Mexican cartel suspected in case of severed body parts found outside state capital

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A scattering of severed body parts was found near a state capital in Mexico, prompting questions of cartel involvement.

First, a human leg was observed hanging from a pedestrian bridge in Toluca on Wednesday. This led to a police investigation, and by the end of the day, authorities found scattered remains of at least two corpses in the surrounding areas of the city.

"The issue of crime brings us all together, and we all have to fight it," said Toluca Mayor Raymundo Martínez Carbajal.

Handwritten notes accompanied several of the scattered body parts, attributing the killings to the Familia Michoacana cartel.

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Aerial view of Toluca, Mexico. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

The Michoacana cartel has amassed considerable power in the rural areas surrounding Toluca, and officials fear that they are attempting to seize control of the city.

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Toluca is the capital of the State of Mexico — not to be confused with the country in which it is incorporated. It neighbors the national capital of Mexico City.

An aerial view of Mexico City. (Frédéric Soltan/Corbis via Getty Images)

Under the pedestrian bridge, where the first leg was found, police discovered the trunk of the same corpse. More parts of the same body were discovered in another neighborhood.

A second dismembered corpse was found elsewhere in the city the same day, with more discovered inside a car parked in an industrial area.

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The first victim was an unidentified male estimated to be between the ages of 35 and 40, according to officials. Information on the second dismembered corpse has not yet been released.