Human remains found on a sugarcane plantation in the northern district of Rio Lindo may be those of a family of five who disappeared in December, Honduran police said.

Detectives and personnel from the medical examiner’s office were already at the scene to begin the investigation, National Police spokesman Oscar Aguilar told journalists in San Pedro Sula, the main city in the north.

The press reported Dec. 2 on the disappearance of a couple and their three children as they were driving to Tegucigalpa from the Caribbean town of Puerto Cortes.

The family’s van was discovered in the central province of Comayagua, but the occupants were apparently intercepted by assailants traveling in two other vehicles.

Clothing and a bag were found with the remains in Rio Lindo, Aguilar said.