Relative of U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes kidnapped and released in Juárez

A woman who was kidnapped, and later released, during the weekend in Juárez while on a shopping spree was related to U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, according to The Narco News Bulletin Web site, which is attributing the report and relationship to a DEA official in El Paso.

But, though the Web site report states the kidnapped person was Reyes' sister-in-law, another federal agency and other officials are saying that some of the facts in the online report might be wrong, including the connection to Reyes.

According to the Narco News Bulletin, "the abducted woman was the sister of the wife of Reyes, D-Texas, chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The woman was eventually released by her abductors, after they discovered her relationship to the Congressman - indicating that it was a random kidnapping and the perpetrators had enough on the ball to understand the downside of snatching a U.S. Congressman's family member."

Congressman Silvestre Reyes became the first Hispanic to represent the 16th District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996. Reyes, a Vietnam combat veteran, served in the U.S. Border Patrol for 26 and a half years prior to his election to Congress, serving both as an agent and sector chief in McAllen and El Paso, Texas. In December 2006, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Reyes Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a committee on which he has served since 2001. His early agenda as Intelligence Chairman includes strengthening U.S. intelligence in Iraq along with conducting focused oversight on intelligence activities that impact the civil liberties of American citizens, including the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program. Reyes also serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, a panel composed of Members of the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees established in response 9/11 Commission recommendations to conduct oversight of intelligence program funding.

Violence is jolting Ciudad Juarez especially hard over the past several days, with 41 people murdered there in just four days, from June 21 - 24.

Also, the sister-in-law of US Congressman Silvestre Reyes was kidnapped while shopping in Ciudad Juarez, and was only released after the US government itself intervened through its agents.

Every week, dozens of desperate mums comb the desert for the bodies of missing girls.

When they find their daughters, they have been raped, tortured and murdered — mutilated beyond all recognition.

Since 1993, nearly 600 young women have been victims in the wave of brutal sexual murders in the Mexican town.

The deaths — known as ‘the femicides’ — shocked the world and inspired the 2007 Hollywood movie Bordertown, starring Jennifer Lopez.