REYNOSA, TAMAULIPAS - Relatives of family members who disappeared in Mexico were allowed to directly participate in their search.

The search took place over a span of two days in two different locations. On Friday, they visited an area known as 'Brecha de Berrendo.'

It's on the outskirts of Reynosa, on the Mexican side of McAllen.

Armed with machetes and hope, about 40 participants descended upon the property looking for their relatives who left without the chance to say goodbye.

A woman known as 'Marta' said she was looking for her dad. He went missing in 2017.

“He left late to Reynosa. He went to run an errand to pick up a part from the mechanic's, and he never returned home.”

The walls of the now abandoned property mark a violent property. The broken ground reveals a marred past.

Geovanni Barrios Moreno, President of Justicia Tamaulipas, the group that organized the search, confirmed they found, "Bones belonging to people. Bones that belong to human beings. The anthropologist determined that they are fragments of cadavers."

Red flags signals the place where human remains were found Friday. Tests will determine how many they belong to and who they were.

What is known is that they form part of a growing statistic.

"Unfortunately, there's a grave problem of forced disappearances in the whole state of Tamaulipas and the country.

The numbers are moving with about 45,000 disappearances in the country and Tamaulipas has about 15,000 of that share," says Barrios Moreno.

He's more than just the leader of the organization. He's also a father searching for his U.S. born son.

Families like his are frustrated by the violence that keeps stealing lives.

"No more disappearances in Tamaulipas. No more disapperances in Mexico. We have to stop. We can't keep killing ourselves," declares Barrios Moreno.

The search is part of a larger effort that counts with federal and state security.

A state representative for Tamaulipas, Alberto Lara Basaldua, says they'll keep offering their support in spite of their surroundings.

"We are afraid, but we also respect more and stand in solidarity with the sorrow of the people. That bond is stronger than the fear we could feel," says Lara Basaldua.

Families sowing these efforts hope instead to reap joy when their relatives return.

But, at the very least, they just want a place to claim.

Marta explains, "More than anything, we don't lost faith that one day we'll find them, that they'll come back, or that if they are no longer living, a place where we can go cry for them."

For many, this is a search for a place to plant their tears.