It's been four days since a family was discovered bound and burned in their east valley home. Police have released no information on a suspect or motive. A few long-time neighbors say they believe the crime is the work of Mexican drug traffickers.
"It could definitely be anyone's neighbors," said John Archer, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the DEA.
Archer, who is not connected to the case, said there's been a rapid rise of drug traffickers in our area .
It's all traced to a specific cartel in Mexico.
"The primary one is the Sinaloa Cartel," said Archer. "They are responsible for most of the heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine that comes through the valley."
In the past seven years, this cartel has started taking over the distribution of drugs moving in and out of Las Vegas.
The drugs are traveling through southern ports of entry in Arizona and California.
"Now different cells are being set up by Mexican drug trafficking organizations," said Archer. "The drugs are actually stored in Las Vegas, used by Las Vegas, also transitioning onto other cities throughout the United States."
Distributors or cells are set up as normal households and no neighborhood is immune.
There's not only been a drastic increase in the number of cells, but also the level of violence.
"People are down on money and decide to rip another crew," said Archer, "we'll have instances of people conducting kidnappings, murders, and you always have to worry about retaliation."
Inside the home on Lamb and Sherrill, police found one man dead and three others critically injured.
Action News will continue to follow this developing story.
