Mexico kidnap suspect Dax Rodriguez Ledezma found dead Published duration 3 July 2013

image caption All of the missing are from the Tepito neighbourhood

Mexican police have found the charred corpse of a man suspected of kidnapping 12 young people from a Mexico City bar.

Dax Rodriguez Ledezma's body was found along with that of his girlfriend.

The 12 were reported missing on 26 May after they failed to return home from the Heaven bar, which was co-owned by Rodriguez Ledezma.

The apparent abductions took place in daylight in the capital's bustling Zona Rosa district. The 12 youngsters have not been seen since.

Investigators have said they believe the case is related to drug-gang rivalry in Mexico City's Tepito district, one of its poorest areas.

Most of the abducted youngsters came from Tepito, and three of them are related to jailed crime bosses from the area.

Surveillance footage showed a number of them being led from the bar by men in civilian clothes and getting into cars.

At least 17 people and eight vehicles were involved in the abduction.

Several people have been arrested in the case, including Rodriguez Ledezma's brother, who co-owned the bar.

Officials said the body was identified through DNA compared with that of his brother, who has been charged over the kidnappings.

The authorities said the burned corpses had been found in the town of Huitzilac in Morelos state.

They released no further details, but the AP news agency reported that 10 days ago Morales police announced they had found the burned bodies of two women and a man, their heads covered in duct tape, on a dirt road in Huitzilac.

An estimated 70,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico over the past six years, much of it committed by powerful drug cartels.