Two Mexican journalists have been killed in Monterrey in the northern state of Nuevo León in a murder that appears to be tied to organized crime.

José Luis “La Gata” Cerda Meléndez, 33, host of the “El Club” program on national TV channel Televisa, and Luis Emanuel Ruíz Carrillo, 20, a reporter for daily “La Prensa”, based in the neighbouring state of Coahuila, were shot after being kidnapped Thursday evening.

Cerda and Ruíz were leaving the Televisa studios in Monterrey with Cerda’s cousin, Juan Roberto Gómez, when gunmen forced them into a sport utility vehicle.

The bodies of Ruíz and Gómez were discovered Friday morning near a freeway. Police later found Cerda’s body with his hands bound and a gunshot wound to his head.

Cerda’s body was located near graffiti that said “Stop cooperating with Los Zetas,” a drug cartel that has been battling with the rival Gulf Cartel for control of the city. The graffiti was reportedly signed by the Gulf Cartel.

Television crews were filming Cerda’s body Friday morning when an armed individual appeared and stole the body. Authorities have opened an investigation into police officers on the scene who failed to stop the removal of the body, which was located later Friday.

International Press Institute (IPI) Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said: “We are saddened by these killings, and it is profoundly disturbing that the murder of journalists in Mexico continues unabated. We call on Mexican authorities to aggressively investigate these crimes, and all other attacks on and murders of journalists. How many voices will it take before these ruthless killings – and the attack on press freedom and the people’s right to know that they represent – are stopped?”

The murders were the second and third killings of journalists in Mexico this year. Engineer Rodolfo Ochoa was shot to death in February by masked intruders at a television studio in Coahuila as he tried to telephone colleagues for help when the intruders burst into the facilities.

Twelve journalists were killed in Mexico in 2010, making it the second most deadly country in the world for journalists that year following Pakistan, which saw 15 murders.