Daughters of journalist slain in Mexico say he was threatened because of his work

Relatives carry the coffin that contain the remains of slain journalist Gregorio Jimenez as they walk towards the cemetery in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014. Veracruz state officials concluded that Jimenez, a police beat reporter, was killed in a personal vendetta, unrelated to his reporting. But journalists throughout Mexico are calling for a thorough investigation. Jimenez is the 12th journalist slain or gone missing since 2010 in the Gulf state of Veracruz. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez) (The Associated Press)

Local journalists stage a protest on the day that fellow journalist Gregorio Jimenez was buried after his body was discovered alongside the corpse of a union leader whose kidnapping was the topic of two of Jimenez's stories, in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014. Veracruz state officials concluded that Jimenez, a police beat reporter, was killed in a personal vendetta, unrelated to his reporting. But journalists throughout Mexico are calling for a thorough investigation. Jimenez is the 12th journalist slain or gone missing since 2010 in the Gulf state of Veracruz. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez) (The Associated Press)

VERACRUZ, Mexico – The daughters of a reporter killed in the Mexican state of Veracruz told authorities Friday that their father had been threatened because of his work and not because of a personal problem, as investigators have said.

Gregorio Jimenez's daughters said their father had a heated argument last year with Teresa de Jesus Hernandez, who was mad about a story he wrote of a man getting stabbed outside her bar in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.

Jimenez's daughters, Cindy and Flor, said the dispute came to blows and that the woman told their father she knew members of a drug cartel and would have him killed.

"Mrs. Teresa shouted at him 'remember the story you wrote. I'm holding on to that. I know the Zetas and I will have you killed," Cindy Jimenez said, according to a statement to authorities read by a court employee.

Gunmen kidnapped Jimenez, 42, from his home in Coatzacoalcos last week. Police found his body Tuesday buried in the backyard of a home in the nearby town of Las Choapas along with a taxi driver and a union leader who was kidnapped in January.

Jimenez had also written about the union leader's kidnapping.

Prosecutors in this Gulf Coast state arrested Hernandez and four men. They said she ordered the reporter killed in a personal vendetta after a falling out between her son and his daughter, who had dated.

But his family and colleagues say they don't believe the government's findings and are calling for a thorough investigation into potential ties between the reporter's work and his murder.

Jimenez was a police beat reporter for the daily newspapers Notisur and El Liberal. He is at least the 12th journalist slain or gone missing since 2010 in Veracruz.