Last year, police in Mexico took control of a ranch in Jalisco state believed to have been a training site for recruits of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. But it wasn't until last week that a chilling discovery emerged: the existence of an underground crematorium and roughly 200 pairs of shoes, reports the Guardian. Members of a group called the Warrior Searchers of Jalisco—made up of relatives of people gone missing in the state of Jalisco—found three underground ovens during a search prompted by an anonymous tip.
Police confirmed the find, saying the ovens had been "hidden under a layer of earth and a brick slab, which prevented their detection in the initial inspection," per the Guardian, drawing from a Spanish-language story by AFP. Authorities also confirmed the discovery of burnt human remains and bullet casings. It's unclear how many people might have died there, but the advocacy group is calling for a thorough investigation of the site. Jalisco has nearly 15,000 "disappeared" people, the highest total of any Mexican state, according to the National Search Commission. (More Mexico stories.)