Forensic experts in Mexico have discovered 19 bodies in the cartel-plagued state of Guerrero.

The find could possibly shed new light on the disappearance of 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College who went missing in Guerrero last year.

Mexican authorities in the area will likely begin the process of comparing the recovered DNA remains with samples taken from over 600 families in the state who are currently searching for missing relatives, reports the BBC.

Eight of the bodies, which were dumped at the bottom of a narrow canyon, showed signs of being burned.

Guerrero residents have encountered numerous mass graves since the students disappeared last year. Officially, only a single a dump located outside of the town of Cocula is said to contain the remains of one of the missing students.

As previously reported, an international panel of experts has established that the official investigation into the missing 43 was flawed. Subsequently, a new investigation has been initiated.

The official story is that the local Iguala police handed the protesting students over to a drug cartel who then killed them and went on to incinerate their bodies, dumping them at a garbage dump.

Relatives of the students have disbelieved the official government explanation since the beginning.

At a press conference in which Ayotzinapa family members spoke about the grief and frustration they felt over the investigation, a woman summed up the angry mood of all concerned. “We, the mothers and fathers, were right, we were right all along, we knew our sons hadn’t been burned, that it was a government lie, one more lie," she said, according to the New Yorker.

“We’re poor, but we’re not stupid,” she added.

The Guardian reports the state of Guerrero is often referred to as the “Untamed Mexico” due to the persistent violent crimes that occur in the region.