Bodies of At Least 24 People Discovered in Secret Graves at Home of Former Police Officer

Bodies of At Least 24 People Discovered in Secret Graves at Home of Former Police Officer

Survival Update Team

The remains of at least 24 people have been discovered at the home of a former police officer in El Salvador.

According to officials, the secret burial site may contain as many as 40 bodies. Most of them are believed to be women.

Authorities said the discovery suggested the existence of a murder ring that may have lasted for a decade.

Hugo Ernesto Osorio Chavez, whose home was on the site of the mass cemetery, had been arrested and charged with the murders of a 57-year-old woman and her 26-year-old daughter earlier this month.

Chavez, 51, who had previously been investigated for sex crimes, admitted to killing the pair.

After his arrest, Osario Chavez’s home in Chalchuapa – 50 miles northwest of the capital San Salvador – was searched.

It was there that authorities made the discovery.

Initially, eight pits were found filled with 14 bodies. Some of them may have been buried for two years.

Families of missing people, who believe their relatives may have been killed, gathered at the boundaries of the property as officers set up cordons.

Justice minister Gustavo Villatoro said the depth of the holes suggested more than one person had taken part in the burials.

At least 10 people are facing charges.

El Salvador’s director of police, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, said Osorio Chavez was fired from the force in 2005 and may have been killing people for a decade.

“He told us that he found victims on social media and sought them out, luring them with the American dream. This psychopath has been detained and I believe that 99% of the people who assisted him have been detained,” Chicas said.

Crime