Location scout for Netflix’s crime-drama ‘Narcos’ found shot to death in Mexico

Carlos Munoz Portal murdered in Mexico — Image credit: @julioastillero / Twitter

Carlos Munoz Portal, 37, a location manager for Netflix’s crime-drama “Narcos,” was found shot to death in his car on a rural unnamed dirt road near the state of Hidalgo in San Bartolo Actopan, not far from Mexico City on Monday. Munoz was scouting shooting locations for the show’s fourth season in an area of Mexico that has been plagued with violence in recent years. On September 17, MSN shared a statement from Netflix which read, “We are aware of the passing of Carlos Muñoz Portal, a well-respected location scout, and send our condolences to his family,” adding: “The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate.”

Munoz has worked in the entertainment industry for ten years with location scouting credits including the twenty-fourth James Bond film “Spectre” filmed in 2015. “Fast & Furious” is also among his film credits. Netflix’s “Narcos” is set and filmed in Columbia and takes place during the 1980s and 1990s as the show follows the DEA as they go up against notorious drug lords and cartels from that time period.

The upcoming fourth season of the series was expected to take place in Mexico. But according to Variety, Munoz’s violent shooting death has Netflix producers questioning whether filming of the series will actually move to Mexico or stay in Columbia.

The Wrap reported that a friend of Munoz told the media that his friend’s compact car and body were found on that dirt road “riddled with bullets.” A spokesperson for the Attorney General of the State of Mexico said that, “Given the depopulated we have no witnesses. We do not know if he was in Hidalgo and from there they followed him or if he was in the State of Mexico and tried to flee towards Hidalgo.”