Officials: Three Mexican Film Students Were Killed, Dissolved in Acid

Mexican authorities announced that three Mexican film students who disappeared last month were beaten to death, and their bodies were dissolved in acid, the Los Angeles Times reported. Two suspects have been arrested and six other warrants have been issued in relation to the crime, according to the Jalisco state attorney general’s office. Dissolving bodies in acid is a tactic often used by Mexican drug cartels—and prosecutors suspect that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is behind the crime. University of Audiovisual Media students Javier Salomon Aceves, Jesus Daniel Diaz, and Marco Garcia Avalos didn’t have ties to criminal gangs, but had been doing work in a home that belonged to one of the students' aunts. That home was also associated with the “Nueva Plaza” cartel, a rival of the “New Generation” cartel, according to The Washington Post. Authorities said the home was being watched by the “rival traffickers,” and their presence likely aroused suspicion.