Authorities have sought to portray the ex-policeman at whose home up to 40 bodies, mostly female, may be buried, as a freakish psychopath, despite the arrest of nine other suspects

Day after day they flock to the emerald green house on Estévez Street, seeking news of loved ones who have vanished without a trace.

“They say there are lots in there, maybe 40,” said Jessenia Elizabeth Francia, a 38-year-old housewife who had travelled 20 miles to reach the heavily guarded building under a punishing midday sun.

‘Maximum emergency’ to allow police investigate highest single-day homicide tally

The Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, late on Friday ordered a 24-hour lockdown of prisons containing gang members, and said their leaders would be sent into solitary confinement after a sudden spike in homicides during the day.

“No contact with the outside world. Shops will remain closed and all activities are suspended until further notice,” Bukele tweeted shortly before midnight. “Gang leaders will go into solitary confinement.”

The country’s popular, social media-savvy president marched troops into the parliament to demand $109m in security funds

It was a scene evoking bad memories of a bloody era in a country with a recent history of authoritarianism and civil war.

Soldiers in combat fatigues marched into El Salvador’s parliament, before the country’s popular young president, Nayib Bukele, sat down in the speaker’s chair and gave the assembled deputies an ultimatum: approve a loan for new security equipment or be summoned back in seven days for another session.