Brownsville police believe no foul play was involved in the death of a homeless man found lying next to a resaca on Central and Lakeside Boulevards Monday afternoon.
Although an autopsy report is pending on the homeless man, there were not signs of trauma to the man’s body, said Investigator Martin Sandoval, spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department. It’s believed he died of natural causes. “Detectives taking care of the scene do not suspect any foul play. They did not see any type of assaults, any type of bullet wounds, stab wounds, nothing like that,” Sandoval said.
A citizen walked into a nearby business to use a phone to call police because they needed to report a dead body, Sandoval said.
Police have identified the man but are waiting to notify his family before his name is released.
This was the second time the body of a homeless man that was found in Brownsville with the last two weeks and authorities stress there is no “serial killer” going around killing homeless people, as some have mentioned on social media.
“That is not true,” Sandoval said. “These incidents are because of natural causes or accidental. There are no signs of any foul play from these two incidents, so we can address that these incidents have nothing to do with a serial killer running around Brownsville,” Sandoval said.
On Jan. 20, police found the body of Jaime Mendoza Villarreal, 64, of Brownsville in a resaca off of Coria and Cypress Streets. They believe his death was accidental.
Authorities believe Villarreal, also a homeless man, fell in the resaca and drowned, “but since we have no witnesses or anything, we cannot verify that, but then again his body had no signs of foul play either,” Sandoval said.
Villarreal was often spotted around the Boca Chica and Central boulevards seeking donations.
