A California scholar’s research into a flowering shrub took him to Mexico and a violent death

By STEFANIE DAZIO and FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gabriel Trujillo’s family says he was killed in Mexico during a research trip. The 31-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, was studying the common buttonbush to learn how the flowering shrub is native to Canada, the U.S. and Mexico has adapted to so many climates and could be used to aid habitat conservation. His fiancée and father say the research was cut tragically short when he was fatally shot in the state of Sonora earlier this month. While Mexican authorities confirmed his death, they have not released details nor called it a homicide.