Thread: TX-ID of drowning victim only widens mystery

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ID of drowning victim only widens mystery
Immigrant had aliases; family can’t be located
By HARVEY RICE

Aug. 6, 2009, 8:02PM



Alex Martinez-Rivera is one of at least 11 names the drowning victim has given to officers in five states, Galveston police said.

GALVESTON — The identification of a man who drowned last weekend in Galveston during a dramatic, hour-long rescue effort created more questions for authorities who continued Thursday to search for the victim's family.

Officials don't know whether Alex Martinez-Rivera has family in the U.S. or Mexico, whether he was married or single, or why he was in Galveston.

They don't know how he ended up alone on the beach Sunday or why he wrapped a boogie-board leash around his wrist five times and tied it securely instead of using a quick-release.

The leash snagged on jagged rocks at the 29th Street jetty as a lifeguard tried to pull him to safety in the strong rip current. The lifeguard nearly drowned.

Eight other cut and bleeding lifeguards fought a strong current and rough water in a 50-minute effort to find him and cut the leash after the current pushed him under water.

The name made public by authorities Wednesday, Alex Martinez-Rivera, is one of at least 11 names he has given to law enforcement agencies in five states, Galveston police fingerprint analyst Connie Pearson said.

Martinez-Rivera used at least six dates of birth and five Social Security numbers and was arrested on charges ranging from drug charges to drunk driving, Pearson said.

There is no way to know whether Alex Martinez-Rivera is the victim's real name, said John Florence, Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office investigator.

The victim was identified through fingerprints taken at the medical examiner's office and matched with fingerprints and photographs in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement database. The photos showed the identical tattoos — a dragon on the back and the Virgin Mary on the chest — and a large scar on the abdomen.

Alex Martinez-Rivera is the name the victim gave U.S. Border Patrol officials when he was detained for entering the country illegally in 1997, ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said. Martinez-Rivera was arrested on a freight train in Gardendale, La Salle County, she said, and sent back to Mexico.

He was probably in the U.S. illegally, Zamarripa said, because ICE records show no change in his immigration status.

The 1997 arrest was his only encounter with immigration officials, she said. But he has a long record of arrests in Florida, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and California, Pearson said, including a warrant for his arrest on a drunken driving charge from Washington in January 2004.

In Florida alone he was arrested for trespassing, resisting an officer and possession of cocaine with intent to sell. He pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon in Reno, Nev., in 2004 and was sentenced to four days in the Washoe County Jail, Pearson said.

Arrest records in California show that he claimed to have a wife. He had some sort of relationship in Kennewick, Wash, where police arrested him on domestic violence charges. Pearson said she was pursuing a tip that he has a girlfriend in Nevada.

Florence said that the Texas Department of Public Safety on Thursday began assisting in the effort to find Martinez-Rivera's family.

If no relatives can be found in the U.S., Florence will seek assistance from the Mexican Consulate.

harvey.rice@chron.com


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 63621.html

The name made public by authorities Wednesday, Alex Martinez-Rivera, is one of at least 11 names he has given to law enforcement agencies in five states, Galveston police fingerprint analyst Connie Pearson said.

Martinez-Rivera used at least six dates of birth and five Social Security numbers and was arrested on charges ranging from drug charges to drunk driving, Pearson said.

Forwarded this to my favorite Pol (NOT) Chucky Schumer!

Quote:

"... as a lifeguard tried to pull him to safety in the strong rip current. The lifeguard nearly drowned.

"Eight other cut and bleeding lifeguards fought a strong current and rough water in a 50-minute effort to find him and cut the leash after the current pushed him under water."


It makes me so very angry to read this when I think of all the repeated claims made by their supporters that illegal aliens are the ones who are always "abused".