Details are beginning to emerge about the business dealings of a Canadian man who has been missing in Mexico for days and whose burned remains may have been found inside the trunk of a rented car.

Daniel Dion was last seen alive on Oct. 23 in Acapulco, Mexico.

Since then, Dion's Canadian family members have been searching for him in Mexico and asking for help from anyone who may have seen the Ontario businessman.

On Monday, forensic investigators were examining charred remains found in a car rented by Dion, but said it would be weeks before they could confirm whether the remains belonged to Dion.

"We can't say whether it's the person you say it is, they're taking DNA samples," said Desenia Estrada of Forensic Services Secretariat in Chilpancingo.

Family members of the Carleton Place, Ont. man have travelled to the remote location where the remains were found, about 130 kilometres south of Acapulco. They found a watch they believed belonged to Dion, according to reports.

The family also issued a statement saying they believed Dion had been executed by professional killers performing a "contract execution."

However, Martin Jimenez, of the ministerial police service's headquarters, said it was too soon to make any presumptions about the motives behind Dion's apparent murder.

According to reports, Dion often spoke openly about high level political connections in Mexico, as well as his ability to wrangle deals to hire prisoners to make the purses he sold.

"He was about to have some serious breakthroughs for business in Mexico. He probably stepped on the wrong feet or was a problem to someon," Shanny Bolduc, Diona's nephew and one of the family members who went to Mexico to look for him, told the Canadian Press in an email.

The 51-year-old was experienced at travelling and doing business in Mexico. In media interviews he once bragged about his special status under "verbal" agreements with state safety officials.

"I'm trusted....The (labour) law doesn't permit it. In Mexico it could be very complicated...I have a verbal agreement with everyone," Dion said in an interview with Irza, a Guerrero-based news agency.

Dion's family said he was carrying between US$500 and $5,000 in cash, when he disappeared.

It's unclear what happened to Dion. According to some reports he was kidnapped from his apartment the night he was seen dining in Acapulco.

Local authorities were able to track his rental car after Ontario police identified the company Dion had rented from, through his credit card records.

Once the rental company and car were identified, local authorities were able to find the vehicle though its GPS transmitter.

The statement released by Dion's family said "the people that killed Daniel were professionals and went greatly out of their way to leave as little trace of the vehicle and his body as possible."