LAGOS DE MORENO - Bloody handprints in an abandoned house offer a clue to the fate of five young Mexicans believed to have been tortured and murdered by drug cartel hitmen, traumatising their community.
The childhood friends have joined more than 111,000 people missing across the country, where insecurity is expected to be a major topic in next year's presidential election.
The five men, aged 19 to 22, are presumed to have been killed -- but with no proof, their families are unable to mourn.
"We still hope that the body will be returned to us for a Christian burial," said Armando Olmeda, father of Roberto Carlos.
The 20-year-old engineering student and boxing fan had planned to leave his home town of Lagos de Moreno, in the western state of Jalisco, and move to Canada.
Murders and kidnappings are common in Mexico, but the five friends' abduction on Aug 11 while socialising at a viewpoint shocked the country.
The reaction was due in large part to grisly leaked images showing the men kneeling and gagged with their hands tied.
One clip appeared to show a friend attacking another, presumably forced by their captors.
"Nobody deserves that," said Ana Martinez, whose brother Jaime is among the missing.
She remembers the 21-year-old as a football fanatic who gave up his dream of being a professional player to earn a living in construction.
"My brother was in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said.
- Cartel turf war -
In the house where the murders are believed to have taken place, graffiti on the walls reads: "Welcome MZ." It is an apparent reference to Ismael "Mayo" Zambada, one of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, which is at war with the rival Jalisco New Generation gang.
Authorities are still investigating the motives for the crime, but residents of Lagos de Moreno have their own theories.
They include forcible gang recruitment and a show of force by the drug traffickers, said Mauricio Jimenez, a priest in the city of 112,000 people.
Young Mexicans are the "soldiers" of the cartels, which use lies to recruit them, he said.
After the friends went missing, authorities detained 85 people on suspicion of involvement in crimes such as the disappearance of persons, Jalisco security official Ricardo Sanchez told AFP.
Near the scene of the tragedy, a brickyard remains cordoned off after the prosecutor's office found bones there on Aug 21.
Experts are investigating whether they are remains of the missing men.
The case has stunned young people in Lagos de Moreno, home to a thriving dairy industry and charming colonial buildings and flower-filled parks honored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
"Being young in Lagos and going out at night is like putting a gun in your mouth," said one student.
The city, where criminals watch every corner, has registered more than 400 missing persons since 2009.
Many are believed to have ended up in clandestine graves and crematoria, or their remains dissolved in acid.
The police "are conspicuous by their absence," complained a local union leader who did not want to be named, reporting a sharp drop in business.
- Search for bodies -
Jalisco has the most missing persons among Mexico's 32 states -- around 15,000 since 1962.
Most disappearances happened after the launch of a controversial military anti-drug offensive in 2006.
Since then, the country's murder rate has tripled to 25 per 100,000 inhabitants.
In June, authorities reported finding at least 45 bags containing human remains in a ravine in Zapopan, a suburb of Jalisco's capital city Guadalajara.
Relatives in the state continue searching for their missing loved ones using picks and shovels.
Jose Servin, who has been looking for his son Raul since 2018, uses a rod and his sense of smell to look for human remains in an abandoned house.
He continued his search despite a halt called by authorities after an explosives attack on a police patrol in July left six people dead in a Guadalajara suburb.
Authorities said at the time that the patrol was responding to a report from a member of a group searching for missing relatives.
In Lagos de Moreno, the five friends' disappearance has reopened old wounds.
Ana Teresa Hernandez's 19-year-old son Angel was murdered in 2013, his body disintegrated in acid.
She cannot sleep thinking about the pain of the latest victims, which reminds her of Angel.
Only one of his bones was returned to her, which she gave up anyway to be used as DNA evidence.
"It's a wound that pains me every hour," she said.
The father of Roberto Carlos, named after the Brazilian footballer, hopes that his healing process will begin when his son is found.
Meanwhile, he plans to keep working to take his mind off the devastating loss.
"We need to continue living and alleviating the pain," he said. - Alexander Martinez / AFP