Tijuana.- Federal investigators found nearly 30 human bone fragments and 40 teeth Tuesday, the third day of excavating a clandestine grave in an eastern neighborhood, a victims' advocate said.

Fernando Ocegueda said the remains were found in the grave at an uninhabited property in Loma Bonita, where the investigators have been looking since Sunday for signs of 60 missing people.

The place is located on a solitary hill of red earth and huge rocks on the city's east side, near an industrial zone and Boulevard 2000. The impoverished neighborhood has unpaved streets, no running water and the residents routinely steal power with makeshift cables.

Santiago Meza, who was captured in January of 2009, confessed to have dissolved some 300 bodies sent to him by drug traffickers directed by the Sinaloa cartel. Meza, nicknamed "El Pozolero," or stew maker, said he worked in the Loma Bonita house, among two other sites, according to Ocegueda.

Ocegueda said he believes that, based on Meza's confession, the remains of 60 victims were taken to the Loma Bonita location between 2004 and 2006.

On Monday, the investigators for the federal agency that targets organized crime found human tissue that will be sent to a laboratory in Mexico City for DNA testing, along with the bone fragments and teeth.

The investigators plan to continue their excavation on Wednesday, said Ocegueda, and may stay several days more, depending on what they find.

Ocegueda is the public face of a citizens' organization that represents the families of 234 people who disappeared. He has tirelessly pushed for their cases not to be forgotten.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com