Carlos Emilio Galván Valenzuela, a 21-year-old from Durango, vanished in the early hours of October 5, 2025, at the Terraza Valentino bar in Mazatlán. He was last seen heading to the bathroom around 2:30 a.m. The incident has prompted the resignation of the bar's owner, a state secretary, and enhanced security measures in the area.
Carlos Emilio Galván Valenzuela, 21 years old and from Guadalupe Victoria, Durango, was at the Terraza Valentino bar in Mazatlán's Zona Dorada with his mother Brenda Valenzuela Gil and other relatives on the night of October 4, 2025. Around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 5, the young man got up to go to the bathroom and did not return, according to accounts from his companions.
After hours without news, Brenda Valenzuela Gil filed a complaint with the Durango Prosecutor's Office, which issued an official search bulletin. The Sinaloa State General Prosecutor's Office (FGE) conducted a search at the establishment and confirmed that the bar provided security camera footage, stating full willingness to cooperate.
The case drew statewide attention upon revelation that the owner of Terraza Valentino is Ricardo Velarde Cárdenas, Sinaloa's secretary of Economy. Velarde resigned to avoid conflicts of interest, and Governor Rubén Rocha Moya accepted the resignation. Rocha stated that the investigation is treating it as a possible illegal deprivation of liberty and announced a special surveillance strategy for bars and night centers in Mazatlán.
This disappearance adds to at least six recent cases involving young people or tourists in the city's bars, per data from Animal Político. Between October 1 and 14, 2025, 21 investigation files were opened for deprivation of liberty in the municipality, and from September 2024 to October 2025, there were 656 victims of disappearance or illegal deprivation in the area. Durango's prosecutor warned that it is not the best time to travel to Mazatlán due to the surge in such incidents.
Carlos Emilio's family and friends have called for peaceful marches in Mazatlán and his hometown, including a demonstration on October 25, 2025, at the Malecón, to demand his safe return.