Family of missing Australian woman in Mexico hires private investigator

The family of an Australian woman missing in Mexico has hired a private investigator to try to find her, claiming they've had nothing but dramas in dealing with Mexican authorities.

The next week marks two months since Tahnee Shanks, 32, was reported missing after her daughter Adelynn was found alone outside a church in Cancun, hours from home.

Ms Shanks' ex-partner was still missing.

Their daughter was now living in Queensland after Ms Shanks' brother and mother flew to Cancun to rescue her.

Dan Shanks said his family was in a race against time and that they hired a private investigator PI was their last-ditch effort to get a breakthrough in the case.

He said he is one of the head people in the department of criminology in Mexico.

Shanks said it took more than three weeks for his sister's files to be passed on to the PI.

The ABC asked to speak with the Attorney General of Quintana Roo and the PI, but neither had replied.

Shanks, who took out a loan against his home to fund a reward for information, said the family had hit a lot of roadblocks in trying to get information from authorities on the search for his sister.

Dan Shanks said that they had put in a complaint to the Australia Human Rights Commission about the case files.

I have to deal with the people in Australia who send it through to the Australian Embassy and Mexico, who then talk to the Mexican authorities. The family said they relied on help from people on the ground in Mexico to give them updates.

The Australian Human Rights Commission AHRC was unable to release information about individual complaints.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade DFAT would not comment due to privacy, but in a statement a spokesman said DFAT was continuing to support the family in Australia.

The Australian Embassy in Mexico continues to engage with Mexican authorities on the investigation into the disappearance of Tahnee Shanks, the spokesperson said.

The total number of registered disappearances in Mexico has gone from 73,000 to more than 100,000 in the past two years, according to the national registry of missing people kept by Mexico's Attorney General's Office.

In 2021, Amnesty International's latest statistics show that there were 7,698 cases of missing people, of which 31 per cent were women.

It is also stated that impunity prevailed on this issue, with just 35 convictions for the crime of enforced disappearance. We don't even begin the grieving process yet, because we're hoping we don't have to go there, but it's inevitable at this stage.