DURANGO, Mexico, May 13 (UPI) -- Mexican police found eight headless naked bodies in the northern city of Durango, including the remains of a deputy prison governor, officials said.
Six decapitated bodies were found along a highway and two more on the outskirts of Durango with messages signed by a drug gang, Azteca Noticias reported Friday.
One of the bodies was identified as the deputy director of a city prison, Gerardo Galindo Meza, who was kidnapped Monday.
Meza's decapitated head was found on a street corner with a threatening message from a local drug gang.
This incident marks the second time this week that decapitated corpses have been found in the Durango state. Authorities found 11 bodies Monday.
A total of 196 bodies have been unearthed from hidden graves since April 11.
Authorities recovered 183 bodies from 40 mass graves in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, but there have been no direct links between the two discoveries.
An estimated 37,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon started a military crackdown on drug gangs in 2006.
