Last fall, the Sonoran Congress approved the creation of a commission to oversee searching for the state’s many missing people. Dr. Jose Luis Gonzalez Olivarria, its new head, is a longtime forensic investigator with the state Attorney’s Office and has years of experience identifying human remains.

Among his priorities for the new commission is to aid groups searching for missing loved ones, and ensure high-quality identification of remains when they are found.

“My desire is to achieve those objectives, which in the end will bring peace to society,” he said.

Data released by the National Searching Commission earlier this year show that the state has over 2,000 missing or disappeared people. Ninety clandestine graves with more than 140 bodies were found in the state in 2019, which were the fourth-highest figures nationwide.