Mexico's Missing Daughters: Haunting Portraits Years After Their Loved Ones Vanished Jennifer Smith - Dailymail.com
go to original January 29, 2017

The mother of an 18-year-old student who was kidnapped in 2012 weeps as she holds on to a pillow in her untouched bedroom. She is one of thousands of parents across Mexico left in limbo since their child's disappearance. (Nuria Lopez Torres)

The agony of the families of missing women and girls in Mexico has been laid bare in a haunting series of portraits.

Tens of thousands of people disappear in Mexico every year without a trace. Women are targeted to be trafficked into sex work or are slaughtered before they get there by their bloodthirsty captors.

For their families, the wait for news is excruciating. Many hold no hope of police help - officers privately charge families to investigate their cases and the poor are left no choice but to conduct their own searches.

Neither able to grieve their loved ones' deaths nor celebrate their return, they find themselves in limbo.

Lorena Ivonne disappeared aged 25 in September on her way to work. She and her son had been living with her parents after her divorce. Her parents pose for a portrait in her bedroom. (Nuria Lopez Torres)

Spanish photographer Nuria Lopez Torres documented the plight of a handful of victims' desperate parents, children and siblings years after they vanished.

Some of the victims whose stories are included were snatched on their way to and from work. One 11-year-old was taken while she was out buying candy.

Their haunting portraits are compiled in a photo-essay titled Stolen. Some of the victims whose stories are included were snatched on their way to and from work. One 11-year-old was taken while she was out buying candy.

Tadeo, a seven-year-old boy, holds up a sign offering a $300,000 reward for information about his missing mother Fabiola who was kidnapped in 2012 when she went for a job interview. Many families have to launch their own searches after being ignored by local police who, in some states, only carry out investigations for a fee. (Nuria Lopez Torres)

Their morose families were captured crying in their bedrooms, clutching on to their left-behind personal items, and desperately searching missing persons boards for any update or clue.

Read the rest and see more photos at Dailymail.com

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