EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Police in the border state of Chihuahua say they have identified four of the five homicide victims whose bodies were left in plain sight along the Chihuahua City-Juarez highway on Monday and Tuesday.
Border Report has obtained a video showing police at the scene where four bodies were left lying side by side next to cattle fencing a few feet from the highway on Monday, some 30 miles north of Chihuahua City. The decapitated remains of a fifth person were wrapped in a blanket and recovered along the highway on Tuesday. Police said it was passing motorists who alerted them to the findings.
State authorities told reporters the first four victims were all between 16 and 23 years old and showed signs of torture and bullet exit wounds. Police have not established a motive for the murders, but a state official said drug-related killings continue to plague both Juarez and Chihuahua City.
“We are coordinating with the federal government and the army [….] to combat illicit migrant trafficking. Unfortunately, the clash between these gangs drives up murder rates,” said Chihuahua Deputy Attorney General Carlos Manuel Salas. “We estimate 40 to 50% of homicides are people who participate in these criminal groups. So, if we have 100 murders, 50 would be (migrant trafficking) and another 40 because of drugs.”
The state has recorded 77 homicides in the first two weeks of January, with most – 51 – taking place in Juarez, according to the AG’s Office.
