A Mexican rapper known as QBA has confessed to dissolving the bodies of three missing film students in acid, according to state prosecutors. Christian Palma Gutiérrez, who performs under the name QBA, told investigators he was paid 3,000 pesos ($160; £115) a week by the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.
The three students—Javier Salomón Aceves Gastélum, Jesús Daniel Díaz, and Marco Ávalos, all in their 20s—were kidnapped on 19 March in Tonalá, Jalisco. They were seized by men disguised as police after their car broke down on a motorway. Investigators believe the cartel mistook them for members of a rival gang.
Chief investigator Lizette Torres said the students had been filming at a ranch under cartel surveillance. When Aceves Gastélum died under torture, the cartel killed the other two. QBA received a call that evening to dispose of the bodies, which he did by dissolving them in acid.
QBA reportedly told investigators this was not the first time he had disposed of bodies in this manner, and that he had participated in three other murders. He and another suspect have been arrested. Authorities are also examining QBA's music videos and YouTube channel for clues.
Mexico recorded over 25,000 murders in 2017, its most violent year in modern history, with organised crime accounting for nearly three-quarters of the killings.
