Mexican Mayor Linked To Students' Disappearance Disappears

As investigators in Mexico look into the September disappearance of 43 college students in the rural town of Iguala, authorities are now pointing the finger at the mayor of the town and his wife. 

Mexico's attorney general, Jesus Murillo Karam, made the revelation Wednesday, saying the mayor's wife — Maria Piñeda Villa — was the main link between the city government and the gang believed to be responsible for the students' disappearance. (Video via Office of the President of Mexico) 

Karam said the information came from Sidronio Casarrubias, the leader of the gang Guerreros Unidos. Casarrubias was arrested last weekend. He told investigators police turned the students over to his group, and that authorities had told him the students were members of a rival gang. (Video via Excelsior TV)

The mayor, Jose Luis Abarca, and his wife regularly made payments to the group, and told the gang to take care of the students because they were afraid they would disrupt a speech Villa was giving that day. (Video via Euronews)

What Attorney Gernal Karam was not able to say in the press conference, and the question that still hangs over all of this, is what has happened to the students. 

Three of the students were killed, along with three bystanders, before the students were rounded up, as one of the students who escaped told Telemundo. He said some of the students were allowed to take phone calls when first detained, but told not to say anything about where they were.

Dozens of bodies were recovered October 4th from nine mass graves near Iguala, but initial DNA tests showed none of the remains matched the missing students. 

But in the press conference Wednesday, Karam said authorities have started a new round of testing, and that the graves were found near the home of a known Guerreros Unidos member, and the truck used to transport the students was found on his property. (Video via Office of the President of Mexico) 

The disappearances have sparked mass protests in Mexico City, as demonstrators call on Mexico's president, Enrique Peña Nieto, to find the missing students. (Video via Univision)

Authorities are on the hunt for the mayor, who was removed from office in the wake of the disappearance, and his wife, as well as the city's chief of police.