Mexico: Mother Finds Missing Son's Remains After 7-Year Search

After years of searching, activist mother Ceci Flores announced that she has located skeletal remains that could correspond to her son Marco Antonio Sauceda Rocha, who has been missing since 2019. According to the social activist, the discovery occurred on Highway 26, kilometer 46, in Hermosillo, Sonora, in an area where collectives have reported the presence of clandestine graves. Ceci Flores explained that the remains were scattered over a large area and do not constitute a complete body, so a DNA test will be necessary to confirm the identity of her son. In a social media post, Ceci Flores Armenta detailed the moment she found the remains and what it means to her after nearly seven years of searching. 'Today I found my boy on Highway 26, kilometer 46, in Hermosillo, Sonora, and the fatigue is felt more than ever. I think that for everything I have done and everything I have found, even helping to find the criminals who disappeared my son, the least I deserved was to find a complete body,' she expressed. Marco Antonio Sauceda disappeared on May 4, 2019, in Bahía de Kino, Sonora, when armed men burst in and took him along with his brother Jesús Adrián. According to Ceci Flores' testimony, after his abduction, the captors contacted her to indicate a meeting point; at that location, they released Jesús Adrián, but Marco Antonio did not return and his whereabouts have been unknown ever since. The complaint was filed with state and federal authorities, without any information being provided about his location. 'Let's go home, son, from where you never had to leave; I have fulfilled my promise to find you,' wrote the searching mother on her social media. The activist stated that for years she traveled through different regions of the country hoping to find him alive and remained convinced that she would locate him. In a video released after the discovery, Ceci Flores described that she only found bone fragments scattered on the ground and that more remains need to be located. 'I don't think any mother deserves to have to collect only the bones of her child, to hug only bones, to collect bones scattered all over this immense place. Following her son's disappearance, Ceci Flores began field searches and in 2019 founded the collective 'Searching Mothers of Sonora,' with which she conducted sweeps in desert areas and outposts of Hermosillo and Bahía de Kino in search of clues that could lead to her son. 'I hug your remains, it's all I have left, it's what they left me.'