CIUDAD JUÁREZ – Norma and her son Erick stood before a wall of niches in an outdoor courtyard at Mausoleos Luz Divina. For a few moments, Erick was silent and unmoving as he looked at an unmarked plaque that was supposed to bear his father’s name. Then, his body heaved with a sudden intake of breath. He removed his glasses and wiped his eyes, shoulders trembling.
“I really hope he is here,” Norma said softly in Spanish about her husband, Conrado, who died of chronic heart issues in 2024. He was 63. El Paso Matters is not identifying the family by their full names to protect their privacy.
Conrado’s cremated remains were to have been interred at the mausoleum. But on this day in mid-July, Norma and Erick questioned if instead, his decomposing body might be wrapped in a black bag at Crematorio Plenitud, stacked among several hundred that should have been cremated…