Ciudad Juarez shaken by rising incidents of missing women

Posters seeking information on missing persons hang on a pedestrian bridge in Juarez. The disappearances, which include two promising university students and girls as young as 13, have stirred dark memories of the killings of hundreds of women that made Ciudad Juarez infamous a decade ago.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A woman stands on a traffic island to wash windows on stopped cars for pesos on Paseo Trifuno de la Republica in Juarez. Despite growing concerns about the missing women, police have no clear solid evidence of wrongdoing or links among the cases, which have been overshadowed by a vicious drug war that has killed more than 2,500 people in Juarez since the beginning of 2008.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Ricardo Alanis and his wife Olga haven’t seen or heard from their daughter Monica,18, in four months. She disappeared after taking college exams near downtown Juarez.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Yolanda Saenz holds her youngest daughter, Maria. Her 17-year-old, Brenda Ponce went missing a year ago, on July 22, 2008. “I just was to know what happened so I can find peace,” Saenz said.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Aiben Rivas says the Mexican police have done nothing to find his daughter Hilda,16, who disappeared Feb. 25, 2008, after chatting with a friend downtown.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)