Grim new ‘clue’ found on toddler’s finger that could solve mysteries of missing mother – World News

Tahnee Shanks went missing from a Mexican resort town a month ago after sending her friend a creepy message, and her two-year-old daughter Adelyn was found wandering alone the next day

A horrifying new clue may have been spotted on a toddler’s finger after he wandered outside a church when his mother went missing.

Tahnee Shanks was staying at a resort in the tourist hotspot of Cancun when she disappeared a month ago.

The 32-year-old Australian traveled there from their home in Merida on May 1 with her estranged husband Jorge Astudillo and their daughter Adelynn, two.

Tahnee went missing the following day before Adelynn was found barefoot outside the Parroquia San Miguel Arcangel Church in Canun around 9 p.m.

Since reuniting with her family in Brisbane, they have claimed that a picture of the little girl taken on the night Tahnee went missing appeared to show blood on her pinky finger.

Despite this, they say there are no signs of injury or any marks on the bloody spot – which could indicate the blood is in fact not their own.

Tahnee’s brother, Daniel Shanks, told the Daily Mercury: “One detail that we believe is critical to the investigation is a photo of Addy taken outside the church that has gone viral and contains an important lead.

“We asked investigators if this was reported or documented when addy was taken into custody and if the clothes she wore were DNA tested.”

It is feared that the disappearance of Tahnee, as well as husband Jorge, who is also missing, could be due to possible links to the Mexican cartel.

CCTV footage from the night she disappeared showed Tahnee, Jorge and Adelynn exiting the city through a toll booth in their white SUV just before noon as they left the hotel together.

Her car then made a U-turn 20km from her hotel before taking a detour onto another road.

Tahnee’s phone then pinged while driving near a supermarket around noon, which was the last known contact she had.

Hours after Adelynn was found, Ms Shanks’ car was discovered burned out 40km south of Cancun. The police have since launched a missing persons investigation.

Adelynn was found by tourist Carlos Santos, who said another man pointed this out to her and left, promising to look for her parents – but she never returned.

In another disturbing revelation, the investigation revealed that Tahnee previously sent a message to a moth friend, telling her to remember her husband’s name.

The eerie message read: “I know this sounds weird but keep (his) name.

“Jorge Luis Aguirre Astudillo! Just in case something happens to me, they can track him.

“Not that anything would do that! But I just want to keep that as a backup.”

Adelynn’s godmother Nikita Weller claimed her friend Ms Shanks confided in her about her fears for her husband.

The couple had recently split after Ms Shanks found out he was having an affair and booked a flight to return to Queensland with Adelynn.

Ms Weller said: “She found out he was into shady stuff. She didn’t say what.

“But it scared her enough to want to go home. She just said he was into shady stuff and she was scared and that was it.

“I told her, ‘I think you need to come home. I think that’s it, it’s about time you kinda come home’.”

Her distraught brother has offered a reward of one million pesos (AUD$70,000) for information about his sister’s disappearance, although police have advised him not to take such a step as it could lead to a mass of false information.

Tahnee’s family say they hope she is still alive, but as of the evening of May 2 there is still an unsettled eight-hour window.