years old at the time. let s get the backstory from cnn s ed lavandera. reporter: even in a country ravaged by years of drug cartel fueled violence, it was a shocking scene. in mexico, three years ago, a baby-faced american teenager accused of working as an assassin for the south pacific drug cartel was paraded in front of reporters. edgar jimenez lugo was 14 years old when this was filmed. he laid out gruesome details of his life in organized crime. he said he was 11 years old when he started killing and slit the throats of four victims himself. he also said drug cartel leaders picked him off the street and forced him in to carrying out the assassinations and that he was high on drugs when he killed cartel rivals. he was convicted as a juvenile and sentenced to three years in prison. now he s 17 and was released
all right. so, holly and jeff, let s discuss this. holly, let s start with you. he served his time. he s back here in his home country, in the united states, legally. is three anything that police can do to track him? no. not legally. i mean, they can keep an eye on him. they can conduct surveillance from afar. but they cannot interfere with his right to move about. he was sentenced in mexico under their juvenile code. he served the max that he was, you know, allowed to serve as the law stands there. so, here in america, he is a free man, and as we say, he has paid his debt to society. and, jeff, to you, does a child this age even understand what he is doing? well, we re talking about a person who has a brain that s not fully formed yet, impulse control judgment is extremely poor. he explains and we can only take his word for it that he was on drugs, probably placed on drugs by the cartel, brainwashed by
he beheaded four people and he admitted to it, but unfortunately under the law in mexico, that was the maximum he could receive, rosa. but i do know in reading through what is called the federal civil code there in mexico, they work very closely with their juvenile offenders to try to rehabilitate them and i know that this young counseling.eived constant they have worked on not just trying to deal with what he did, but why he did it. and if we think about it, this is not such an unusual story. let s think about the manson family murders, where adults, complete, total grown people were made to do these horrific things because they were brainwashed. they were influenced. they were led down that path. so, when you think about a little boy, and being kidnapped at 11, he was a little boy. so, when you think about what he did and why he did it being threatened, being brainwashed, hopefully all of the work that they ve done with him, while he was serving that prison sentence, and they are goi
from prison tuesday in mexico. news cameras captured the release. he was quickly deported back to the united states, flown to san antonio, texas, where he disappeared back into american society. u.s. customs and border protection officials say they helped facilitate his return, but say privacy laws prohibit the agency from releasing more details. he was born in san diego. he s a u.s. citizen. he served his prison sentence and does not face any criminal charges in the united states, so he s free to move around like anyone else. when the young man landed here in san antonio, we re told he was turned over to an aunt and will spend some time in a rehabilitation center, but it s not exactly clear where that will be. state child protective services here in texas say they are not handling his case and many people will be watching with interest to make sure this young man doesn t return to a world of violent crime. ed lavandera, cnn, san antonio, texas.
and it makes you think about ohio, ugh. paul vercammen, thank you. at least those girls are safe tonight and their horrible, horrible situation is now ending. our third story outfront , a teen assassin free in texas tonight. a 17-year-old spent three years in jail and spent the time in jail for beheading four boys in mexico. but no now, apparently, he s living in san antonio. and tonight there are growing concerns about whether he may strike again. ed lavendera is outfront. reporter: even in a country ravaged by years of drug cartel-fueled violence, it was a shocking scene in mexico three years ago. a baby-faced american teenager accused of working as an assassin for the south pacific drug cartel was paraded in front of reporters. edgar jiminez lugo was just 14 years old when this video was filmed.