The body parts of nine people were discovered on Sunday (March 2) on the side of a highway after a group of students went missing in Mexico.

The bodies were found inside and near an abandoned car hidden under a blood-covered tarp in San José Miahuatlán, Puebla.

Image credits: Daniel/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)

It is believed that the bodies may belong to students from the state of Tlaxcala who had been reported missing at the end of February after traveling to the beaches of Oaxaca.

ID cards matching the missing students Angie Lizeth P.G., 29, and Leslie N.T., 21—believed to be Angie Lizeth Perez Garcia and Lesly Noya Trejo—were located at the scene.

The dismembered bodies of nine people were found on a highway in Puebla, Mexico

Image credits: El Financiero

Other reportedly missing students include Brenda Mariel, 19, Jacqueline Ailet Meza, 23, Noemi Yamileth, 28, Raul Emmanuel González, 28, Ruben Antonio Ramos, 22, and Rolando Armando Evaristo, 22.

The nine bodies—five men and four women—reportedly had signs of torture and bullet wounds. They were found 250 miles (approx. 400 km) from the coast.

Friends Angie Lizeth and Benda Mariel were traveling together in a Ford Fiesta from Tlaxcala to the Mexican coast when their families lost contact with them on February 27.

The following day, Raúl Emmanuel González and Noemí Yamileth were reported missing. They were last seen in Zipolite, Oaxaca, about 30 miles (approx. 48 km) from where Angie and Brenda disappeared.

It is believed that the bodies may belong to a group of students who went missing after traveling to the beaches of Oaxaca

Image credits: Fiscalía De Personas Desaparecidas Del Estado de Tlaxcala/DNOL-No Localizados.

Image credits: DNOL-No Localizados./DNOL-No Localizados./Puerto Global

On February 28, Jacqueline Ailet Meza was also taken from Zipolite, according to her mother’s Facebook post. “They took her, and, until now, we know nothing about my daughter. She was taken from a food place near the same beach. Two little ones, five and three years old, are waiting for her.”

Lesly Noya Trejo disappeared on the same day and in the same beach community.

Around the same time, family members shared messages about the disappearance of Rubén Antonio Ramos and Rolando Armando Evaristo from Tlaxcala. It’s unknown when or where they disappeared.

Brenda was later found alive in Puebla, according to the Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office. However, no details were provided regarding when she was found, her condition, or how she had arrived there, hundreds of kilometers from where she had been with her friend Angie, as per El País.

One of the students, Brenda Mariel, was reportedly found alive, though her friend is still missing

Image credits: DNOL-No Localizados.

Puebla’s Secretary of Security, Francisco Sánchez, said, “There are indications that some [of the] bodies are probably from people [in Tlaxcala], but we have to wait.”

The head of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), Idamis Pastor Betancourt, said during a press conference on Monday that he could not identify the bodies “due to confidentiality.”

Video surveillance footage from February 24 shows the car, a Volkswagen Vento, driving along the Atlixcayotl highway, about 90 miles (approx. 144 km) west of where the bodies were found.

Authorities in Puebla are reportedly collaborating with those in Tlaxcala and Oaxaca to locate the perpetrators. No suspects have been named in connection with the crime.

The bodies were found inside and near an abandoned car hidden under a blood-covered tarp

Image credits: DNOL-No Localizados.

As authorities continue to investigate, family members of the victims are mourning their losses on social media.

Monica, Jacqueline Ailet Meza’s sister, wrote, “Rest in peace my little angels, it was no way to die and even less for you, you deserved another farewell.”

Karla, Lesly Noya’s sister, said, “My beautiful girl, they have taken you from my life and I could not protect you. I don’t have the mind now to be able to accept what is happening.

“I wish that all this was a nightmare and that tomorrow everything would be fine, your only mistake was trusting the wrong people, my girl.”

Over 100,000 people have been reported missing in Mexico, as per the Associated Press.

In 2023, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) expressed concerns about the “near-total impunity” surrounding the cases.

Image credits: Davis Arenas/Pexels (Not the actual photo)

According to a report by México Evalúa, 94% of the investigated crimes in Mexico go unpunished, with the highest impunity rates reported in Oaxaca (99.9%), Jalisco (99.12%), and Colima (97.5%).

“The disappearance of people has become a constant in Mexico, to the point of ‘normalizing’ a situation that all Mexican society should be demanding decisive actions about,” Susana Camacho, coordinator of the Justice Program at México Evalúa, a center that focuses on the evaluation and monitoring of government operations, told Bored Panda.

“The case of the young people from Oaxaca should be a cause for national outrage. It is not normal for people to disappear, and when their remains are found, the culprits are still not identified.”

The bodies had signs of torture and bullet wounds

Image credits: Puerto Global

The attorney added: “A very common mistake in investigating disappearances is that each case is ‘investigated’ individually (and many times only due to pressure from the families, otherwise, they remain as files in which no progress is made).

“In reality, these types of crimes should be analyzed in the context of other related crimes, as well as the points of connection between the disappearances.”

Image credits: Fred Moon/Unsplash (Not the actual photo)

Camacho believes that the Mexican state has a limited and poorly coordinated capacity to investigate complex criminal phenomena, many of which are operated by criminal networks. “The efforts made by the authorities are insufficient, and there is no indication of a policy direction that sanctions this type of crime.

“It should be the policy of the Mexican state that these cases do not go unpunished, but that concrete results are also given to the cases of disappearances that have occurred in the last few administrations. It is not enough to just keep a count.”

Additionally, she points out that little has been done to review the incentives for people working in public security and criminal justice institutions to avoid corruption and carry out their work with commitment.

People sent their condolences to the victims’ families

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