PCSO: 2 undocumented immigrants found dead in the desert near Interstate 8

Posted: 12:14 PM
Last Updated: 1 hour and 29 minutes ago
By: Deborah Stocks

PINAL COUNTY, AZ - Authorities say Pinal County Sheriff's Office deputies recently recovered the bodies of two people who had apparently crossed into the U.S. illegally.

According to a PCSO news release, the body of a woman was found Monday after the department received a call from a Spanish speaking male who said that he and his wife were lost in the desert after being abandoned by a human smuggler.

The man was located through GPS coordinates from the 911 call and found north of Interstate 8, west of Smith Road and north of the Central Arizona Canal. The 25-year-old man was identified by his Mexican Voter Identification Card as Jose Daniel Castaneda-Morales, authorities said.

Castaneda-Morales reportedly told deputies he and his wife had been in the desert for several days and that she was dead. He had left a trail of toilet paper which would lead deputies to her body. The 25-year-old woman's body was found approximately 400 yards south of where Castaneda-Morales had been found.

The victim was taken to the Medical Examiner's Office to determine the cause of death and her husband was turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Last Thursday the body of a male victim was found four miles south of Interstate 8 near milepost 149 after U.S. Border Patrol agents detained seven suspected undocumented immigrants and they reported that a member of their party had fallen behind and was dead.

Sheriff's deputies searched the area where the individuals described where they found the body of the victim. He was transported to the Medical Examiner's Office to determine the cause of death.

Sheriff Paul Babeu said in a statement, "The southern border of our country needs to be secured for many reasons. These two cases show the human tragedy involved while individuals from Mexico attempt to cross into our great state."

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