Story highlights Investigation centers on disappearance of at least 100 people at Bogota, Colombia, prison

Prosecutor: "The victims were inmates, visitors and people who had nothing to do with the prison"

(CNN) Colombian authorities are investigating the disappearance and possible dismemberment of at least 100 people whose bodies were allegedly thrown into a sewer system underneath a notorious prison in Bogota.

The investigation is focusing on La Modelo, one of Colombia's largest and most overpopulated prisons. But officials say the practice of dismembering people and tossing their remains into sewers might have also happened at other prisons in cities such as Popayan, Bucaramanga and Barranquilla between 1999 and 2001 and possibly later.

Caterina Heyck Puyana, a special prosecutor in charge of the case, said Wednesday that the Colombian attorney general's office has been investigating what happened at La Modelo for months.

"Towards the end of last year we began investigating the possible disappearance and dismemberment of an undetermined number of people at La Modelo prison in Bogota," Heyck said. "The victims were inmates, visitors and people who had nothing to do with the prison. Their remains were thrown into the drain pipes of the sewer system."

The investigation

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