Every time they find a mass grave, they think it's the one they're looking for – but it isn't.

No, this isn't a Halloween tale: it's a real life story about 43 missing Mexican students who once attended the Escuela Normal Rural Isidro Burgos, a small teachers' college in the southern state of Guerrero. The rural, desperately poor region – long plagued by violence, armed rebellion, and criminal activity – is now at the center of a drama that underscores the dawning truth about our neighbor to the south: Mexico is fast becoming a failed state.

On September 26, students at the teachers' college rallying against cuts to their budget came under fire from local police: 6 were killed and 25 wounded. Forty-three of the teacher trainees were abducted, handed over to the local crime syndicate, Guerrero Unido, and executed. According to witnesses, the bodies were then burned.