running a credit report, the Social Security number was issued in 1992, and was being used by a third party.

Investigators believe that Pasión Azul, based in Atotonilco El Alto, Jalisco, and several related corporations were used with the intention of purchasing properties like the residence since sufficient liquidity, or cash on hand is needed to avoid bank loan mortgages or leases. According to court documents, the Riverside home was purchased with the intention of Cristian and Laisha moving into the McMansion.

According to its website, Pasión Azul SA de CV, is a company founded in 2015 by Víctor Alfonso Camacho Ortega, and is dedicated to offering agricultural services focused on the management and cultivation of agave for large tequila producers.

The company mentions working with renowned brands such as Don Julio, Pernod Ricard, Tequila Herradura, Sauza and José Cuervo but has very little social media content and following.

A DEA informant who worked for “El Mencho” around 2010 and 2011 revealed that he sought land in Jalisco for cultivating blue agave for tequila production, including for Pasión Azul. The informant claimed El Mencho used extortion and violence to eliminate rival agave producers.

California Living

The luxury home was purchased last year for $1.2 million in Riverside, California. Homes at that price in the area are usually large McMansions, built in the mid 2000s, with a fair amount of land.

Outside Gutierrez-Ochoa’s residence, several luxury cars were parked. They were described by a DEA agent as BMWs with Mexican license plates. While some of the vehicles may not be too out of the ordinary for the wealthy neighborhood, neighbors and the real estate agent who sold the home were suspicious.

The property’s real estate agent was interviewed as part of the investigation, according to the statement. He said the circumstances surrounding the home’s purchase were “suspicious.” The homeowners prior to Gutierrez-Ochoa living there believed the buyers were “drug dealers,” the statement said.

“El Mencho’s” youngest daugher Laisha owns a coffee shop in or near Riverside according to the court documents. Her name does not appear on any company/corporate records in the state of California.

In April 2021 she wrote, together with her mother and a cousin, a letter addressed to a federal judge to request that her sister, Jessica Oseguera González, “La Negra” receive a reduced sentence. Jessica was arrested after appearing at her brother’s first hearing after being extradited from Mexico.

In the letter, Laisha indicated that at that time she was studying the third semester of the Business Administration and Entrepreneurship degree.

She has not been arrested or charged.

Interpol Red Notice & Arrest Warrant

According to court documents, Gutierrez-Ochoa coordinated shipments of approximately 40 metric tons of meth and over 2,000 kilograms of cocaine in Mexico, all destined for the United States. During the trial of “El Cuini” Abigail González Valencia, thousands of Blackberry messages were intercepted including many with a “El Palomo” user who DEA has identified as being Cristian Gutierrez-Ochoa.

Based on an arrest warrant tied to the double kidnapping, the Mexican government in September 2022 issued an Interpol Red Notice seeking the detention of Gutierrez-Ochoa.

Counter Surveillance Techniques

Lawyer Anthony E Colombo Jr.’s father in the 1970s.