Patrick Braxton-Andrew, teacher in North Carolina missing in Mexico by a criminal organization, according to a family

MEXICO –

The family of a missing American hiker in northern Mexico said that the state government had informed him that he had been killed by a criminal organization.

A 34-year-old Patrick Braxton-Andrew family release thanked the Chihuahua state authorities and said that searches were continuing to find his body.

Thursday's statement said "the authorities are looking for those responsible to bring them to justice".

Braxton-Andrew taught Spanish at the Woodlawn School in Mooresville, North Carolina.

A page that he created says that he "died while doing what he liked: traveling and meeting people".

Braxton-Andrew was last seen by hotel staff on October 28 in Urique, a former mining village located at the foot of one of the many canyons that make up the Copper Canyon National Park, at Mexico.