The lifeless bodies of four young people who had disappeared just last Christmas night in the municipality of Tepetongo were found.
They would have been located in a supposed drug pit in the Monte de la Presa Vieja Ranch, community of “El Cuidado”, in Tepetongo.
Upon having the information, they confirmed that the deceased found were their relatives, with whom they lost communication when they were traveling along federal highway 23, near the Víboras community.
After the confirmation, friends, acquaintances, and residents joined the family members in their grief in the Plaza de Colotán, in Jalisco, where they placed hundreds of candles around a kiosk and several photographs of the victims. There they paid their respect with prayers to the victims for several hours.
“It gives a lot of courage to hear this news, until when is something going to be done to stop so much violence in our country. We can no longer live like this, we can be anyone, we want justice, the authorities must protect the citizens, we no longer know if we are leaving, we are not going to return, there is no security and the authorities are not going to do anything, we feel so much courage and impotence”, said a person on social networks before the confirmation.
“What terrible and almost expected news was almost 1 month since his disappearance, the torture that their families have experienced since then is something unimaginable. May God comfort them in this bitter hour, and they already rest in the house of their Heavenly Father”, said another netizen.
So far, the Zacatecas Prosecutor’s Office has not issued any reports.
Who were the disappeared
José Melesio Gutiérrez Padilla, 36 years old, originally from León, Guanajuato, who had long been a resident of Cincinnati in the United States.
His fiancée was also there, whom he had come to visit during the December festivities: Daniela Márquez Pichardo, 31 years old. Viviana Márquez Pichardo and Irma Paola Vargas Montoya, Daniela’s sister and cousin, aged 26 and 27 respectively, also disappeared.
Because the young women were originally from Jalisco, the relatives accompanied by other people met in the Plaza de Colotán. From there they made several rosaries and placed candles so that they find God, who is represented by the light of the burning flame.
The last time the young people were heard from was on Christmas night 2022, when they were returning in a white van after celebrating the day in Jerez, Zacatecas.
On the way, one of them was communicating with her relatives, so it was learned that her last location was on federal highway 23, near the Víboras community.
