The remains of nine students who disappeared while on vacation in southern Mexico last month have been discovered in a gruesome scene by a local highway. The dismembered bodies were found in the trunk of an abandoned vehicle and under a tarp covered in blood in San Jose Miahuatlan, a town located on the border of the Mexican states of Puebla and Oaxaca. Four of the bodies were found in the vehicle’s trunk, while the remaining five were discovered under the tarp.
In addition to the bodies, a bag containing eight pairs of hands was found at the scene, with two additional hands discovered in the trunk, according to local news outlet Periodico Central. The victims, four women and five men ranging in age from 19 to 30, all showed signs of bullet wounds and evidence of torture, as reported by El Financiero.
The group, hailing from Tlaxcala, was reported missing on February 27 after they embarked on a trip to the beaches in Oaxaca. A dark gray Volkswagen Vento, registered in Tlaxcala, was found on Sunday afternoon approximately 150 miles southeast of Mexico City, Periodico Central reported.
The victims have been identified as Angie Lizeth Perez Garcia, Lesly Noya Trejo, Brenda Mariel Salas Moya, Jacqueline Ailet Meza Cazares, Noemi Yamileth Lopez Moratilla, Raul Emmanuel Gonzalez Lozano, Ruben Antonio, and Rolando Armando. The identity of the ninth victim remains unknown.
No suspects have been identified in the case. The Attorney General’s Office in Puebla is working in collaboration with its counterparts in Tlaxcala and Oaxaca to locate the perpetrators. Surveillance footage from February 24 shows the vehicle traveling along the Atlixcayotl highway near Atlixco, about 90 miles west of where the students’ remains were later discovered.
Idamis Pastor Betancourt, the head of Puebla’s State Attorney General’s Office, addressed the case at a press conference on Monday. “We are conducting all relevant investigations. Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to provide more information,” Betancourt stated.
Mexico experienced a record 30,000 murders in 2023, marking the most violent year in the country’s recent history, according to Semafor. Many of these killings are believed to be connected to the drug trade.