Rhino
02-09-2007, 01:49 PM
Family alleges indifference to border death
By Jonathan Clark
Herald/Review
BISBEE — The body of a deceased illegal border-crosser from Mexico was discovered by family members Wednesday evening in the desert near Apache, and the family is accusing local law enforcement of indifference in the case.
According to reports from the family and U.S. officials, Eduardo Guillen Cortes, 33, was found in an abandoned building on the Fairchild Ranch near the New Mexico border by three family members and a ranch hand. A preliminary report from the Cochise County medical examiner suggests that he died from hypothermia.....
....And although the Mexican Consulate in Douglas contacted the Douglas Border Patrol station on Monday to notify them that Guillen was likely dead in the desert, the family members say they saw little evidence of an official search.
“The only time we saw the Border Patrol was when they were driving along Highway 80,” Almazan said.
A spokesman at the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector headquarters said agents were hindered by a lack of evidence and information.
Spokesman Gustavo Soto said the consulate told agents that Guillen, traveling in a group of about 20, had crossed the U.S. border near the Slaughter Ranch east of Douglas. But after conducting a search of the area, Soto said, agents were unable to pick up the group’s trail.
Soto said the Border Patrol was never told to look for Guillen at an abandoned ranch building, and so with few clues to work with, the agents suspended their search.
“We never abandon a search, we just suspend it until more information becomes available,” Soto said. “And in this case, unfortunately, when the information came in, it had turned into a recovery.”
The family members say that after they found Guillen, they called 911 and asked an operator if a helicopter could come retrieve the body, since it was growing dark and rainy and the terrain was becoming treacherous.
According to Almazan, the operator said there was no helicopter available, and instead patched him through to the Border Patrol. Border Patrol agents were unsure about the search party’s location, however, and told the family to meet them at mile marker 394 on Highway 80.
“What upset us was that after all that time we spent looking for him, now we had to leave him alone again for more than an hour,” Almazan said. “It was already night, and there were animals around that might get into the building. But what could we do?”
After driving 45 minutes to the highway, the family members returned to the site with five Border Patrol agents and a Cochise County sheriff’s deputy. The officers examined the scene and put Guillen into a body bag, but then told the family that their vehicles were too small to carry the corpse.
“They told us, ‘We’re not prepared to take the body back, so can we use the truck that you’re riding in?’ ” Almazan said. “There was no other option, so we said yes.”
However, he said, the pickup truck, which belonged to a ranch hand who had been assisting the search party, had no cap on the back. And the bed was full of wood and other debris. The family members say they were afraid the body would fall out of the truck, or that Guillen’s face, which had yet to begin decomposing, might get beaten up by the debris.
“He was carried away like a dead animal in the back of a truck,” Leonel Garcia said.
“Why didn’t they come prepared to carry away a corpse?” Rosa Garcia asked. “All they brought with them was a body bag.”
County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carol Capas confirmed the basic facts of the recovery effort. Asked why the deputy responded to a call of a dead body in a vehicle that was not equipped to carry a corpse, she said it was an issue of logistics.....http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/02/02/local_news/news2.txt
By Jonathan Clark
Herald/Review
BISBEE — The body of a deceased illegal border-crosser from Mexico was discovered by family members Wednesday evening in the desert near Apache, and the family is accusing local law enforcement of indifference in the case.
According to reports from the family and U.S. officials, Eduardo Guillen Cortes, 33, was found in an abandoned building on the Fairchild Ranch near the New Mexico border by three family members and a ranch hand. A preliminary report from the Cochise County medical examiner suggests that he died from hypothermia.....
....And although the Mexican Consulate in Douglas contacted the Douglas Border Patrol station on Monday to notify them that Guillen was likely dead in the desert, the family members say they saw little evidence of an official search.
“The only time we saw the Border Patrol was when they were driving along Highway 80,” Almazan said.
A spokesman at the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector headquarters said agents were hindered by a lack of evidence and information.
Spokesman Gustavo Soto said the consulate told agents that Guillen, traveling in a group of about 20, had crossed the U.S. border near the Slaughter Ranch east of Douglas. But after conducting a search of the area, Soto said, agents were unable to pick up the group’s trail.
Soto said the Border Patrol was never told to look for Guillen at an abandoned ranch building, and so with few clues to work with, the agents suspended their search.
“We never abandon a search, we just suspend it until more information becomes available,” Soto said. “And in this case, unfortunately, when the information came in, it had turned into a recovery.”
The family members say that after they found Guillen, they called 911 and asked an operator if a helicopter could come retrieve the body, since it was growing dark and rainy and the terrain was becoming treacherous.
According to Almazan, the operator said there was no helicopter available, and instead patched him through to the Border Patrol. Border Patrol agents were unsure about the search party’s location, however, and told the family to meet them at mile marker 394 on Highway 80.
“What upset us was that after all that time we spent looking for him, now we had to leave him alone again for more than an hour,” Almazan said. “It was already night, and there were animals around that might get into the building. But what could we do?”
After driving 45 minutes to the highway, the family members returned to the site with five Border Patrol agents and a Cochise County sheriff’s deputy. The officers examined the scene and put Guillen into a body bag, but then told the family that their vehicles were too small to carry the corpse.
“They told us, ‘We’re not prepared to take the body back, so can we use the truck that you’re riding in?’ ” Almazan said. “There was no other option, so we said yes.”
However, he said, the pickup truck, which belonged to a ranch hand who had been assisting the search party, had no cap on the back. And the bed was full of wood and other debris. The family members say they were afraid the body would fall out of the truck, or that Guillen’s face, which had yet to begin decomposing, might get beaten up by the debris.
“He was carried away like a dead animal in the back of a truck,” Leonel Garcia said.
“Why didn’t they come prepared to carry away a corpse?” Rosa Garcia asked. “All they brought with them was a body bag.”
County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carol Capas confirmed the basic facts of the recovery effort. Asked why the deputy responded to a call of a dead body in a vehicle that was not equipped to carry a corpse, she said it was an issue of logistics.....http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/02/02/local_news/news2.txt