Nearly 400 corpses found on site near US-Mexico border in 'house of horrors'

A skin-crawling discovery was made in the Mexican state of Chihuahua last week, with 383 human bodies uncovered at a suspected clandestine crematorium.

Chihuahua's attorney general César Jáuregui Moreno announced this horrific body count to the media, while remains belonging to an additional six people were found in the vicinity too. ABC7 reports that they're believed to have been dead for as many as four years.

Despite possessing the three levels of governmental permits needed to legally operate, the state went on to claim that this 'house of horrors' was irresponsible, leaving owner Jose Luis Arellano Cuaron and an employee facing charges of improper disposal of bodies.

The find was made thanks to a tip-off to local authorities on Thursday, June 26.

State officials believe many of the bodies originated from six separate funeral homes across the US-Mexico-bordering city of Juárez, with relatives handed fake ashes and told their loved ones had been disposed of properly.

Close to 400 corpses were discovered in the city of Juarez (HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

"They constantly received bodies for cremation. They misrepresented hundreds of times to funeral companies they would be cremating those bodies," said the attorney general, who went on to describe the crematory staff as 'unscrupulous people who misused these licenses and permits'.

"It is a very serious issue, it is a matter of terror and it is an issue that never ceases to surprise us," added Chihuahua governor Maru Campos.

"This is how the State Government is taking it, with that seriousness, with that force, taking the bull by the horns, facing dialogue with the relatives who want to come forward."

Cuaron, the business owner, and the individual in charge of operating it, had their arraignment hearings at the start of this week.

Moreno went on to share: "They will be charged with the crimes of improper burial of corpses and also for some unnamed crimes established in the General Health Law, which have to do with the proper use of bodies and corpses that crematorium establishments have at their disposal."

Workers at a crematorium reportedly failed to do their jobs properly (Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)

During Joe Biden's presidential administration, loads of migrants awaiting legal entry into the US were either kidnapped or simply disappeared, so this grim discovery potentially opens the door for closure for their families.

A representative of Juárez Women's Roundtable Network told KFOX: "Of course, all the families and we ourselves were worried and wondered who is there? What bodies are there? Are they identified? The mothers told us, 'My daughter is not there.'"

Juárez has since launched a process for anybody believing that their loved ones could be there. Relatives must bring an official ID as well as a description of what their loved was last wearing and which funeral home they released their body to.

The Paso del Norte Human Rights Organisation, the Center for the Integral Development of Women, and the Juárez Women's Roundtable Network, who conduct searches for missing persons, requested the list of bodies located in the crematorium.

"It shakes the families to their core because we want nothing more than to have the certainty that the ashes we have at home are of my family member," said a representative from the organisations.