6 bodies discovered in 3 days along Arizona border stretch
By Brady McCombs

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.08.2009

The bodies of six illegal immigrants have been found in the past three days along Arizona's stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, continuing a deadly summer in the desert.
Law enforcement officials recovered two bodies each on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as the scorching summer heat continued. Temperatures have reached 100 degrees or higher in Southern Arizona each of the past 13 days, said National Weather Service meteorologist Gary Zell.
From Oct. 1 through July 31, Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector had recovered the bodies of 161 illegal immigrants, an 18 percent increase from the 137 bodies found during the same time last year, said Mike Lee, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. The sector stretches from New Mexico to Yuma County.
Friday
Border Patrol agents found the first body of the day thanks to a tip from a group of illegal border crossers apprehended in the Ajo area. The group said they passed what appeared to be a dead person on their trek and agents backtracked the group's path, finding the body early Friday morning north of Ajo and south of Gila Bend, Lee said.
They didn't find any identification on the person or nearby, and Lee said the agency's report didn't say if it was a man or woman.
Agents found another body Friday morning on the Tohono O'odham Nation near the village of Vamori, located approximately 12 miles southwest of Sells, Lee said. O'odham Police Sgt. Vincent Garcia said it was an adult man.
Agents found the man naked in a wash, with his clothes scattered around him, Garcia said. It appeared the body had been there four or five days, he said. It's common for people who die from dehydration to shed their clothes in desperation, he said.
Thursday
On Thursday at around noon, Tohono O'odham police recovered the bodies of two men within 50 yards of each other near the village of Queen's Well, located on the eastern edge of the Nation about 10 miles southwest of Silver Bell Mine, Garcia said.
Border Patrol agents came across the decomposing bodies and called tribal police to handle the recoveries, he said. There was no identification found with the men.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, Tohono O'odham Police recovered the body of a 30-year-old woman under a tree about four miles west of Federal Route 19 near the village of Vamori, Garcia said. Border Patrol agents found the body and notified Tohono O'odham Police.
A group found the woman while walking north and carried her body and put her under the tree, where they hoped she would be found, Garcia said. She has tentatively been identified as Laura Olivia Rincon Alarcon, a Mexican, he said.
The second body recovered on Wednesday was found northeast of Douglas by Cochise County sheriff's deputies, said Carol Capas, Cochise County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.
On Wednesday at about 10:30 a.m., family members of the deceased man went to Douglas police and reported their nephew had crossed the border illegally with a group but had not been seen since July 27, Capas said.
Cochise County sheriff's deputies, with the help of Border Patrol agents, launched a search of the area and found the body at about 4 p.m. in an area with heavy brush three miles northeast of Douglas off Arizona 80 at Milepost 377, Capas said.
He has been identified as Guadalupe Vega-Vega, 19, of Chihuahua, Mexico, she said.
The final cause of death has not been determined, pending an autopsy by the Cochise County Medical Examiner's Office, but the condition of the body and scene around the body — his sweatshirt and shoes were found a short distance away — are indicative of a heat-related death, Capas said.
Contact reporter Brady McCombs at bmccombs@azstarnet.com



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