Manki Lugo, 68, stands in front of a portrait of her missing son Juan, in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, December 9, 2021. Juan, then 33, disappeared in July 2015, and a month later Lugo joined a local search group 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte', or the Trackers of El Fuerte. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
Manki Lugo no longer remembers how many dead bodies she has found in the seven years she has searched across northern Mexico for her son.
What she cannot forget are the moments her hopes were dashed and it was - once again - not Juan.
The family of Pedro Huitron gathers the night before his burial in a funeral parlor in Orizaba, Mexico, May 7, 2019. Huitron went missing on July 19, 2015, aged 32. Local search group 'Colectivo Familias Desaparecidos Orizaba - Cordoba' had found his body in a mass grave after a two-year search. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
The engraved wedding band clinging to the finger of one skeleton. Or the moon-shaped tattoo, by then barely visible on the decomposing skin of an arm.
"When we find a body, or parts, I pray that it's him," said the 68-year-old with white hair as she sat on the patio of her wooden home. "So that I can finally find peace."
After Juan, then 33, disappeared in July 2015, Lugo joined a local search group "Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte," or the Trackers of El Fuerte - named after the town in northern Sinaloa state where the group found one of its first mass graves.
The grave of Gloria Gonzalez is exhumed in San Efren Cemetery, Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico, March 6, 2020. Gloria went missing in 2016, aged 38, and her body was found in 2017. Her sister Mayra Gonzalez carried out her own investigation requested several DNA tests to confirm the identity of the body, and then an exhumation to bury parts that were found years later. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
The group of mostly women spends hours under scorching sun, combing dense vegetation for the clandestine burial sites that hide the missing dead or searching riverbanks for bodies washed up with sewage.
To make identification harder, sometimes only the limbs of several different victims are buried together. Their heads and torsos are hidden elsewhere.
Sometimes, in their hunt, they chase a hopeful putrid stench into a bog or woodland, only to find a dead animal buried under trash.
People gather around a help desk for the family of missing people run by 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, November 26, 2019. Thanks to determination of leader Mirna Medina, 52, 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' is now considered a civilian group, which will allow them to receive financial support to continue their work. Since the creation of the group in 2014, they have found more than 400 bodies. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
In May, the number of missing people across Mexico passed 100,0000 - many of them victims of the country's relentless drug-related violence.
And the number of missing continues to rise, now reaching 105,879, with many experts and Mexican officials believing the true number is even higher.
The desperate search of groups like Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte sheds light not only on the suffering caused by the violence but also the lack of faith in the ability of authorities to combat it.
Journalist Dulcina Parra, 39, reports on the kidnapping of a young man live on the local radio in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, July 11, 2018. After her own kidnapping in 2009 by a group of armed individuals, Dulcina remains an active member of the civilian search group 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte'. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
Reuters spent four years documenting the work of these groups across 10 Mexican states. In Mexico, around 180 such groups have sprung up, some composed of as few as two people or a single family.
Many family members, afraid of eroding public sympathy, were reluctant to discuss if the missing were involved with drugs or crime. Sinaloa, on Mexico's northern Pacific coast, is home to one of the world's largest drug-trafficking organizations - the Sinaloa Cartel.
Mexican officials would not comment on individual cases in this story, saying investigations were ongoing.
Pedro Huitron is buried in the cemetery of Nogales, in Orizaba, Mexico, May 8, 2019. He had gone missing July 19, 2015, aged 32. Local search group 'Colectivo Familias Desaparecidos Orizaba - Cordoba' found his body in a mass grave after a two-year search. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
Most of Mexico's missing have disappeared since 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderon declared a "War on Drugs," sending in the armed forces to fight the increasingly powerful cartels and unleashing a wave of violence that continues to roil the country.
Since then, nearly 400,000 people have been murdered.
The women of Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte have found 423 bodies, according to their records. But only 218 of those could be identified and returned to families.
Jessica Higuera, 43, and fellow members of the 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' search group, travel to search for missing bodies in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, March 13, 2019. Each woman pays 20 pesos a month for gas, water and food for the searches. On average, each group spends 500 pesos per expedition. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
Few of the women in the group have found what they are looking for.
One who has is Mirna Medina, who founded the group in the sweltering Sinaloan town of Los Mochis after her son Roberto went missing when he was 21 in July 2014.
A 52-year-old mother with short, highlighted hair, Medina is often teased by the group for her brightly manicured nails - so out of place when digging for the lost dead.
