By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A 28-year-old woman from Mexico died in northern Val Verde County after traffickers abandoned her and six other persons who entered the country illegally, sheriff’s office officials said.
The body of Abigail Esmeralda Vargas Torres, 28, whose home is in Apaseo el Grande, a city in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, was recovered from the Leonard Ranch on Saturday, July 3, Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez told the 830 Times on Friday.
Martinez said VVSO Sgt. Gina Garcia, of the sheriff’s office criminal investigations division, was dispatched to the Leonard Ranch in the Loma Alta area in northern Val Verde County after members of the group traveling with the woman flagged down the ranch owner, Gary Leonard.
Garcia said Leonard spotted a group of six immigrants on the ranch, and when he spoke to them, they were able to communicate that another member of their group had collapsed while traversing the area.
“The group crossed the Rio Grande in the Piedras Negras area and were driven to Del Rio and were dropped off prior to reaching the Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. Highway 277. They were told to walk around the checkpoint, but never got picked up by an unknown smuggler, and they ended up being out there for three days,” Martinez said.
“They ended up on the Leonard Ranch north of Loma Alta,” the sheriff added.
Garcia said the group walked to a high point on the ranch.
“When they saw the house, they started walking toward it and when they got to the fence line, they saw Mr. Leonard outside and tried to get his attention. He waved at them to come on toward his house, and when they got there, they told him that they had left someone who needed help,” she said.
“Mr. Leonard got his ATV and he took them to where they had left the woman. Mr. Leonard said when he got there, there was no reaction from her, but he loaded her into the ATV and brought her to the house,” Garcia said.
Garcia said Leonard immediately notified the sheriff’s office and Border Patrol.
She said the dead woman was the sister-in-law of one of the other immigrants, a 17-year-old male.
Garcia said there were no obvious signs of foul play on the woman’s body.
“You could tell that she had been out in the brush for days. Her arms were covered in scratches,” she said.
The body has been transported to the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office in Laredo.
Garcia said Border Patrol officials also have notified the Mexican consulate in Del Rio.
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