Mexico's 'other disappeared' leave a devastating legacy

In this Aug. 19, 2015 photo, painted crosses mark the site where two college students were killed and 43 more kidnapped, in Iguala, Mexico on Sept. 26, 2014. According to a federal investigation, the students were taken by police and then handed over to a local drug gang that allegedly killed them and burned the bodies. The incident cast national and international attention on Iguala, emboldening hundreds of local families to come forward and speak up about their missing relatives. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this May 31, 2015 photo, a relative of a missing person smells a stick that was poked into the ground, checking for the odor of decaying flesh, during a search for a clandestine grave from an anonymous tip, in Iguala, Mexico. At least 292 people have been added to the list of missing from the Iguala area since the 43 students disappeared there on Sept. 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this June 1, 2015 photo, relatives of Victor Albarran Varela look at a photo of him, at his home in Cocula, Mexico. He is among the 25,000 Mexicans who have disappeared since 2007, according to the governmentâs count. Victor was 15 years old when he was taken on July 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this April 21, 2015 photo, snapshots with brief descriptions of missing people are tacked to a board in the San Gerardo Catholic Parish in Iguala, Mexico. Little attention had been paid to the many people who have disappeared or been kidnapped in this region until 43 students from a rural teachers college disappeared in Iguala, Sept. 26, 2014. Two months after the students disappeared, hundreds of families began coming forward to tell their stories, emboldened by the international attention focused on the missing students. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this May 26, 2015 photo, Rosa Segura Giral holds up a photo of her daughter, Berenice Navarijo Segura, in Iguala, Mexico. On the morning of her high school graduation, 19-year-old Berenice left for a beauty salon appointment, less than a five-minute drive from home, and vanished into the ranks of Mexicoâs missing. Segura Giral says she has not lost hope for her daughter. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this June 30, 2015 photo, relatives of missing people gather at the San Gerardo Catholic Parish in Iguala, Mexico. Two months after 43 college students disappeared, hundreds of families began coming forward to tell their stories, emboldened by the international attention focused on the missing 43. The familiesâ message was simple: there are many more missing. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this June 1, 2015 photo, a framed photo of disapperaed Victor Albarran Varela is surrounded by religious icons on a makeshift altar, in his home in Cocula, Mexico. On July 1, 2013 the explosion of gunfire echoed from the center of this town in the predawn stillness. A convoy of armed men had arrived in town and once they had left, 17 residents including Victor, had disappeared, never to be seen again. They are among the 25,000 Mexicans who have disappeared since 2007, according to the governmentâs count. Victor was 15 years old when he was taken. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this April 19, 2015 photo, Maria Guadalupe Gomez Hernandez, accompanied by her mother, swabs the inside of her cheek to submit a DNA sample to aid in the search for her missing brothers, in Iguala, Mexico. The international outrage over the 43 missing college students of Ayotzinapa emboldened hundreds of other families from the state of Guerrero, and for the first time spoke of their misfortune, adding the names of their loved ones to the governmentâs growing registry of 25,000 people reported missing nationwide since 2007. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this April 22, 2015 photo, a man inspects a sandal during a search for clandestine graves in the dry brush on the outskirts of Iguala, Mexico. Authorities are of little help, say residents who have seen local police escorting gangsters through town and consider them to be a uniformed extension of Guerreros Unidos. That relationship was reinforced by the government investigation into the case of the 43 students, which concluded that Iguala and Cocula police had turned them over to members of Guerreros Unidos, who then killed them and disposed of the incinerated remains in Cocula. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this Aug. 19, 2015 photo, a child flies a kite as others look out from an observation point overlooking the city of Iguala, Mexico. Iguala was thrust into the national and international limelight on Sept. 26, 2014 when three students were killed and 43 others disappeared allegedly at hands of the local police who then handed them over to a drug gang that disposed of the bodies, according to a federal investigation. The focus on Iguala has emboldened hundreds of local families to come forward and speak up about their own missing relatives. The familiesâ message was simple: there are many more missing. They called them âthe other disappeared.â (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this May 31, 2015 photo, a relative of a missing person pokes a stick into the ground to later pull it out and check for the scent of decaying flesh during a group search for a clandestine grave after receiving an anonymous tip, in Iguala, Mexico. Since the government began excavating suspected graves found by this group scouring the surrounding mountains looking for their loved ones late last year, more than 100 bodies have been exhumed though most still await identification. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this April 22, 2015 photo, Mario Vergara explains how the pigmentation of rocks helps him as he looks for clandestine graves amidst dry vegetation on the outskirts of Iguala, Mexico. Vergara says that some stones have the look of having been recently unearthed in the digging of a grave rather than always having been on the surface. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In this May 12, 2015 photo, relatives of missing people gather under a tree at the San Gerardo Catholic Parish, in Iguala, Mexico. Little attention had been paid to the many people who have disappeared or been kidnapped in this region until 43 students from a rural teachers' college disappeared in this city on Sept. 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)