Thread: Two Found Dead Outside Mexican Consulate In Raleigh

From WRAL website...
http://www.wral.com/news/5069224/detail.html

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Authorities are investigating the deaths of two men at the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh.

Police say the men were found inside the cab of a pick-up truck outside the building, located on Six Forks Road. Witnesses say they thought the men were asleep. When the witnesses were not able to wake the men up around 4 a.m., they contacted police.

Investigators believe the men died from carbon monoxide poisoning. They said it looks like an accident, but they will treat it as a suspicious death. They plan to see if the truck's exhaust system was working properly.

Authorities have not released the names of the two men.http://<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /...morning?<br />

If they were sleeping there was no need for the engine to be on for heat last night. It was raining lightly and about 65 degrees. Two men in a truck would have been warm enough.

Also, with gas prices as they are... people would be reluctant to leave the engine running without a good reason.

W

I wonder what the weather is like there at night. 65 degrees, chilly not cold. So what were they wearing?

I would guess that the two had just driven some considerable distance for a meeting with the consuls. They did not have any place to stay in Raleigh.

When they got there they found the weather was cold so they rolled up their windows and turned on the truck engine for warmth.

The two men then fell asleep while waiting. They did not realize that they had a leak.

WOw! Richard... looks like the two of us hit the POST key at the exact same time lol



W

PS: The only reason they would have wanted heat would be if they were wet from the rains and needed to dry off.

I agree... I live in Raleigh.... it was rainy and in the mid 60s last night.. I saw the picture of the little truck.. It looks like a little 2 door nissan trucks with a camper shell on the back.. Looking close in the window I can't tell if it has one of those sliding back windows..

But how else would heat from the heater travel into the back area?

and like alipac says, why would two men climb in to the back of athat little truck with the truck still running and sleep? That's kinda odd. If they were that cold they should have sleep in the cab where there is more heat and have more security/reaction time if:
1. someone tried to steal the truck,
2. the truck popped outa gear and started to roll

UNLESS -- there was MORE than 2 people riding in the truck.. Police only found 2 of them cause they were dead.. If there were more people in the group (one or two others), in the cab of the truck and discovered that their buddies were dead, they may have called the police then ran off to avoid authorities cause they were illegal.

Just a theory...

It just doesn't make sense to go to sleep in the back of a runnning truck, if something happens (as stated above), there would be no way to get out of the back and be able to reach the driver's side door.. Not to mention the fact that when they did wake up in the morning, they could have a empty tank..

And what about those witnesses... who else would be hanging out at the Consulate at 4 in the morning! Is this normal activity?!?!

If anyone else tried to do that in a parking lot the and the cops saw them, they'd tell them to move on and/or give them a ticket... am I right?

This is a strange situation indeed. They should look at this carefully.

W

US4US got it right. WTVD reported this AM 4 people had come from SC for documents I believe the reporter said. When they checked on the two in the back, they were dead.

We had an incident last winter in Denver where two Mexican nationals were found dead by their families in the garage in the truck and the engine was running. Police think they came home and were drunk. Pulled into the garage failed to shut of the engine and fell asleep and well, never woke up! A peaceful way to go really....

2 dead in truck at consulate in Raleigh
Carbon monoxide is suspected of killing immigrants

Martinez found friends dead.

By JENNIFER BREVORKA AND MICHAEL EASTERBROOK, Staff Writers

RALEIGH -- Every weekday, dozens of immigrants arrive before dawn at Raleigh's Mexican consulate to get the documents they need to open bank accounts, rent apartments and obtain other services necessary to their lives in the United States.

Four men from Queretaro, Mexico, hoped to be among the first in line Friday morning when they left South Carolina in the middle of the night.

Shortly after arriving at the consulate on Six Forks Road at 3 a.m., two were discovered dead, apparently poisoned by carbon monoxide as they rode in the bed of a 1986 Nissan pickup truck covered by a white camper shell.

