Hugo Castellanos, the well-known owner of a modeling agency in Guadalajara and the director of the Miss World beauty pageant in Mexico, was shot and killed in Culiacan, Sinaloa last weekend.
According to police reports, Castellanos and some companions were ambushed in their Jeep in the early hours, not long after he had presided over the Miss Sinaloa pageant in the same city.
The companions were allowed to go, police told local news sources. But Castellanos’ body was found a few hours later dumped in the back the Jeep with a bullet to his head.
Police say they are following several leads, one being that he was killed by people upset at the result of the contest, that was won by Melissa Lizárraga. In a post on her Facebook page, she wrote: “Yesterday, he crowned me. Today he’s not here.”
Castellanos, a former model and organizer of the Miss Jalisco beauty pageant, had no known links to drug trafficking cartels, police said. Organized crime, however, has managed to infiltrate the pageant business in recent years, say some journalists who cover the activity.
Castellanos’ body was returned to Guadalajara this week for cremation.