A volunteer search collective in La Paz has located 148 sets of human remains in clandestine graves across three sites in the municipality since 2024. Búsqueda x La Paz A.C. reported the grim tally on July 9, cataloging discoveries made during organized search operations between 2024 and 2026.
The largest site lies along the highway from La Paz to San Juan de la Costa, a remote desert road northwest of the state capital. Searchers recovered 97 sets of remains there, of which 71 have been formally identified. The first site was discovered in May 2024 on a property near the Arroyo El Cajoncito stream, where 47 remains have been found. A third location in El Centenario, a small community about 10 minutes west of downtown La Paz, yielded four more.
Sinaloa Cartel Linked to Burial Sites
Of the 148 total remains, 101 have been identified. The remaining 47 still await official recognition through forensic analysis. According to the State Commission for the Search for Persons (CEBP), human remains have been found in four of Baja California Sur’s five municipalities over the past four years. La Paz leads with 74 remains recorded by the state agency, followed by Los Cabos with 41, Comondú with 23, and Mulegé with three. Loreto is the only municipality with zero discoveries.
The San Juan de la Costa highway has become what searchers call a “pure clandestine cemetery” used by the Sinaloa Cartel. Gabriel Manríquez, coordinator of the search collective, told Mexican media outlet Milenio that the group found 48 remains along that single highway in recent months. “We’re here, insisting, searching breach by breach,” Manríquez said.
Volunteer Searchers Filling a Forensic Gap
Búsqueda x La Paz A.C. operates as a civilian search group whose members have learned grave-detection techniques through experience rather than formal training. An April 2025 report by El País documented how anonymous tips led the collective to investigate ditches along the San Juan de la Costa road, where locals had long suspected bodies were buried. In 2021, three homemade crematoriums surrounded by 28 sets of remains were found in San José del Cabo, and in July 2024, 13 bodies were recovered from 10 graves in Cabo San Lucas.
The collective stressed that behind every number is a family seeking truth and justice. It called on the public to keep the memory of victims alive and to report any information about missing persons to authorities.
This story was first reported by BCS Noticias and HOY BCS.