Last pic of ‘extermination camp victim’ as family fears she’s among 100s of burned bodies after being lured by job offer
A DISTRAUGHT family fears their loved one could be among the hundreds of possible victims whose charred remains were found on a ranch in Mexico after she was lured by promises of a life-changing job.
Distressing photos from an abandoned ranch in Jalisco, Mexico, made international headlines on March 5 after a volunteer group searching for missing relatives reportedly uncovered a grisly mass grave site.
Working off an anonymous tip, members of the group Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco (Warrior Searchers of Jalisco) unearthed what they said were three underground cremation ovens, charred human remains, and hundreds of bone fragments.
The ranch – named Rancho Izaguirre, located in Teuchitlán, about 90 miles inland from Puerto Vallarta – was also littered with thousands of personal items, including over 250 pairs of shoes, piles of clothing, jewelry, identification cards, children’s toys, bookbags, and suitcases.
The search group has referred to the site as an “extermination camp” run by the brutal Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (Jalisco New Generation Cartel).
The inhumane findings have been dubbed by locals and Mexican media outlets as the Auschwitz of Mexico.
‘LURED BY DREAM SALARY’
Rubi, who did not wish to disclose her surname out of fear, told The U.S. Sun that her family has been searching for her younger sister for nearly a year, and when news of Rancho Izaguirre flooded social media, a sense of uneasiness set in.
Her sister, Merari Noemi Garcia Mejia, 19, vanished on May 20, 2024.
Months prior, Mejia had received a message on WhatsApp from someone claiming to be with an agency that was offering her a life-changing job opportunity outside of Jalisco.
“She sent me a screenshot of what she was talking about with this person through WhatsApp. They told her that they offered her 6,000 pesos (about $250 USD) per week,” Rubi exclusively told The U.S. Sun in Spanish from her home in Jalisco.
“Since the job was outside of Jalisco, they offered her a place where she could stay, a place they could sleep, which would be run and expensed by the agency.
“They also offered them food that was completely paid for by them and that they didn’t have to worry about.
“They told them that their salary would be paid out in full – the 6,000 pesos. They also said they would be given training classes, personal training, self-defense.
“In the messages, they also said that they could send them a private car, like a type of Uber.”
The questionable opportunity raised concerns for Rubi, who said the offered salary was not possible in Mexico for someone without an education.
“My sister didn’t finish high school,” Rubi said.
“For me, it was very unreal, since it was a salary that most of us would dream of earning, which is not possible here in Mexico.
“I told my sister that I have an education, and I don’t earn that. How are you going to earn that amount if you didn’t study high school, you didn’t even finish it.”
Mejia eventually found a job in the Jalisco area but she struggled after she separated with the father of her son.
“My sister asked my mom to take care of the baby while she was working. She would go to see him on weekends, and she would go to get the baby,” Rubi told The U.S. Sun.
She always had a big smile on her face. She was a very enthusiastic person, always happy, always spread joy. She was that fundamental part in our family.
Rubi
However, on one weekend, Mejia never showed up to visit her son.
“That was something that we said, things are not good. In this case, the baby’s father told us that that day, my sister had gone to ask for money to buy diapers and milk for the baby,” Rubi added.
“And then, a black car passed by her, and she got in, and my sister was carrying her bags.”
Rubi said her sister’s last Facebook posts last May were a selfie of herself in a car, as well as two photos of the white Nike sneakers she was wearing and the two bags she was traveling with.
The family eventually reported Mejia missing and, with the help of the Jalisco district attorney’s office, learned her last location was at a bus station in Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital, where Mejia made a phone call.
“After that, we never received any updates. She never called again. That was the only lead the district attorney ever gave us,” Rubi as her voice began to crack.
RANCHO IZAGUIRRE FIND
In early March, as Rubi learned about the grim discovery at Rancho Izaguirre, she noticed in a video shared by Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco a pair of white Nikes and a duffle bag that resembled her sister’s.
“They started to broadcast a video where I identified the sneakers that my sister was wearing, which were the ones she posted on her last phone, on May 20,” she said.
“I identified those white sneakers. I identified another pair of Nike sneakers, which my sister always wore. I also identified a suitcase during the broadcast.”
But despite the connection, Rubi said she did not want to fathom the thought that those items could belong to her sister.
“At that moment, I honestly didn’t want to have any bad thoughts. I said, well, everyone has these types of sneakers, this type of suitcase,” Rubi added.
“But almost at the end of the broadcast, they went into the kitchen area, where they found an altar of Saint Judas.
“There they found two Bibles. The first one they started to check was my sister’s.”
I identified my sister’s Bible, and that’s when I lost all my hopes.
Rubi
Rubi told The U.S. Sun the Bible is very unique because it only belongs to people associated to a Jehovah’s Witness group in Jalisco, which her parents are members of.
“That Bible is very peculiar to that group. The Bible is very elegant, with a gray paste. That Bible was just released a few years ago, it’s probably only two years old,” she said.
“It’s very elegantly, and it belongs only to that religious group. Not everyone has it, only they, those who belong to that religion.
“My mother had given my sister the Bible because my sister asked for it. One day, she went to visit my mother, and she saw the new Bible that had been released.
“She liked it, and she asked my mother for it. My mother agreed to give it to her, and she took it. So, I identified my sister’s Bible. I identified that Bible and that’s when I lost all my hopes.”
Rubi and her family are now awaiting the findings of the investigation by Mexico’s attorney general at the orders of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
She said the family would receive an update in approximately three months but were told the possibility of identifying any of the remains was unlikely.
“They told us that we had to wait but that they didn’t think they could identify any DNA from the bones because they had calcined the bodies at very high temperatures,” Rubi told The U.S. Sun.
Rubi said her family has not declared her sister dead until government officials provide more proof.
“We will continue to look for her. We don’t think that she’s dead. We still hope to find her,” she proclaimed.
“Until the Jalisco district attorney gives us some proof, or something that proves that my sister is no longer alive, we won’t stop looking. We won’t stop looking. We will continue to look.”
The grieving sister still remembers Mejia’s infectious smile and outgoing personality.
“We remember her by the smile that she always had. She always had a big smile on her face,” Rubi said.
“She was a very enthusiastic person, always happy, always spread joy. She always made jokes about every situation.
“She was that fundamental part in our family, she is someone very important to us.
“She was the best mother. The best mother that my nephew could have had. She always worked hard, a very loving person.
“Believe me, our whole family needs her. It’s an emptiness that has left us in pain.”
Alejandro Gertz Manero, Mexico’s attorney general, is expected to present a preliminary report on the investigation into Rancho Izaguirre on March 26.