While the families of Zoel Cruz, Josué Daniel Vargas Morales and Claudia Pamela Rivas They are still waiting for answers about the whereabouts of their loved ones, and other cases remain under investigation or in the trial stage. The kidnapping and murder of Litzy Amelia Cordón Guardado is, so far, one of the disappearance cases that occurred in Zacapa that concluded with a sentence.
Since the entry into force of the Isabel Claudina alert, on August 6, 2018, until June 26, 2026, 280 alerts for disappearance of women were activated in Zacapa, according to statistics from the official portal of the search mechanism.
Records show that the year with the most reports was 2019, with 50 alerts; followed by 2021, with 48; and in 2024, with 44. Although many women were located, 10 remain missing in Zacapa. On a national scale, the portal reports that as of June 28, they do not know the whereabouts of 792 women.
Added to these figures are cases of missing men in Zacapa. Some files remain unresolved; others ended with the discovery of the dead victims or went to court, without a final sentence.
Litzy Cordón: the case that led to a conviction
Litzy Amelia Cordóna 20-year-old university student, disappeared on October 5, 2020 in Teculután, Zacapa.
That day he left a house in the Barranca Seca hamlet and headed towards a house under construction in the La Colina hamlet, Vega del Cobán village, where he used to water plants.
Hours later, her family began to receive calls demanding Q5 million to release her. The Isabel Claudina alert was activated, but the next day her body was located in the Los Pasitos hamlet, Los Puentes community, Teculután.
The National Institute of Forensic Sciences established that he died from asphyxiation due to strangulation and that he suffered beatings and sexual assault.
Five years later, the High Risk Court B sentenced Kevin Manolo Rivas Cordón, the victim’s cousin, to 70 years in prison for kidnapping or kidnapping and murder. In addition, he ordered him to pay Q1.3 million as dignified reparation to the family.
Melisa Palacios awaits trial
Another case that shocked Zacapa was that of Melisa Alejandra Palacios Chacón.
Palacios Chacon he disappeared July 4, 2021 after leaving her home in San Jorge and the next day she was found dead in Río Hondo.
According to the investigation by the Public Ministry, she was asphyxiated and hit with a stone.
María Fernanda Bonilla Archila and José Luis Marroquín Ovalle will face trial for the crime, after the Constitutional Court rejected the protections with which they intended to avoid oral and public debate.
Zoel Cruz: four years without finding the body
On November 12, 2021, the singer Zoel Cruz20 years old, after a musical presentation in the El Tocino village, Zacapa.
The Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office maintains that he was murdered, but his body has never been located.
During the investigation, raids, telephone traces, excavations and searches with multispectral drones and georadars were carried out.
Although two men were captured in 2024, they later regained their freedom through a judicial resolution.
Josué Vargas: almost three years without answers
Joshua Daniel Vargas Morales He disappeared on May 29, 2023, when he was 19 years old. That day, the young gym instructor sent a message to his girlfriend to warn her that several armed men, traveling in agricultural vehicles, had intercepted him.
Two hours later, the authorities located the vehicle he was driving near the Zacapa municipal garbage dump on fire.
The investigation was transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime, but almost three years later there are no arrests nor are their whereabouts known.
Claudia Pamela Rivas is still missing
Claudia Pamela Rivasfinancial director of the Municipality of Huité, disappeared in November 2025.
His case led to an investigation against “Los Lorenzana”, a structure linked to Haroldo Lorenzana Terraza, alias “Haroldito”, identified by the authorities as the leader of the organization dedicated to the transfer of drugs to the United States.
The Public Ministry also investigates whether this structure would be related to the disappearance and death of other women in Zacapa.
Victims found dead
On August 24, 2025, Edna Johana Jacobo, 39 years old, disappeared. Hours after her family activated an Isabel Claudina alert, her body was located in the Motagua River, between the villages of San Pablo and Jumuzna, Río Hondo. The lifeguards reported that he showed signs of violence.
That same day Kevin René Hernández González, a volunteer firefighter from Zacapa, disappeared. His body was located a day later in the Motagua River, in the Los Manzanotes sector. The authorities reported that he had a gunshot wound.
Another case was that of Mayra Azecena Orellana Juárez de López, 49 years old, who disappeared on March 6, 2026. Two days later she was found dead inside plastic bags abandoned in a sector of Conevisa, Zacapa.