Last contact and identifying details
Vega Parra also practiced at the Hospital IMSS Bienestar de Escuinapa. According to Noroeste, he finished his shift there on Friday, October 23, and headed toward El Rosario before contact with him was lost. The Sinaloa State Search Commission (CEBP) has issued a notice asking for information about his whereabouts.
The notice identifies him as 48 years old, with a robust build and a height of 170 centimeters, or about 5 feet 7 inches. He was wearing a blue shirt marked with his name and the emblem of the Center for the Execution of the Legal Consequences of Crime (CECJUDE).
He has a shaved head, fair skin and a round face, with small black eyes, sparse eyebrows, a wide nose and a medium-sized mouth. Identifying marks include several moles and a scar on his left eyebrow. Tattoos cover parts of his back and both arms and include medical imagery and symbols, a red phoenix and a lion.
The CEBP asks anyone with information to call 669-3278424 or email cebpd@sinaloa.gob.mx.
Deadly violence at El Castillo
Earlier in October, El Castillo was the scene of deadly clashes. The prison, on the toll-free Mexico 15 highway in southern Mazatlán, holds about 1,800 inmates, according to Sinaloa's Public Security Secretariat (SSP).
The SSP said the October 8 violence began around 11 a.m., while visits were underway. Prison staff reported gunfire to the C4 Control, Computing, and Command Center. State Public Security Secretary Sinuhé Téllez López arrived shortly afterward, as did personnel from the Secretariat of National Defense, National Guard and State Police.
The Rio Times reported that nine inmates and a visiting two-year-old child died in the October 8 clash. At least 16 inmates were injured; State Attorney General Claudia Zulema Sánchez Kondo later gave an injury count of 17. Another clash on October 9 left two more inmates dead, bringing the death toll over the two days to 12.
Federal authorities told El Universal that the October 8 attack was intended to kill Eduardo Martínez Larios, known as "El Owen." They described him as an operator for Los Chapitos, the faction led by sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. The state prosecutor had not formally confirmed Martínez Larios' identity.
Prison conditions and cartel conflict
El Castillo received a score of 5.25 out of 10 in the National Human Rights Commission's 2025 prison review. The commission, known as CNDH, identified a shortage of guards and inadequate separation between people awaiting trial and those serving sentences.
According to The Rio Times, fighting between Los Chapitos and La Mayiza, the faction loyal to Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, began in 2024 and has extended into prisons. El Financiero, citing the state prosecutor, reported that two inmates died at El Castillo on September 24, 2026, and seven were killed at Culiacán's Aguaruto prison on May 31.
Separately, the Sinaloa Cartel has been a target of Mexico's Operation Northern Border crackdown. EL PAÍS English cited U.S. Customs and Border Protection data showing fentanyl seizures at U.S. borders totaled 4.5 tons in 2025, excluding December, compared with 9.5 tons the previous year, a decline of 52%.
Investigations and a planned new prison
On October 23, Téllez López announced that El Castillo director Enrique Mora García had been temporarily removed from his post to allow investigators to examine the October 8-9 violence, Proceso (AP) reported.
A subsequent prison search uncovered two pistols. Téllez López said judicial authorities would determine how the guns got inside and whether any prison official was involved.
The federal government also announced plans for a new prison in Sinaloa. Security and Citizen Protection Secretary Omar García Harfuch said on October 10 that President Claudia Sheinbaum had ordered the federally funded project, according to The Rio Times. No location, budget or construction start date has been published.
