Reports of hundreds of missing girls south of the U.S.-Mexico border are unfounded, according to the Mexico state attorney’s office.
Officials discussed reports of a growing number of girls reported missing when they met with the media Monday about reports of human remains found.
There are 1251 missing persons reports filed in Tijuana, one Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado de Baja California official told NBC 7 Wednesday. Of those, 655 were women.
However, the official stressed that 985 of those missing person cases have been solved.
The agency receives approximately 120 reports of a missing person each month. That can average to more than a dozen a day, the official said.
Eight out of 10 reports are often women between the ages of 13-16. Teenagers who leave home as runaways are included in those statistics.
As for the unsolved cases, officials speculate the subjects of the investigation may have crossed into the U.S. and later contact family to let them know they are safe. The family members do not contact the authorities to clear the case, the official said.
