Kidnappers free rancher related to former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney

Kidnappers have released a Chihuahua rancher and Mormon leader who is a distant relative of former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Chihuahua state police confirmed Wednesday night. Meredith Romney was kidnapped Monday near his ranch outside the town of Janos, about 140 miles southwest of Juárez. It was unclear whether he was freed because a ransom was paid. Gunmen shot out the tires of Romney's truck and forced him into another vehicle. They left his wife and grandson behind, relatives in Utah told the Salt Lake Tribune. Meredith Romney is a former president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in Colonia Juárez, a Mormon colony founded by Americans in the 1880s in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, according to the church's Web Site. The Romney family has roots in Mexico. Mitt Romney's father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, was born in a Mormon community in the state of Chihuahua...ElPasoTimes