Authorities in the state of Quintana Roo announced on Monday that the remains of 16 people had been found on a property around 40 kilometers southwest of Cancún.
State Attorney General Raciel López Salazar told a press conference that “a property used as a clandestine cemetery” was discovered in the town of Leona Vicario, located in the municipality of Puerto Morelos.
She said that “15 points of forensic interest” were located on the property and that 10 of them had been examined and turned up the skeletal remains of 16 people.
López said that the remains were covered with cement and quicklime.
She noted that forensic experts have been working at the property, called Rancho Sac-Lol, since late last week.
The attorney general said that the skeletal remains were taken to a government morgue for testing aimed at determining the identity of the people they correspond to, the cause of death and how long the remains had been buried on the property.
She said that the identification process could take several weeks given the quantity of remains and their state of decomposition. López noted that experts in genetics, anthropology and odontology would assist the identification process.
She also said that authorities are conducting an investigation aimed at determining who used the property in Leona Vicario as a clandestine cemetery.
Mexico has over 130,000 people reported missing, many in the last two decades. Bodies found at hidden burial sites are often attributed to organized crime, though corruption and government dysfunction have also contributed to the crisis.
Such cemeteries are commonly found in various states of Mexico, but not Quintana Roo, a Caribbean coast state best known as a tourism destination.
However, various crime groups operate in Quintana Roo, engaging in illicit activities including drug trafficking and extortion. The state recorded 253 homicides in the first 10 months of 2025, ranking 19th out of Mexico’s 32 federal entities for murders.
