The bodies of nine students who went missing on vacation in southern Mexico last month have been found dismembered by the side of a local highway — with a bag of hands nearby.
The group’s gruesome remains were discovered in the trunk of an abandoned vehicle and underneath a blood-covered tarp in San Jose Miahuatlan on the border of the Mexican states of Puebla and Oaxaca.
Four of the bodies were in the trunk, while the other five corpses were left under the tarp.
A bag with eight pairs of hands was also found at the scene, with two more hands left in the trunk, reported Periodico Central.
The bodies of the four women and five men, ages 19 to 30, all had bullet wounds and signs of torture, according to El Financiero.
The group, which was from Tlaxcala, was reported missing Feb. 27 when they traveled to the beaches in Oaxaca for a vacation.
A dark gray Volkswagen Vento with license plates registered in neighboring Tlaxcala was discovered Sunday afternoon around 150 miles southeast of Mexico City, said Periodico Central.
Most of the victims have been identified: Angie Lizeth, Leslie, Brenda Mariel, Jacqueline Ailet, Noemi Yamileth, Raul Emmanuel, Ruben Antonio, and Rolando Armando.
The ninth victim has yet to be identified.
No suspects have yet been named, and the Attorney General’s Office in Puebla said it is collaborating with its colleagues in Tlaxcala and Oaxaca to try and track down the killers.
Video surveillance footage taken Feb. 24 shows the vehicle driving along the Atlixcayotl highway near the town of Atlixco about 90 miles west of where the students’ remains were found, Periodico Central said.
“So far I cannot offer information. There are lines of investigation, but I cannot reveal them due to confidentiality,” the head of Puebla’s State Attorney General’s Office, Idamis Pastor Betancourt, said at a press conference Monday.
“All relevant investigations are being carried out. When we have a response and the investigation is complete, we will be in a position to provide more information,” the official added.
Mexico saw 30,000 murders in 2023, the most recent figures, making it the most violent year in the country’s recent history, according to Semafor.
Many of the slayings were tied to the drug trade.
