Tijuana: Three Narco Men Caught Dragging Human Remains Out Of House Used For Dismemberment

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat 

Update 6:00 pm CST: Uncensored photos of alleged perpetrators and photos of crime scene added.

Officers of the Municipal Police discovered a house in the Sanchez Taboada district that was used to dismember bodies and where remains were stored to later be placed within the city of Tijuana in Baja California. 

At approximately 4:10 pm on the afternoon of November 13, 2021, Tijuana Municipal Police officers were on a routine patrol in the Cuauhtémoc neighborhood, in the Sanchez Taboada district of Tijuana, when they spotted something suspicious. 

The officers saw three individuals trying to drag a large and heavy object that was wrapped in a red rug and two blankets* out of a residence located on Gilberto Portugal Street, next to a Modelorama store. The object in question had the general shape of a human body. Additionally, the three men appeared to be carrying a rolled up white poster board sign along with them, which officers may have suspected was a narco message sign. 

The police approached and tried to question the group dragging the object in front of the residence, which led one of the three men to try to make a break for it. He began running down the street however, he was quickly chased down and apprehended just a few meters away. 

When the rug was searched, a dismembered human torso, limbs and head were found inside. All three men were detained. The alleged perpetrators are identified as: 

Jonathan Hernández Paleo, who is 28 years old and born in San Diego, California. Jonathan Hernández is the owner of the residence that they were caught exiting. 

Christofer Guadalupe Cárdenas Marín, who is 28 years old and was born in the state of Colima. Christofer Guadalupe reportedly lives in the same neighborhood of Tijuana where he was detained. 

Julio César Isario Espinoza, who is 33 years old, and born in Tijuana, Baja California.

Punto Norte reports that the residence the men were exiting while dragging the remains is believed to be the location where the unidentified victim was dismembered. This makes Jonathan Hernández’s personal residence the likely crime scene of the dismemberment and possibly the homicide itself. 

The scene was left under the custody of agents from the State Attorney General's Office (FGE). Both the human remains and the rolled up white cardboard were left at the crime scene, so they could be processed by forensic investigators from the FGE. 

Frustratingly, no photos of the white cardboard message sign that the men were carrying have surfaced as of the writing of this story, giving us no clues as to the larger cartel affiliation of the three men. 

Hours before this arrest, authorities located a human head and legs placed on a sidewalk in the Camino Verde neighborhood, also within the Sanchez Taboada district of Tijuana. It is unknown if these remains were related to this same group that was apprehended. 

Update 6:00 pm CST: Uncensored photos of alleged perpetrators and photos of crime scene added. Thank you a BB reader for submitting a link to the photos.

*Please Note: Punto Norte says the human remains were wrapped in a red carpet and two blankets. AFN Tijuana reports that the remains were wrapped in a rug. Zeta Tijuana reports they were wrapped in blankets, while El Imparcial reports they were inside bags. 

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, El Imparcial, Punto Norte Article 1, Article 2, AFN Tijuana, SintesisTV