Activist for Mexico's missing found slain

(CNN) — When he felt authorities weren't doing enough to protect his hometown, he organized more than 100 women to police the streets.

When 43 students went missing in a controversial case that drew global attention to Mexico's struggles with violence and corruption, he led search parties trying to find them.

And when more families in his state came forward reporting that their loved ones had disappeared, he organized searches for them, too.

Saturday night, investigators in Mexico's Guerrero state say Miguel Ángel Jiménez Blanco was found dead inside a taxi he owned, with two gunshot wounds. Authorities haven't said whether there are any suspects in the slaying.

Jiménez was a vocal leader of citizen self-defense groups in Guerrero and a sharp critic of local officials, who he accused of hiding evidence tied to the students' disappearance.

Last week, Jiménez told CNNMexico that more than 100 bodies had been found in hidden graves in the area since October, decrying what he called a worsening security situation.

He said he'd recently started driving a taxi to make ends meet. After years of working to clean up the streets, he said he was once again worried about safety.

"We left it clean and now again there are bad people here, but we have to do something, because I cannot leave this to my children," he told CNNMexico. "If something happens to one of my children I will never forgive myself."

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