Driver Mario Cruz, 29, and passenger Rosalio Martinez Cruz, 30, had slept about 20 minutes in the truck's cab before they tried to wake their friends in the truck bed, Meliton Perez Cruz and Sergio Ramirez.

"I don't know what happened," Martinez said. "When we tried to wake them up they weren't breathing or moving."

Martinez shouted to Cruz: "Wake them up! Wake them up!"

Perez, 35, and Ramirez, 24, did not respond. The men lay motionless and cold.

Police investigators said they suspect carbon-monoxide poisoning but would await confirmation from autopsy results. "Our assumption is that they were already dead when they arrived here," said Armando Ortiz-Rocha, the Mexican consul for Raleigh.

The suspicion that the odorless, colorless gas had seeped into the truck bed stunned the travel companions of the two dead men .

"I couldn't believe it," Cruz said. "We thought everything was going to be fine."

Lethal vacuum

Any vehicle with a vertical rear door -- such as a station wagon or pickup with a camper shell cover -- can create a vacuum when moving, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Because of the vacuum, an open window, holes in the vehicle body or leaks around windows allow exhaust fumes, which contain the deadly gas carbon monoxide, to enter the passenger compartment.

In 1990, three Georgia children died of carbon monoxide poisoning after riding in the back of their parents' pickup, which had a camper shell cover, according to the CDC.

Scene at the consulate

About 7 a.m. Friday, shortly after yellow crime scene tape was taken down from around the Nissan pickup, a line of Mexican citizens already had formed outside the brick consulate.

More than 50 people waited outside in the dark, using jackets or newspapers for protection from the constant rain. And, when the consulate opened at 8 a.m., a throng of wet bodies flooded the lobby.

Inside, it was muggy and warm as at least 100 people stood quietly and waited to fill out paperwork so they could obtain a Mexican passport or identification card.

The scene Friday was typical for the only Mexican consulate in the Carolinas authorized to issue government documents, Mexican officials said.

By Friday afternoon, most of the lobby of the consulate was clear, with a few families waiting for scheduled appointments.

Faustino de Jesus Dionisio, 40, lives in Selma but works in plumbing during the week in the Washington, D.C., area. Dionisio, who was at the consulate to get a passport and identification card, said many people arrive early to get their documents before heading off to a day of work.

"There are people that come at 3 in the morning that [want] to get their papers," Dionisio said.

Four years in the U.S.

Although the men in the pickup all hailed from the same city in Mexico, several did not meet until they arrived in South Carolina.

Neither friend knew exactly when Perez or Ramirez arrived in the United States but thought they had lived in America at least four years. Ramirez worked in farming while Perez labored as a roofer.

Mexican officials said they did not know the immigration status of the dead men because police had taken the men's paperwork along with the Nissan truck.

Perez was married and has several young children who live in Mexico, while his friend Ramirez was single, Cruz said.

Friday morning, Martinez said he was concerned about how his friends' bodies would be returned to their families.

Officials promised the Mexican government would pay for funeral and transportation arrangements.

"We will take care of everything," Ortiz-Rocha said.

(News researcher Denise Jones and staff writer Sarah Ovaska contributed to this report.)

Staff writer Jennifer Brevorka can be reached at 836-4906 or jbrevork@newsobserver.com.
News researcher Denise Jones and staff writer Sarah Ovaska contributed to this report.

"Every weekday, dozens of immigrants arrive before dawn at Raleigh's Mexican consulate to get the documents they need to open bank accounts, rent apartments and obtain other services necessary to their lives in the United States."

So the Mexican Consulate is breaking federal law by helping illegal immigrants, instead of deporting them, and the federal, state, and local government is letting them do this in broad daylight!



"Mexican officials said they did not know the immigration status of the dead men because police had taken the men's paperwork along with the Nissan truck."

But the reporters didn't mention the immigration status of the 2 left alive.... I wonder why they felt it necessary to word it like that?