Suspect in Mexico killings admits being at crime scene

An ex-con arrested over the death of a news photographer and four women in a grisly homicide in Mexico has admitted being present when the crimes were committed, an official said Thursday.

Authorities are looking for two other suspects in the deaths of photographer Ruben Espinosa and the women, said Mexico City prosecutor Rodolfo Rios.

The bodies were found last Friday in an apartment in Mexico City with gunshot wounds and signs of torture. All five had their hands tied with tape. Two of the women's bodies showed signs of sexual assault.

The killings have shocked a country painfully accustomed to violence and in particular the news media.

The arrest of the suspect, who has not been identified, was announced Wednesday by Rios. He was traced through fingerprints found inside the apartment.

The man, who has done nearly 10 years in prison for rape and assault, "said he was in fact in the apartment at the time of these sad events," Rios told Milenio television.

He is now considered a "likely culprit," Rios said, adding that the suspect has provided some information for the investigation. The official gave no details.

As for motive, Rios said all lines of investigation remain open, including the possibility Espinosa was killed in retribution for his work in Veracruz -- an eastern state plagued with drug cartel violence and known to be very dangerous for journalists.

Espinosa fled to Mexico City two months ago after receiving death threats.

Rios said the apartment where the killings took place was robbed, but that whoever is behind the massacre did not necessarily go in just to steal.

On Tuesday, authorities released security camera footage that appears to show three men near the building where the killings took place. They are seen leaving the scene calmly, and carrying a suitcase.

The women lived in the building. Espinosa had gone there that day.

Officials say the killings must have happened during the day and were over in an hour.

Once seen as a sort of ceasefire zone -- or at least a place to hide out anonymously amid nine million people -- Mexico City suddenly seems a lot less safe since Espinosa was found dead.

He was among the many Mexican journalists who had fled to the capital after receiving threats in their home towns.

The five bodies also included a human rights activist named Nadia Vera and a housekeeper.

There are at least a dozen journalists from around the country sheltering in Mexico City because they fear for their safety in a nation where, according to Reporters Without Borders, at least 88 of their colleagues have been murdered in the last 15 years.