Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Police Officer Looking For 43 Ayotzinapa Students, Found Dead In A Car

The search for the 43 missing students of Ayotzinapa has not stopped for many, despite the government’s multiple affirmations that they are in fact dead. The latest tragic news regarding the case is the murder of Miguel Ángel Jiménez, a policeman who lead the search of the 43 missing students with their relatives. Jiménez was killed on Saturday inside a taxi in Xaltianguis in the state of Guerrero, according local authorities, which believe the crime was committed by organized crime in the currently violent region.

Jiménez had founded a local police group in Xaltianguis in 2013, so the people of his community could defend themselves from drug cartel violence. Slowly as the Ayotzinapa students’ case evolved, he was chosen to lead a civilian group that was trying to find the 43 students who went missing last September 26, 2014. He led numerous expeditions with the students’ families where they found and dug dozens of mass graves to no avail.

In an interview with BBC, Jiménez had said that after the Iguala disappearances, over 300 families came forward saying they had missing relatives too. “We have been saying from the start that this area is a cemetery,” he said at the time. In another recent interview with CNN, Jiménez said he’d started driving a taxi to make ends meet, and was once again worried about safety and his familie’s.

Acapulco is the town in the state of Guerrero with the highest number of open murder investigations, with 1982 of the total 4750 in the state.