I SAY COT DAM

Grandfather

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_8387531Home heavily guarded5 bodies, 2 heads and 3 torsos dug upBy Louie Gilot / El Paso TimesArticle Launched: 02/28/2008 12:00:00 AM MSTJUAREZ -- Excavators could still be heard Wednesday digging up the Ju??rez patio where five bodies, two heads and three torsos were unearthed in the past few days.The white house with pink window trimming, on a small residential street off Tecnologico Avenue, was guarded by heavily armed federal police officers.Behind the house on the property are a paved patio, which was hidden from sight Wednesday by blue and black tarp, and a conspicuous three-story concrete warehouse.Andres Rodriguez, who works at a grocery store on an adjacent street, said that more police and forensic technicians had been going to the house every day."I didn't really realize what was going on. It's a sad world we're living in," he said.On Jan. 25, about 1,500 pounds of marijuana were found during a police raid on the house.On Feb. 21, police were back and uncovered one body in a grave. The next day, they found three bodies in another grave.On Feb. 23, they found a body in a third grave.Last Monday, they made a gruesome discovery in a fourth grave -- two heads and three torsos.The identities of the victims were not released Wednesday.Authorities said Tuesday they still had half the patio to tear up.Jaime Hervella, founder of the Association of Relatives and Friends of Disappeared Persons in El Paso, said it was an anonymous telephone tip he received that led Mexican police to the house at 1847 Cocoyoc street.Officials with Mexico's attorney general in Ju??rezAdvertisementsaid they could not comment on the case."I received a phone call from an informer that at such and such a warehouse where they recently picked up marijuana, you will find some of the individuals that are on your list," Hervella said.Hervella's group has maintained a list of about 200 men who disappeared in Ju??rez since the early 1990s and are believed to have been victims of drug traffickers.The informer called Hervella back several times, Hervella said, and had specific details and said the house was behind "the dance hall with the French name."The house stands to the back of the popular rental hall La Cit??.The man allegedly gave Hervella the identity of two of the victims, one of whom was a U.S. citizen who disappeared in 1996, Hervella said.Hervella said it wasn't easy to persuade Mexican officials to dig up the patio because "we've gone on wild-goose chases before."In 2004, after the bodies of 12 men were found buried in the backyard of a Ju??rez house, police dug up at least two Ju??rez drug mansions looking for more bodies that were not found.Hervella said he told association members to have patience because the bodies at Cocoyoc street are in skeletal form and it may take some time before they can be identified. But he said the discovery was exciting news for families who want to know what happened to their loved ones.Last month, six bodies were found buried in a backyard in Chihuahua City.Mexican federal police arrived in Ju??rez this month to help fight mounting drug-related violence, which has contributed to swelling the homicide count to more than 75 since Jan. 1.Louie Gilot may be reached at [email]lgilot@elpasotimes.com;[/email] 546-6131.