In his final moments, a man in the midst of an illegal border-crossing west of Nogales sent a text message to his wife in Mexico, saying “Ya no aguanto” (“I can’t hold on anymore”) and another saying “Tengo sed” (“I’m thirsty”).
His wife responded by filing a missing person report in Mexico. But when the body was found on July 1 in California Gulch under large bushes about 30 yards north of the border, the only name it carried was that of a John Doe, one of 10 border-crossers whose bodies were found in Santa Cruz County in 2013.
Each time a body was found in the wilderness of Santa Cruz County last year, the finding appeared in the Sheriff’s Office’s dispatch report. In turn, it was followed by a short story in the NI with a brief description of the discovery based on information provided by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Border Patrol.
But the work that goes into identifying the bodies rarely made headlines, even as authorities managed to find probable identities for eight of the 10 bodies.
The identification process was fairly straightforward when authorities found a Mexican voter identification card on one body, or a Washington state driver’s license on another.
However, in the case of the body found in California Gulch, authorities did not find any property except for a phone, according to records from the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner (OME), which is tasked with processing unidentifiable bodies and unnatural deaths in Pima, Santa Cruz, and Cochise counties.
That one piece of property proved crucial in tracking down information on the John Doe and his possible identity as a 36-year-old man from Mexicali, Baja California Norte, who had texted his wife that he was thirsty and couldn’t go on.
Team effort
When bodies arrive at the OME, pathologists and forensic anthropologists examine them and associated personal items, searching for clues as to the cause of death and the person’s identity, according to Dr. Gregory Hess, chief medical examiner at the OME.
Since 2001, the OME has identified about 65 percent of the 2,300 unidentified bodies of border crossers, he said.
If OME staff cannot determine the identity of a body, that task is handed to the Mexican Consulate and to Robin Reineke of the Colibri Center for Human Rights, a non-profit organization that collects information on human remains found on the border in Southern Arizona.
When forensic science can’t find a person’s identity, Reineke compares the available information with missing person reports filed during the time in question, she said.
Since 2006, the Colibri Center has compiled a database of about 1,700 missing person reports filed by family members and friends whose loved ones disappeared while trying to cross the desert, she said.
She also compares the information with missing person reports filed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NAMUS).
In the case of the body found at California Gulch, OME records show that Det. Jesus Cordova of the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office called to report that the Mexican Consulate in Nogales might be able to connect the body to a pending missing person report. Using text messages sent from the phone found with the body, and relying on the missing person’s identifying features such as a tattoo of the Virgin Mary, investigators were able to confirm that the body belonged to Gregorio Ponce Valenzuela, the man reported missing by his wife in Mexicali.
With the ID made, the body was presumably returned to Mexico. However, if months go by without any progress, unidentified remains are turned over to Pima County’s public fiduciary, cremated, and put in the Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson, Hess said.
Unidentified remains found in Santa Cruz County are cremated and buried in the Nogales City Cemetery, said Rita Ashford, public fiduciary for the county.
Other cases
For each of the border-crosser deaths in Santa Cruz County in 2013 Reineke provided the OME records to the NI based on the news reports that appeared throughout the year. Below is a synopsis of each of the cases, not including the body found July 1 at California Gulch.
• Jan. 21: A hiker found skeletal remains in the desert near Amado. The remains consisted of a skull with a mandible, a femur, and vertebrae, as well as a pair of pants. Sheriff’s deputies did not find identification documents at the scene. The Mexican Consulate took photos of the remains at the OME and the case was entered into NAMUS. No positive ID was made and the case was referred to the public fiduciary.
• Feb. 12: Gerardo Lopez Leon, a 41-year-old Mexican national, was crossing the border by way of the Coronado National Forest west of I-19 with his nephew and other family members when he became nauseous. He grew sicker and his family members eventually had to carry him, while others went to get help. When Border Patrol agents arrived he was already dead. Lopez was carrying a Mexican voter card and a driver’s license and his nephew identified him. The Mexican Consulate made funeral arrangements for him.
• Feb. 23: A man camping west of I-19 near Amado reported finding skeletal remains and clothing. Border Patrol agents secured the scene until sheriff’s deputies arrived. A card found in the vicinity of the bones was from Bellevue Hospital Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. and it showed a name of Concepcion Hernandez, address, and possible date of birth. The remains were determined to belong to two women. A possible match with the hospital card was found in the missing persons list, as well as one for a missing woman, Laura Delgado, who was traveling with her.
• March 3: A woman ran across I-19 near Amado where she was struck and killed by a sedan and minivan towing a trailer. A Department of Public Safety officer found a photocopy of a Mexican ID card with the name Inez Lopez Ruiz from Oaxaca, Mexico. She reportedly was part of a group of about 30 people who were making an illegal border-crossing attempt. Border Patrol agents captured about 20 people from the group, but none of them knew Lopez Ruiz.
• May 23: A man hiking near Tubac came across a decomposed body and contacted the Sheriff’s Office. Border Patrol agents at the I-19 checkpoint helped deputies find the body. A Washington state driver’s license and Mexican voter ID card found in the front pocket of the shirt bore the name of Jose Luis Castro-Garnica from Michoacan, Mexico. The Mexican Consulate was contacted.
•June 7: Border Patrol agents found skeletal remains while escorting unauthorized border crossers near the Nogales International Airport. No ID was found with the remains. Agents contacted the Sheriff’s Office and the body was transported to the OME, where staff from the Mexican Consulate took photos of the body. No ID was made.
• Sept. 16: A rancher found skeletal remains in Pesqueira Canyon northwest of Nogales and notified the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies found a Mexican voter ID card for German Reyes Montanez of Aguascalientes, Mexico. The Colibri Center and the Mexican Consulate contacted family members who sent copies of Reyes’ X-rays. His identity was confirmed by the OME through an X-ray comparison.
• Dec. 11: Hunters found skeletal remains southwest of Rio Rico and contacted the Sheriff’s Office. Authorities found a Mexican voter ID card for Guillermo Martinez Perea, who had been entered into NAMUS.
Tuesday 07 January 2014
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/investigators-put-names-to-of-bodies/article_f98fed7a-77b1-11e3-9947-001a4bcf887a.html
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