Fifty-six sets of human remains have been identified one year after a mass grave was discovered in Mexico’s northern border state of Nuevo Leon, prosecutors said in a statement Sunday.
Twenty-four sets of remains were identified through DNA testing and matched existing profiles belonging to people who had been reported missing since 2010, the statement said.
The DNA profiles of 32 other people were found in the bones, but they could not immediately be matched to anyone.
Authorities are in the process of delivering the remains to families and are still working on identifying the rest of the people from dental and bone fragments in the grave.
State prosecutors said the grave pit was discovered last February on a rural hillside in Garcia, near the northern city of Monterrey.
In 2010, the area was dominated by the extremely violent Zetas cartel, which often burned or dissolved its victims, reducing their bodies to bone fragments.
