Deceased Persons Identified Not Returned, Mexico, 2005–2026 [ANONYMISED DATASET]

This dataset compiles 1,405 cases of deceased persons in Mexico who were identified but not returned to their families; the legal category under Mexican law is Identified Deceased Persons Not Claimed. All of them were recovered as unidentified and were subsequently identified by forensic services through fingerprint comparison against the records of the National Electoral Institute (INE). Because this type of identification is completed within the State, the family must afterwards be located in order to be notified. The information was extracted from family-tracing bulletins (fichas de búsqueda de familia) published on open institutional platforms by the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences, the Directorate of Expert and Forensic Sciences Services of Chihuahua, and the state prosecutor's offices of Mexico City, Colima, Guanajuato, Morelos, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa and Veracruz. The data cut-off is 21 July 2026. Institutions sometimes withdraw records once families come forward and sometimes leave them posted, so the presence of a record indicates nothing either way, and none reports which of these persons have already been restored to their relatives.

• From 2026-06-24 to 2026-07-21

Recommended citation : Martínez Castillo, Gabriela; López de León, Daniela; 2026; Deceased Persons Identified Not Returned, Mexico, 2005–2026 [ANONYMISED DATASET]; DIGITAL.CSIC; DOI