Sister leads authorities to brother's body in Santa Ritas

DAVID L. TEIBEL
Tucson Citizen

A woman led Border Patrol agents to her dead 18-year-old brother, who died from falling into a canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains early Wednesday.
The man apparently fell into the canyon, fatally striking his head, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Antonio Estrada said.

His body was found after his 19-year-old sister called a Border Patrol radio dispatch center in Nogales about 6 a.m., reporting her brother had died on their trek into the United States, said Agent Dove Haber, a spokeswoman for the Border Patrol here.

The woman guided agents to an area about 20 miles east of Nogales and, Estrada said, her brother was found near Duquesne, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Haber said the body was on high ground in a wash at the bottom of Wild Hog Canyon on the south face of the Santa Ritas. There is no indication of foul play or that the young man drowned in the canyon bottom, Estrada said.

The man is the 13th illegal immigrant suspect found dead in Santa Cruz County this year, Estrada said, adding 12 were found last year and 11 in 2005.
It also brings to at least 144 the number of illegal immigrant suspects found dead in southern Arizona's deserts since Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year, according to Border Patrol and Tucson Citizen records.

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