Nearly 400 Decomposed Bodies Discovered in Mexican Border City Warehouse

Authorities in Mexico have made the horrifying discovery of almost 400 bodies packed into a backstreet business park close to the US border. The cadavers, some of which are thought to have been lying there for at least three or four years, were discovered at the border city of Ciudad Juarez.

In total, 383 bodies have been accounted for, along with the partial remains of at least six other people. Mexico is a country plagued with terrifying gang violence and murders, so investigators said they will have to carry out autopsies on the bodies to ensure they were not killed deliberately. It’s thought the bodies were being stored illegally at a backstreet crematorium.

Chihuahua state prosecutor César Jáuregui said Monday that the people had been dead for at least three or four years. Mr Jáuregui said the crematorium’s owner and an employee had been arrested, adding: “Who knows what the ulterior motive of these subjects was, because storing that number also makes you think they weren’t providing the service.”

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“They will be charged with the crimes of improper burial of corpses and also for some unnamed crimes established in the General Health Law, which have to do with the proper use of bodies and corpses that crematorium establishments have at their disposal.”

Authorities did not yet know why so many bodies had been stored at the crematorium, which worked with six funeral homes in the city. The bodies were discovered last Thursday.

Mr Jáuregui told reporters: “All the people there have funeral treatments”, meaning they had been embalmed and prepared for being disposed of.

According to ABC7 KIVA, Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos said those running the facility were “irresponsible and unscrupulous people who misused these licenses and permits”.

“It is a very serious issue, it is a matter of terror, and it is an issue that never ceases to surprise us. This is how the State Government is taking it, with that seriousness, with that force, taking the bull by the horns, facing dialogue with the relatives who want to come forward.”

Ciudad Juarez is a city in Mexico immediately across the border from the US city of El Paso in New Mexico.