If La Mora is the rural idyll, then Colonia LeBaron – the ranch Christina, Rhonita and Dawna were trying to reach – is widely seen as the power centre of Mexico’s fundamentalist Mormons.

Here, pecans are grown in vast orchards to be exported all over the world, and the men unwind with a trip to the shooting range or the local tavern. It’s closer to Texas, in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

Rhonita Miller’s uncle, Julian LeBaron, is one of its Mormon leaders. He knows all too well the dangers the cartels pose to their way of life.

In 2009, Julian’s brother Eric, then 16, was kidnapped by local cartel members, who demanded $1m in ransom. The LeBaron community refused to pay and thereby legitimise the cartels. Instead, they organised a protest movement, SOS Chihuahua, to shame the cartels into releasing Eric.

Benjamin LeBaron, Julian’s older brother, emerged as the spokesman for the movement, giving interviews in fluent Spanish and successfully lobbying the local governor for a meeting.

After weeks of relentless pressure, Eric was released unharmed, and the LeBarons became heroes in Mexico for their refusal to cave in to the cartels. But Benjamin knew that his stand would come at a price

Two months later, 15 armed men broke down Benjamin’s door. They bundled Benjamin, his brother-in-law, and his neighbour, Luis Widmar, into a waiting car.