The relatives of the five members of Grupo Fugitivo are up in arms against the Tamaulipas Prosecutor’s Office. A week ago, the state agency announced the murder of the five musicians, who had been missing for days after being last seen in Reynosa, a border city in the northern state. Upset, tired, but determined to move forward, the relatives denounced, in a meeting with El País in the Mexican capital, a mountain of irregularities in the investigation of the case and even went so far as to question whether the remains found by the Prosecutor’s Office were indeed those of their relatives.
The aunt of José Morales, one of the members, questions how the prosecutor of that entity, Irving Barrios Mojica, could make such a “strong statement” about “a hypothesis” when he announced the musicians’ deaths. “They stated this without having followed the appropriate line of investigation, which is DNA testing. They didn’t find bodies. They found bone remains. They were charred bone fragments,” reports another family member who prefers to remain anonymous.
They claim that the DNA tests were taken the day after the Prosecutor’s Office’s announcement. And they have not been notified of the results. Therefore, they doubt that the remains even match their relatives. They were also not asked for information about the members’ identifying features, such as moles, tattoos, unusual physical features, and other details.
The band’s relatives were searching for the victims when, last Thursday morning, the Tamaulipas Security Spokesperson’s Office confirmed the discovery of five charred bodies in a spot in the city of Reynosa. A few hours later, Prosecutor Barrios Mojica announced that the bodies were the musicians. According to the relatives, even the representative of that agency specializing in missing persons, Jorge Macías, who was with them at the time, was as shocked as they were.
“Our rights were violated because we weren’t informed first. It was very difficult because we started receiving messages saying ‘We’re so sorry’ or ‘Rest in peace.’ All social media was filled with words like that. No one at the Reynosa Prosecutor’s Office knew what was happening,” says the sister of one of the members.
The relatives are seeking the Attorney General’s Office to take up the case. “We also want to request protection. The situation is somewhat delicate, and we fear that something could happen to us or our families,” says another of the women.
