When Mexico's top drug lord died in his hospital bed after plastic surgery, many Mexicans wondered how long it would take before one of his doctors turned up dead.
The answer came Wednesday: four months.Forensic scientists and relatives identified a body found with signs of torture and abandoned by the side of a highway as that of Dr. Jaime Godoy Singh, who is believed to have participated in the July 3 operation on Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as the "Lord of the Skies" for his pioneering use of jetliners to ferry cocaine.
Police found the body and two others on Sunday just off the Mexico City-Acapulco highway. It was one of the most gruesome murder scenes in Mexico in years.
All of the corpses were handcuffed and blindfolded. All were badly burned. All had been strangled, the cables still wrapped around their necks. They had been stuffed into three oil drums, which were partially filled with cement.
Since Carrillo Fuentes' death on July 4, police had been looking for the doctors who performed the 8 1/2-hour operation on him in a Mexico City maternity clinic.
Godoy Singh's relatives had been looking, too. They filed a missing person report 19 days ago, and on Wednesday his father and brother went to the city morgue in Iguala, 70 miles south of Mexico City, to see the bodies.
His father became ill when he saw a photograph of the bodies and had to leave. But his brother, Roberto, identified one of the bodies as that of his brother, recognizing a plastic jaw prosthesis and dental fixtures, said Dr. Miguel Angel Velez, head of the Guerrero state medical examiner's office.
Godoy Singh, 37, was an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist from Sinaloa, Carrillo's home state. His family didn't know where he lived in Mexico City but told police he hung out with entertainers and other rich people.
Police believe he was one of the doctors who performed the plastic surgery and liposuction that Carrillo Fuentes apparently hoped would help him evade police.
The operation apparently was successful, but the drug lord died hours later in his recovery room from a mix of anesthetics and a sleeping drug, Dormicum. It is still unclear who gave him the Dormicum and whether it was intended to kill him.
At the time, Mexicans speculated both privately and publicly on the fate of the doctors. Many expected it wouldn't be pleasant.