The bodies of six young men and a badly injured lone survivor were discovered in Mexico on Wednesday in the area where seven teenagers were abducted over the weekend.
The group was found at a ranch in a remote area in the north-central state of Zacatecas, prosecutors said.
The surviving boy suffered serious head wounds but is listed in stable condition.
Officials have not identified the dead young men, but a government source who asked not to be named confirmed to Reuters that the bodies correspond to the case of seven missing boys kidnapped earlier this month.
The teenagers, ages 14 to 18, were enjoying a family weekend at a Zacatecas ranch when several vehicles loaded with armed men broke into the home at 4 a.m. Sunday and kidnapped the boys, according to Spanish Newspaper El Pais.
Mexican authorities reportedly launched a massive search operation that included 300 soldiers from the Secretariat of National Defense, the National Guard, and police officers from across Villanueva, the municipality where the crime took place.
The victims’ relatives held protests this week in the violence-plagued state to demand authorities find them.
On Tuesday, they blocked the Zacatecas-Malpaso highway.
“I want my son, I want my sons,” cried one of their mothers, El País said.
“We want them alive. I am not part of the government. If I were, I’d be in a helicopter.”
A motive for the kidnappings has not been revealed by officials, though locals speculate it might be linked to violent criminal gangs.
Zacatecas is among Mexico’s most violent states, where rival criminal gangs regularly clash over lucrative smuggling routes.
During the first eight months of this year, more than 500 people were murdered in the state, according to government data.
In August, five young men were brutally murdered on camera by Mexican drug cartel in the neighboring state of Jalisco.
The young men — all students and friends whose ages ranged between 19 and 22 — were duct-taped, beaten, stabbed and beheaded after they were lured to meet the gang with the promise of fake job offers.
