Missing in Cancun: 21 months since Sahir Alexis disappeared

Sahir Alexis Lopez disappeared on June 11, 2019, after visiting the Palazzo nightclub in the company of a friend. Allegedly both young men would have crossed words with a drug dealer, who ordered them to be plagiarized, in complicity with a staff of the place. The friend was beaten and then abandoned, but Sahir Alexis was never heard from again.

After the events, authorities searched the place, and four employees of the Palazzo and two cab drivers were arrested in connection with the events, as accomplices in the kidnapping and the transfer of the beaten young man. For days the authorities also searched the mangroves of the Nichupté Lagoon in the Hotel Zone, in the hope of finding the student's body, but to no avail. In the meantime, the site remains closed.

Sunday, April 11, marked one year and 9 months since the disappearance of young student Sahir Alexis López Ruíz, a young tourist from the state of Nuevo León who was 'kidnapped' from the Palazzo nightclub in the Hotel Zone. It was his family who through social networks remembered this date and in particular, the father of this 24-year-old wrote on his Twitter account a message in which he thanked the State Attorney General's Office for its support.

Today April 11 my son SAHIR ALEXIS turns one year nine months after being kidnapped at the Disco Palazzo in Cancun. Thanks to the Attorney General's Office for their support, there is still a lot to do, do not give up for the good of beautiful Cancun, the people need support. BLESSINGS SON WHEREVER YOU ARE !!!!!". wrote Mr. Sabas Lopez Rodriguez, on his Twitter account.

What is known about the disappearance of Sahir Alexis

Almost two years after the forced disappearance of Sahir Lopez, a student from Monterrey, which occurred in a nightclub in Cancun's Hotel Zone, there has been no progress in the investigations to find the young man who was 24 years old at the time, and who was kidnapped along with one of his friends, who managed to escape.

Information provided at that time by state authorities indicated that the missing man was on vacation in Cancun with his friend and that during their stay at the 'Palazzo' nightclub, which is currently closed and located at Kilometer 9 of the hotel zone, they went to the bathroom, where he and his companion allegedly had a fight with drug dealers, from which they were beaten.

One of them was threatened and forced to leave Cancun and returned to Nuevo Leon, where he informed his relatives of what had happened. To date, it has not been reported whether Sahir has been located dead or alive, and the family does not lose hope of finding him, as they have stated on the Facebook page they have dedicated to the search for the young man from Nuevo Leon.

Since that June 11, 2019, an ordeal began for the family of Sahir Lopez; the Anti-Kidnapping Prosecutor's Office of Nuevo Leon, notified the authorities of Cancun of the disappearance of the student from Monterrey, and it was they who kept exerting pressure for the advancement of investigations into the case by the Attorney General's Office of Quintana Roo.

Chronology of the Sahir López Case

July 11, 2019

Sahir is last seen inside the bathroom of the Palazzo nightclub in Cancun's Hotel Zone; the friend who accompanied him on the trip and to the nightclub was threatened and forced to leave Quintana Roo, returning to Nuevo Leon to give notice to Lopez's family about what had happened.

July 17, 2019

The Attorney General's Office of the State of Quintana Roo, the then Armed Navy of Mexico (Now Semar), Military Police, and National Guard, arrived at the discotheque after obtaining a search warrant; on the night of that date, 91 people, all employees of the establishment, were secured to give their statement before the corresponding authorities, in total there were 62 men and 29 women, since then the place was secured and has remained closed and out of operation.

July 19, 2019

Four security agents of the discotheque Palazzo were arrested, all of them are currently incarcerated in the Centro de Readaptación Social (Cereso) of Cancun and could face up to 90 years in prison for the crime of kidnapping against Sahir Lopez.

July 20, 2019

In addition to the security guards, two cab drivers were arrested in Cancun, who in their first statement, indicated that the young man did not leave the nightclub alive, they also added that they escorted a third cab unit where Sahir's lifeless body was allegedly taken.

July 22, 2019

Two days after the arrest of the cab drivers, the dismembered bodies of two men appeared, and were found in the early hours of that date in Region 91; next to the human remains, a message was found indicating that the dead were responsible for the alleged disappearance of Sahir López; it also indicated that the body of the man from Monterrey was supposedly thrown in the Nichupté Lagoon, at the height of kilometer 27 of Boulevard Kukulcán. Authorities searched for the body in the place indicated by the message but found nothing.

August 14, 2019

More than two months after the disappearance of Sahir, and as part of the investigations, specialized experts from different areas of the Attorney General's Office of the State of Quintana Roo (FGE), went again to the facilities of 'Palazzo' to perform several tests that help to locate human blood, and integrate their findings in the case file.

September 23, 2019

Three months after the event that occurred in the Hotel Zone of Cancun, a person who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping of the student from Nuevo Leon was linked to the process, for the crime of aggravated kidnapping. So far there are seven detainees in the case of Sahir Lopez.

November 19, 2019

After several investigations, the Attorney General's Office of Quintana Roo secured two crematoriums belonging to funeral homes, one was located in the Alfredo V. Bonfil delegation and the other at the exit of Cancun heading to Merida. They were implicated in the alleged clandestine cremations of corpses by organized crime, where Sahir's body was allegedly burned. So far, no new evidence has been released in the case, and the family requests that the search for him be maintained, one year and nine months after his disappearance.