CJNG accused of murdering 3 missing film students who were dissolved in acid

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat  from  Reforma

Javier Salomón Aceves Gastélum, Jesús Daniel Díaz García and  Marco García Ávalos the three film students, missing since March 19, were murdered and dissolved in acid, according to the investigations of the Attorney General.

In a press conference, Prosecutor Raúl Sánchez Jiménez informed that Gerardo "N" and Omar "N" were detained in the case, who received one year of preventive detention.

It was also reported that there are 8 other people related to the crime, and that the facts are due to an alleged conflict between cartels.

In a video, it was detailed that 15 farms were inspected, 400 interviews were conducted and 6 vehicles were insured.

" The three students would have made their film in a safe house of the Cartel Nueva Plaza, without knowing it."

According to the investigations of the Prosecutor's Office presented in said video, the house in which the students made their video as part of their project, provided by the aunt of one of them, was property of Diego Mejía,  member of a group criminal contrary to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación.

Members of CJNG group saw the students on the farm and abducted and transferred them to another farm in Colonia Pinar de las Palomas, in Tonalá.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, at that point they were beaten in pursuit of reports from the opposite criminal group, and they took their lives.

Later they took them to the address in Amapola 450, in Colonia Rancho de la Cruz, where they were  dissolved in acid.

"The students were in a place of grave risk, guarded by a criminal cell of the CJNG, in opposition to the Cártel Nueva Plaza, to which Diego and 'El Cholo' belong," the Prosecutor's Office reported.

Lizette Torres, head of the investigation, said that the investigations to find the rest of the suspects continue.

Additional information:

The film students  took advantage of the long weekend to make a short film that corresponded to a school project . The 3 studied film in Guadalajara.

This is a confusing case from the beginning, with “facts” shifting.

Initially witnesses had affirmed that CAAV students were kidnapped by elements of  the Prosecutor's Office. The participation of police elements and other authorities in this disappearance have not been verified, but this is the account of witnesses.

On April 18 when the authorities found three tambos/drums with solvents and acids in an area located on Calle Ahuehuetes, in the Rancho de la Cruz neighborhood.

In that search, blood stains were found in a seized vehicle, in addition to more stains in different parts of the building. The drums with acid were found in different rooms of the property, which is presumed to belong to the CJNG.

The Tonalá building belonged to the aunt of one of the students,  Edna Judith, who was arrested at the beginning of April.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the 3 young people were intercepted by the CJNG on their way to Guadalajara. This occurred after being observed in the safe house of the Nueva Plaza Cartel.

Identification was determined by DNA analysis. 

The state agency confirmed that the young people had no relationship with the drug traffickers of the region and that their only "mistake" was to shoot the film on property that was used by the criminal group.

The Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro, winner of the Oscar prize this year and originally from Jalisco, said that this case is "terrifying".

The kidnapping of the three students provoked outrage in the state of Jalisco and has revealed the wave of violence that plagues the state.

According to figures Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), in the first quarter of 2018 there were 353 homicides in the state which has broken the record as the beginning of the most violent year of the last 20 years.