Pageant Boss Killed After Crowning Winner

More ugliness in Mexico's troubled Sinaloa state: Hugo Ruben Castellanos, the national director of the Miss World beauty pageant, was kidnapped and murdered on Sunday, hours after he crowned the winner of the Miss Sinaloa contest, the Guardian reports. Police say he was shot dead after being kidnapped by gunmen near a bar. Two other people kidnapped with Castellanos were later freed, the BBC reports.

Police say they haven't determined the motive, but it is possible there is a link to the pageant. In 2008, Miss Sinaloa lost her title after being arrested along with leaders of the Juarez drug cartel and in 2012, the winner of the Woman of Sinaloa contest died in a gun battle between the military and drug traffickers. (More Mexico stories.)