Illegal immigrant found dead at Coronado National Memorial

SIERRA VISTA — The Cochise County Search and Rescue Team retrieved the body of an illegal immigrant from a canyon at Coronado National Memorial early Saturday.

Angela Gonzalez, 31, walked out of the mountains and reported her sister was ill and still in the canyon, said Search and Rescue volunteer Raul Limon. U.S. Border Patrol hiked in ahead of county personnel and found the body of Marta Yolanda Gonzalez-Pineda, 34, Limon said.

Border Patrol located the body in a canyon at about 1:30 a.m., and county search personnel hiked up about 3 a.m. to retrieve the body, that was about a quarter mile from the road and one mile from the Coronado National Memorial Visitor Center, Cochise County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carol Capas said.

The body had numerous cuts on the arms and legs from being exposed to the elements and the underbrush, and there were no obvious signs of foul play, Capas said. The body was sent to the Cochise County Medical Examiner’s Office for examination, and those results are not back yet, she said.

The sisters are from Jalapa, Guatemala, Capas said.

The “busy seasonâ€