Families of Missing Want 'Stew Maker' to Help

Man who dissolved bodies may be able to identify kidnap, murder victims

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 9, 2009 2:38 PM CST

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Families of Missing Want 'Stew Maker' to Help — Santiago Meza Lopez, 45, center, is escorted by Mexican soldiers and Federal police agents as he is shown to the media in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)

Families with loved ones missing in Mexico are hoping that "the stew maker" can give them closure, the Los Angeles Times reports. A day after the arrest of Santiago Meza Lopez—who confessed to dissolving at least 300 bodies for drug cartels—dozens of people lobbied Tijuana police to show Lopez pictures of the missing. Police say they are questioning him with the photos.

Police have failed to investigate more than 1,000 cases of vanishings in Baja California, victims say; they blame incompetence and corrupt alliances with organized crime. One mother said officials would prefer to ignore the missing, “but they didn't count on someone saying that he personally disintegrated 300 bodies. They're going to have to pay attention to us now.”
(More Tijuana stories.)

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