51 before the investigations could start, the State has not proved what concrete steps were taken and how it searched for the victims during said period. 2.3. Alleged failure to search for the victims before their remains were found 182. The Commission alleged that “[t]he action of State authorities vis-à-vis these reports of disappearance was limited to formal and administrative steps, without specific measures aimed at finding the victims alive as soon as possible.” 183. The representatives indicated that, owing to the “absence of effective action by the authorities,” the three mothers “had to start their own search”; for example, by putting up posters on the streets, approaching the media, and conducting searches. 184. The State contradicted the foregoing and indicated that the authorities “ordered an immediate search to locate the disappeared women,” “based on the information provided by the next of kin.” In addition, it alleged that it took different measures to discover the whereabouts of the victims. 185. As previously indicated, on the day the disappearance of the victims was registered, the Judicial Police were asked to investigate. However, no reply of any kind to this request was provided, and the State did not offer details of the follow-up given to the request. 186. Moreover, even though there is evidence that the authorities prepared a poster with information on the disappearance of each victim,192 these posters do not indicate the date on which they were issued and the State did not explain when and how they were circulated. According to Esmeralda Herrera’s mother, she herself “distributed it and put it up in different parts of the city.”193 The mother of Claudia Ivette González stated that, after filing notice of the disappearance, they began “searching and putting up flyers with her photograph, […] and asking, searching in the Red Cross, in the hospitals,”194 and the mother of Laura Berenice Ramos said that she looked for her daughter “in every possible place.”195 This concurs with the testimony of witness 192 Cf. Poster entitled “Help us find this person,” issued by the Juárez Unit of the Special Group for Services to the Family of the Office of the Attorney General of the state of Chihuahua (case file of attachments to the application, volume IX, attachments 30, 31 and 32, folios 2655, 2657, and 2659). 193 Document presented by Irma Monreal Jaime and the Asociación Nacional de Abogados Democráticos to the IACHR on July 29, 2005 (case file of attachments to the application, volume IV, appendix 5, vol. III, folio 756); voluntary appearance of Irma Monreal Jaime of October 20, 2003 (case file of attachments to the answer to the application, volume XXX, attachment 50, docket I, volume I, folios 10578); file card dated October 15, 2003 (case file of attachments to the answer to the application, volume XXX, attachment 50, docket I, volume I, folios 10571 and 10572); testimony of Irma Monreal Jaime before an official of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Joint Agency to Investigate and Prosecute Murders of Women, given on April 5, 2006 (case file of attachments to the answer to the application, volume XXX, attachment 50, docket I, volume I, folios 10286 and 10287), and testimony of Benigno Herrrera Monreal before an official of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Joint Agency to Investigate and Prosecute Murders of Women, given on April 5, 2006 (case file of attachments to the answer to the application, volume XXX, attachment 50, docket I, volume I, folio 10294). 194 Testimony given by Mrs. González, supra note 183. The sister of Claudia Ivette González gave similar testimony mentioning steps taken by the family (Cf. appearance of Mayela Banda González, supra note 173). 195 Testimony given by Mrs. Monárrez, supra note 183; appearance of Ivonne Ramos Monárrez, supra note 169, folio 2620; voluntary appearance of Benita Monárrez Salgado before an official of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Office of the Assistant Attorney for Regional Control, Criminal Proceedings and Amparo on October 20, 2003 (case file of attachments to the answer to the application, volume XXXVII, attachment 50, docket III, volume II, folio 13593), and appearance of Ivonne Ramos Monárrez before an official of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Office of the Assistant Attorney for Regional Control, Criminal Proceedings and Amparo on October 20, 2003 (case file of