After hunt for clandestine crematorium in Mexico City, police say bones found were 'animal origin'

A member of the Mexico City Search Commission uses a ground-penetrating radar in an area where volunteers said they have found a clandestine crematorium in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Ceci Flores, a leader of one of the groups of so-called “searching mothers” from northern Mexico, announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Trailed by search dogs and police, María de Jesús Soria Aguayo and more than a dozen volunteers walked carefully through fields of weeds and dry earth with their eyes fixed on the ground Wednesday.

On the fringes of Mexico City, the group was looking for human remains and other evidence after volunteer searchers said the site might be the location of a clandestine crematorium.

Ceci Flores, leader of a “searching mothers” group from northern Mexico, carries a shovel at the site where she said her team found a clandestine crematorium in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Flores announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains. Behind her at left is activist Bryan Lebaron. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

The search came after Ceci Flores, a leader of a group seeking the bodies of Mexico’s missing, announced on social media late Tuesday that her team had found bones, clandestine burial pits and ID cards around a charred pit on the southern outskirts of the city.

However, Ulises Lara, Mexico City’s chief prosecutor, disputed the claims Wednesday night, saying that officials found 14 bones and all were of “animal origin.”

A search dog from the Mexico City Search Commission named Argos searches in an area where search volunteers said they found a clandestine crematorium in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Ceci Flores, a leader of one of the groups of so-called “searching mothers” from northern Mexico, announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

“We can confirm that it is not a crematorium, nor from a clandestine grave,” he said.

Flores’ announcement on social media a day earlier had gained attention because it was the first time in recent memory that anyone claimed to have found such a body disposal site in the Mexican capital.

If such a site were found, it could be a blow to Mexico’s governing Morena party in the runup to June 2 elections. Morena says violence in Mexico hasn’t rippled to Mexico City while it has controlled the local government.

The search Wednesday underscored the slog many Mexican families face as they seek the remains of the 110,000 people declared missing amid cartel violence.

The volunteers, like Soria Aguayo, are mostly the mothers of the disappeared. They have formed their own independent groups to search in violence-torn swaths of Mexico.

The “madres buscadoras” — “searching mothers” — usually aren’t trying to convict anyone of their relatives’ disappearances. They say they just want to find their remains. Many families say not having definite knowledge of a relative’s fate is worse than it would be to know a loved one was dead.

Women holding digging tools stand at the site where a clandestine crematorium was found, as the press and police stand by in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. A leader of one of the groups of so-called “searching mothers” from northern Mexico, announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

“I started my own search alone, tracking with my own hands and searching alone in the countryside,” said Soria Aguayo, 54, whose son’s remains were recovered in Veracruz state in 2022. “My promise to these women is to continue searching until we can’t any more … because there’s still many (bodies) we haven’t found.”

National Guards stand at the site where volunteer searchers said they found a clandestine crematorium in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Ceci Flores, a leader of one of the groups of so-called “searching mothers” from northern Mexico, announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains found. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

The Mexican government has spent little looking for the missing, so the volunteers conduct their own hunts for clandestine graves where cartels hide their victims.

If the volunteers find something, the most authorities will do is send a police and forensics team to retrieve remains, which in most cases are never identified. The government also hasn’t adequately funded or implemented a genetic database to help identify remains.

Police tape off the area where volunteers said they have found a clandestine crematorium in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Ceci Flores, a leader of one of the groups of so-called “searching mothers” from northern Mexico, announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains found. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

The searches increasingly have deadly consequences. At least seven of the activists searching for some of Mexico’s missing have been slain since 2021.

Volunteer groups have been angered by a government campaign to “find” missing people by checking their last known address, to see if they have returned home without advising authorities. Activists say it is just an attempt to reduce the politically embarrassing figures on the missing.

In discussing some of the evidence found earlier at the site, Lara, the Mexico City chief prosecutor, said Wednesday morning that police went to the addresses listed on the ID cards recovered and “found that both of the people to whom those cards belonged are alive and in good health.”

Mexico City interim Prosecutor Ulises Lara speaks with the mothers of missing children at the site where volunteer searchers said they found a clandestine crematorium in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Ceci Flores, a leader of one of the groups of so-called “searching mothers” from northern Mexico, announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains found. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

Lara said one of them, a woman, told officers that her ID card and cellphone were stolen about a year ago, when thieves snatched them from her while she was stuck in traffic. While that ruled out the possibility the woman’s body could have been dumped there, it suggested criminals had used the site to dispose of evidence. In the wooded and rural fringes of Mexico City, it is not unheard of for criminals to dump the bodies of kidnapping victims.

A member of the Mexico City Search Commission digs in an area where search volunteers said they found a clandestine crematorium in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Ceci Flores, a leader of one of the groups of so-called “searching mothers” from northern Mexico, announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

After hours of searching through fields on the rural outskirts of the Mexican capital, volunteers came up with little other than frustration.

While some in the group cast doubt that they would find any bodies, Flores said they planned to press on in their search, adding they had already spent two days searching the area following an anonymous tip. Volunteers like Flores often conduct investigations based on tips from former criminals.

“If they don’t search, they’re never going to find anything,” Flores said.

Police stand guard in an area where volunteers said they found a clandestine crematorium in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Ceci Flores, a leader of one of the groups of so-called “searching mothers” from northern Mexico, announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains found. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

Police stand by as members of the Mexico City Search Commission use rakes to search an area where volunteers said they found a clandestine crematorium in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Ceci Flores, a leader of one of the groups of so-called “searching mothers” from northern Mexico, announced late Tuesday that her team had found bones around clandestine burial pits and ID cards, and prosecutors said they were investigating to determine the nature of the remains found. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

A police officer escorts women carrying digging tools at the site where a clandestine crematorium was found in Tlahuac, on the edge of Mexico City, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Third from right is Jacqueline Palmeros who has been searching for her disappeared daughter since 2020 in Mexico City, and second from right is María de Jesús Soria whose daughter disappeared in Veracruz in 2016, and whose remains were turned over to her in 2022. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)