SAN DIEGO — A group of volunteers and activists dedicated to finding the remains of missing persons discovered four bodies Thursday afternoon in an area east of downtown Tijuana.

The group — called Movement on Behalf of the Missing in Baja California — said an anonymous tip led them to the site.

They found the four bodies in the yard of an abandoned home on the side of a canyon, and they believe others are buried there, too.

Paula Sandoval, one of the activists, said the police and state investigators do little to help locate missing people, especially long after they’ve disappeared.

Sandoval added that authorities offer almost no assistance even after bodies have been found.

“There’s more bodies here and we try to do our best, but sometimes the calendar is against us and we run out of time to look,” she said. “For example, this area is dangerous and not safe … police don’t provide us with any support or backup. Once we found the first body, that’s when members of the National Guard arrived.”

Additionally, Sandoval complained they constantly request help during their searches but are often provided with little to no police protection.

“They say that yes they will help, they pat you on the back, then you turn around and they’re gone and you’ll never see them again,” said Sandoval.

According to Sandoval, they have located 440 bodies so far since they started their group started searching about 10 years ago, most of them in Tijuana.

“I’ve actually pulled them out myself or have simply helped others recover the bodies,” she said. “This number is nothing to brag about, it’s not something to be proud of. We would like to find more, but it’s hard to put on hold our families, our work, and our lives as we look for remains.”