On March 15, 2004, four college students left Guadalajara for Puerto Vallarta to celebrate spring break.

None of them ever returned.

For 14 years, their families lived with the agony of not knowing what had happened to their children.

Until, in October 2018, something completely unexpected changed everything.

One of the missing students sent a message from a brand-new Facebook account.

But what that message said was so disturbing that it took authorities months to decide whether to make it public.

What had really happened to these four friends all those years? And why was only one of them able to send that message? Before we continue with this disturbing story, Sebos appreciates real mysterious cases like this one.

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Now we will discover how it all started.

Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, has always been known for its vibrant student life.

In 2004, the University of Guadalajara was home to more than 250,000 students, many of them middle-class youth who worked part-time to pay for their studies.

It was a time when the internet was becoming more accessible, but social media hadn’t yet dominated daily communication.

Young people communicated primarily by cell phone, and text messages cost money that many couldn’t afford.

The four protagonists of this story had met at the Faculty of Engineering during their first semester in August 2003.

Rodrigo Hernández Morales, 19, was the most outgoing of the group.

He came from a family of merchants in downtown Guadalajara and had that natural ability to make friends that characterizes many Tapatíos.

His broad smile and his way of speaking, always peppered with local expressions, made him the life of any gathering.

Miguel Ángel Ruiz Santos, also 19, was practically the opposite: shy and thoughtful.

He had come to Guadalajara from a small town in Jalisco called Tepatitlán.

For him, the city represented a unique opportunity to get ahead, and he took his studies with a seriousness that sometimes worried his new friends.

His family had made great sacrifices to send him to university, even selling some cattle to cover his first-year expenses.

Carlos Eduardo Mendoza López, 20, was the oldest of the group and also the most mysterious.

He came from a well-to-do family in the Providencia neighborhood, but there was constant tension at home that he preferred not to discuss.

His parents had divorced when he was 15, and since then he had developed a more reserved personality.

Despite having financial resources, Carlos worked weekends in a mechanic’s shop, not out of necessity, but because he said he liked getting his hands dirty with something real.

The fourth member of the group was David Alejandro Vega Moreno, 19, who had come from Colima.

He was the most athletic of the four.

He had played American football in high school and maintained the physical discipline that made him stand out.

His personality was balanced; he acted as a natural mediator when differences arose among his friends.

David had a girlfriend in Colima, Patricia, with whom he maintained a long-distance relationship that required frequent four-hour bus trips.

During the spring semester of 2004, the four had developed a strong friendship.

They met regularly in the faculty cafeteria, studied together in the library, and had begun making plans for the March break.

Rodrigo had proposed a trip to Puerto Vallarta, arguing that after months of intense study, they deserved a few days of rest on the beach.

The idea gradually took shape.

Carlos had borrowed his father’s car, a red 1999 Suru, which, although not luxurious, was in good condition and had enough space for the four of them.

Miguel Ángel had managed to save enough money from his part-time job at an electronics store.

David had received some extra money from his parents, who saw the trip as a reward for his good grades.

The plan was simple: leave early Monday morning, March 15, drive the three hours to Puerto Vallarta, stay in a budget hotel near the beach for five days, and return on Saturday, March 20.

They had booked rooms at the Hotel Playa Dorada, a modest but clean establishment located two blocks from the boardwalk.

The total cost of the trip would be approximately [amount missing] pesos per person, a considerable amount for university students in 2004, but one they had managed to scrape together.