Published: 05.15.2007

Border agents find decomposed body west of Sasabe
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A U.S. Border Patrol agent found the decomposed body of a suspected illegal entrant Monday west of Sasabe who might have been a 16-year-old boy from Chiapas.

On Monday at 9:30 a.m., an agent found the body east of the Baboquivari Mountains in Presumido Canyon, said Jesus Rodriguez, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. They found identification near the body for a 16-year-old boy from Chiapas but officials will have to perform tests to confirm that identity. The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office is handling the case, Rodriguez said.

From Oct. 1 through the end of April, the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector had found 60 dead illegal border crossers, a 21-percent decrease from the previous year at the same time. The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner has handled 73 border deaths from Oct. 1 through May 10, according to Dr. Bruce Parks, chief medical examiner. Border deaths usually increase during the hot months of May through August.

Also on Monday, agents apprehended a 47-year-old Mexican illegal entrant who had been convicted of first-degree murder and has an extensive criminal history in Arizona and Texas, Rodriguez said. The man admitted to spending seven years in prison after he was convicted of first-degree murder in 1994.

A fingerprint database then revealed that he had been deported as an aggravated felon, Rodriguez said.

Agents discovered his criminal history while he was being fingerprinted at the processing center in Nogales. The Border Patrol estimates that 10 percent of all people apprehended have criminal backgrounds.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/183196