Two people have been arrested following the horrifying discovery of nearly 400 bodies piled up near the border of the US and Mexico.
Police made the gruesome find at a private crematorium in Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico. According to officials, the site was ‘neglected’ and the bodies were found stacked up in a warehouse compound.
It was originally reported that 383 bodies had been found, alongside six partial remains, as the warehouse continues to be investigated.
None of the bodies had been cremated as promised. Of the bodies that have been successfully recovered, 218 are male, 149 are female, and 16 are currently undetermined, according to forensics officials.
Communications coordinator of the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office, Eloy Garcia, told AFP that the bodies had been ‘deposited irregularly in the crematorium, which were not cremated’.
He said the bodies had been ‘just thrown like that, indiscriminately, one on top of the other, on the floor’.
It is understood that all of the bodies had been embalmed but had not been cremated, with authorities believing that some of the bodies may have been left there for up to two years before being discovered (via CBS News).
According to an ongoing investigation, it was discovered that the crematorium was a ‘Plenitud’, which had provided cremation services to six or seven local funeral homes.
Some of the bodies also had tags from hospitals bearing their name and social security numbers, according to Director of Forensic Services and Sciences, Javier Sánchez Herrera. Garcia also said the relatives of the deceased were given ‘other materials’.
He continued to say that José Luis Arellano Cuaron and Facundo MR, who are the owner and employee, respectively, were detained under an arrest warrant and charged with burial, exhumation, and disrespect for corpses or human remains to the detriment of society.
They are currently in pretrial detention before their hearing on July 4.
State Attorney General César Jáuregui Moreno said: “The Judge granted the preventive detention requested by the Public Prosecutor’s Office so that these individuals can continue their proceedings in prison. This ensures that they can not only address the economic damage they inflicted on many families, but also determine the terms of reparation for the damages for many of them, who are being revictimized by the pain they had already, in some ways, healed.”
The families of the deceased have also met with the State Attorney General who has urged that they will receive ‘comprehensive care and support in their decision regarding their loved ones’.
“We will seek the highest possible penalty for those responsible. We will conduct a thorough investigation, seeking to minimize the re-victimization of families already experiencing this.” he said.
