Mexican officials have confirmed human remains found in a barrel of chemicals in a popular tourist town in Baja California were those of a San Diego man who disappeared in 2005, according to a printed report.
Daniel LaPorte's remains were identified following a years-long quest by his parents to learn what happened to their son, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
LaPorte disappeared in the spring of 2005, a few days after his 27th birthday, after heading to Mexico on an apparent drug-buying trip. An alleged marijuana trafficker, he would visit the country and purchase up to 4 tons of the drug each year, the Times reported.
Following his disappearance, a barrel of human remains was dumped in a ditch in the coastal town of Rosarito in Baja California.
Mexico has seen a surge in violence as drug cartels battle police, federal authorities and the army. Killings have become increasingly commonplace and gruesome.
LaPorte is among several dozen U.S. citizens slain in Mexico in the last two years. Thousands of Mexicans have been killed.
LaPorte's parents paid private investigators more than $100,000 to learn what had happened to their son. Eventually, the remains in the barrel were identified as his after comparisons were made with DNA samples from the parents.
It was only after he disappeared that the parents knew their son had been allegedly trafficking marijuana. They will arrange for the remains to be cremated by Mexican authorities and sent to them.
"It will be something that we'll have here, so we can have some kind of closure," mother Linda LaPorte told the newspaper.
