Quintana Roo Records 10 Disappearances in 72 Hours; Cases Up 22% in 2026

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — The National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons activated 10 missing-person alerts in Quintana Roo over a 72-hour period, part of 135 active alerts reported nationwide as of Aug. 28.

According to the registry, one of the state’s new cases involves an 18-year-old, while the rest are people over 21. The state has registered just over 400 missing-person reports so far this year. Red Lupa’s 2026 National Report on Missing Persons shows a 22% increase compared with 2025.

A day before the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, observed on Aug. 30, the head of the State Search Commission, Hayde Saldaña Martínez, said the date is not one for celebration.

“It’s a day to remember why we exist as a Commission,” Saldaña Martínez said. “Every search alert in our archives is not a number; it’s an interrupted story, a mother who doesn’t sleep, a child asking questions. For the State Search Commission of Quintana Roo, Aug. 30 means renewing the commitment we made when we took office: not to rest until we find them, not to file away a single case, and never to treat a family like paperwork. Today we honor those who have not yet returned home, and we also honor the families who teach us every day what dignity and resistance are.”

The commissioner said the case of Francisca Mariner has had a profound impact on the institution. “It’s the case that pains all institutions. It’s the starkest reminder of what must never happen again in Quintana Roo.”

Francisca disappeared on June 22, 2020, at age 17. Her body was found a month later, on July 21, 2020, in the Supermanzana 105 neighborhood of Cancún. It remained unidentified for four years and six months at the forensic medical service while her mother, María Dolores Patrón Pat, founder of the Colectivo Madres Buscadoras de Quintana Roo, searched streets and jungle for her.

To address discrepancies in the numbers, the commission said it recently created two new units: the Foreigner Assistance Unit and the 30-Day Unit, part of a strategy to strengthen searches and clean up official records. Saldaña Martínez said many alerts stay active because the person has returned home but the family hasn’t notified authorities or provided proof of life, inflating statistics and creating confusion. Both units will review previous cases to verify their real status.