Manki Lugo, 68, sweeps the office of the collective of 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, March 16, 2019. She takes it upon herself to maintain the premises. Lugo can't remember how many bodies she has found in the seven years she has been searching for her 33-year-old son, Juan, who disappeared in July 19, 2015. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
In her living room, which doubles as a bustling meeting spot for her work, Medina recalled how after three years of searching she unearthed bits of spine and part of an arm, in a remote part of El Fuerte about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from her home. DNA tests matched them to Roberto.
Later the same year, she found part of his foot nearby. And during a third search, three years later, she found the other foot as well as part of his trousers.
Even after finding Roberto, Medina keeps searching.
Jessica Higuera, 43, travels to work in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, December 9, 2021. She starts work every morning at 5am as a pump attendant. Her son, Javier, has been missing since May 20, 2018, and Higuera joins local search group 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' on the days she can take off work in the hopes of finding him. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
"I made a promise to Roberto, back then, that I would search for him until I found him," she said. "Now we make that promise to each other (as a group), that we won't rest until we find all our children."
CARTEL HEARTLAND
Jessica Higuera, 43, joins Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte on the days she can take off work at a local gas station.
Jessica Higuera, 43, works at her job as a pump attendant at a gas station in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, December 12, 2021. Her son Javier, then aged 19, went missing four years ago. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
Her older son Javier, then aged 19, went missing four years ago.
Higuera had just finished ironing his favorite shirt and kissed him goodbye on the cheek, reminding him to "be a gentleman" as he left for the birthday party of a neighborhood girl.
She later learned that Javier and a friend had stolen a motorbike after the party. Then, his friends told her, they were abducted and never seen again.
Charred human remains, collected in half a day of searching, are laid out to be examined by the forensic team in order to proceed with DNA analysis in Xicotencatl, Tamaulipas, Mexico, July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
"Of course, I would like to hope that he walks through this door one day... But I don't think so," she said sat at the kitchen table. Two dogs scuttled about, strays she rescued off the streets.
For some, the search does not end when a body is found.
Mayra Gonzalez, 48, had searched for her younger sister across three Mexican states with another group for more than two years.
Mirna Medina, the 52-year-old founder of the missing people collective 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte', speaks to a woman looking for information on how to proceed after her husband had disappeared a few days earlier in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, July 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
One day while putting up search posters in a remote town far from her home, a group of women told her of a body uncovered in nearby forest.
Local authorities in Hidalgo state had been unable to identify the body, but Gonzalez believed it could be her sister Gloria who had gone missing in 2016, aged 38, while traveling across the neighboring state of Puebla, in central Mexico.
After the body was released from the morgue, Gonzalez demanded authorities do DNA tests. "I was worried they would hand me over any body, just to close the case," she said. The tests confirmed it was her sister Gloria.
The founder of the search group 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte', Mirna Medina, 52, carries a wreath of flowers during the commemoration of the discovery of her son Roberto's body, in El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico, July 13, 2018. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
But some things still did not quite add up.
After analyzing the case files, Gonzalez said she noticed bones were missing from the body. It turned out authorities had only partially removed Gloria's body from the forest where she was found, leaving some parts behind. She fought to have the rest of the remains recovered.
Gonzalez also requested an independent autopsy, which found inconsistencies with the official report that listed just one bullet impact wound. The independent autopsy found three.
Manki Lugo, 68, interacts with her family in her living room in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, December 12, 2021. Her son Juan, then 33, disappeared in July 2015, and a month later Lugo joined a local search group 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte', or the Trackers of El Fuerte. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
"We didn't trust the authorities," Gonzalez said sitting at a roadside cafe near her home in Mexico State.
Gonzales filed a complaint to the state human rights commission about the way authorities had mishandled her sister's case. An investigation was opened and is ongoing.
A man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance and killing of her sister. The cases have not been made public because the investigations are ongoing.
A notebook belonging to 'Milynali Red' search group founder Graciela Perez lays open on a page showing a sketch of a bone in Tamuin, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, July 28, 2019. Perez founded 'Milynali Red', a collective of families who help in the search for missing people, after her daughter Milynali disappeared in 2012 while driving home from Houston. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
In 2019, she returned to university to study for a law degree. She is now months away from graduating.
"After seeing so much injustice, I started studying law," Gonzalez said. "It's not just to get justice for Gloria but for everyone who comes after me."
(Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher and Mahé Elipe; Additional reporting by Jesus Bustamante; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Lisa Shumaker)
'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' founder Mirna Medina, 52, with some other members of the group, tell Georgina Leyva they have identified the body of her son, in Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico, November 27, 2019. Leyva's son disappeared aged 22 on February 6, 2019 in Nuevo Horizonte, and was found by 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' on April 9, 2019. It took seven months before the results of the DNA analysis arrived, and the news could be delivered to the family of the deceased. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Brisa sits at the graveyard where her brother Javier Leyva is buried in Sinaloa, Mexico December 7, 2021. Javier Leyva was 22 years old when he disappeared on February 6, 2019 in Nuevo Horizonte. His body was found on April 9, 2019 in Urbivilla by the 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' search group, and identified on November 27, 2019. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe A DNA test is carried out during a campaign to test family members of missing people in Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico, May 6, 2019. Each relative must submit a DNA test in order to identify bodies found during searches. Although data are supposed to be shared between regions, this rarely happens. Families are forced to repeat the test several times, with some obliged to carry out more than a dozen tests in the course of the search for their loved one. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Search group 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' dig in search of a body in a forest of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, March 13, 2019. As a change of color in the earth may indicate the presence of body, all searchers must scrutinize every square meter of land. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe The funeral of Pedro Huitron is held in the cemetery of Nogales, in Orizaba, Mexico, May 8, 2019. He had gone missing on July 19, 2015, aged 32. Local search group 'Colectivo Familias Desaparecidos Orizaba - Cordoba' found his body in a mass grave after a two-year search. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Around twenty people from 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' search collective gather in a field during a drive to search for the remains of missing people in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, July 10, 2018. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe A bone found by the 'VI National Brigade of Search for Missing Persons (BNBPD)' rests on a rock in Yecapixtla, Morelos, Mexico, October 14, 2021. After several hours of searching in La Barranca ravine, members of the search group located fragments of bones that will later be analyzed to discover if they are human or animal remains. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Mayra Gonzalez, 48, visits the grave of her sister Gloria Gonzalez to adorn it with flowers in Ecatepec, Mexico State, Mexico, November 5, 2019. Gloria Gonzalez disappeared in August 2016, and was later found buried in a forest. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' search group member Manki Lugo, 68, washes dishes in the yard of her house, in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, September 9, 2021. She joined the search group a month after the disappearance of her son Juan, who went missing on July 19, 2015 aged 33. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Mothers of the disappeared search for skeletal remains in the mud and sewage of the Gran Canal de Desague in Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico City, December 1, 2021. The dredging of the Gran Canal was carried out for several months as part of an investigation process requested by a collective of families of the disappeared, 'Uniendo Esperanzas'. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Passersby look at portraits of missing people displayed during a peaceful march organized by the 'VI National Brigade for the Search for the Disappeared', in the Plaza de Armas in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, October 10, 2021. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Local search group founder Mirna Medina, 52, whose group 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' is named after the place where the women made their first significant find, takes a call in a restaurant in Los Mochis, Mexico, July 12, 2019. A former preschool teacher, Medina said she was forced to retire early to search after authorities were unable to locate her son Roberto, who went missing July 14, 2014, aged 21. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe 'Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte' search group founder Mirna Medina, 52, receives a call about a body found by her collective, at home in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, November 26, 2019. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Mayra Gonzalez, 48, speaks at the Commission for the Search of Missing Persons of the state of Hidalgo in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico, March 26, 2020. She is fighting to demand justice for the disappearance of her sister Gloria who went missing in 2016, aged 38, while traveling across the state of Puebla, in central Mexico, and who was later found buried in a forest in Hidalgo state. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Charred human remains, collected during a search of an illegal mass grave, are laid out to be examined by the forensic team in order to proceed with DNA analysis in Xicotencatl, Tamaulipas, Mexico, July 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe REUTERS/Mahe Elipe Petrol station worker Jessica Higuera, 43, smells the earth during a search for the bodies of missing people in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, March 20, 2019. After pushing a blade into the ground, a nauseating smell can indicate the presence of a body. Higuera's son, Jesus, was 19 when he went missing since May 20, 2018. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe The family of Javier Leyva, 22, proceed to bury his body in the cemetery of the village of San Isidro, Sinaloa, Mexico November 30, 2019. His youngest sister, Brisa (R), 16, opened the procession holding flowers. REUTERS/Mahe ElipeMissing people search group 'Rastreadoras del Fuerte' dig in search of a body in a forest of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico March 21, 2019. A change of color in the earth may indicate the presence of body, so the women must scrutinize every square meter of land. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe The 'Graciela Perez' collective examines a mass grave in a field near the city of Xicotencatl, Tamaulipas, Mexico, July 30, 2019. Here the search process is done using sieves, as the bodies are often cut into pieces and burned. The women of the collective have no choice but to pass the earth through the sieve to recover the human remains piece by piece. REUTERS/Mahe Elipe
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