A helpful stranger and a Guatemalan radio station helped U.S. Border Patrol agents identify a Guatemalan man who went missing and died in Brooks County last month.
A Brooks County ranch employee discovered the severely decomposed body of a man and reported it to Border Patrol agents in the Falfurrias station Oct. 4, according to a news release the federal agency sent Tuesday. Agents and deputies responded and took the body to the county morgue.
No identification was found on the man, though many migrants usually carry IDs or relative’s phone numbers. The Brooks County Sheriff’s Office reached out to the Missing Migrant Program (MMP), which helps identify migrants by matching fingerprints with those on federal databases.
Although the body was in a state of decomposition, a cell phone was recovered and MMP agents used macro-photography to extract a fingerprint. However, the RGV Joint Forensic Center ran the prints and found no match on U.S. databases.
Agents then contacted a person they found on the man’s phone with a Guatemalan number who was labeled ‘hermano’, or brother. The man agents called said he did not know anyone who travelled to the U.S. at that time, but offered to help by sharing the details of the case over a Guatemalan internet radio station.
That same day, a man from New York listening to the Guatemalan radio station contacted federal authorities and said he had a friend heading to the U.S., but the last time he was in contact with the migrant was Sept. 25. He said he believed the friend was left behind in the brush near Falfurrias.
The friend from New York gave agents a name they were able to find on a list of missing Guatemalan citizens. The prints were requested from the Guatemalan Consulate and proved a positive match.
The family was then notified of the resting place of their lost loved one.
“This is only one of the many successes of MMP’s “reunification” mission,” the news release said. “Although the program strives to save lives through the deployment of rescue beacons and location placards throughout the RGV’s area of responsibility, the successful identification of decedents provides closure to mourning families.”
Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Brian Hastings commended the agents’ work in a short statement.
“Migrants are constantly being put in these dangerous situations by those who only seek to profit off this vulnerable population, with complete disregard for human lives,” Hastings said. “The effort and dedication by the MMP agents is exemplary and commendable, as it takes a special agent to fulfill the mission, especially in these sort of challenging situations.”
