Mexican journalist Luis Martín Sánchez Iñiguez found dead

A journalist for one of Mexico’s leading newspapers was found dead in the western state of Nayari in what authorities believe was an attack related to his reporting.

The body of La Jornada correspondent Luis Martín Sánchez Iñiguez was found Saturday morning on the outskirts of Tepic, the state capital, the outlet reported.

Sánchez Íñiguez, 59, had been missing since Wednesday and efforts to find him were underway after his family reported him missing on Friday, the Nayarit state prosecutors’ office said. 

“The body was found with signs of violence, and two handwritten signs were found on it,” prosecutors said in a statement.

It’s unclear what the messages said, but handwritten signs are frequently left by drug cartels next to the bodies of their victims.

Sánchez Iñiguez was last seen in the town of Xalisco, which is notorious for its links to the smuggling of heroin and opium, officials said.

Authorities believe his body was found between 24 and 48 hours after he was killed.

Sánchez Íñiguez’s apparent murder would mark at least the second slaying of a reporter in Mexico this year, highlighting an ongoing string of violence against the press in a country that saw 15 members of the media murdered last year.

Two days after Sánchez Iñiguez disappeared another journalist, Jonathan Lora Ramírez, was abducted by armed men who forced him into a car. He was found alive and in good condition Saturday.

Another journalist, Osiris Maldonado, who has been missing since July 3, has not been located.

Police were investigating if the Sánchez Iñiguez’s murder was connected to Ramírez’s abduction and Maldonado’s disappearance.

“It is known that at some point they collaborated in joint projects related to their occupation, as well as in matters of a personal nature,” La Jornada reported.

In February, news photographer José Ramiro Araujo, 67, was stabbed and beaten to death in the northern Mexico border state of Baja California.

Investigating corruption, crime and drug cartels often comes at high risk in Mexico, which consistently ranks among the deadliest countries for journalists.

With Post wires.