By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio police today identified a man whose body was found in a storm drain on Saturday.
Del Rio Police Department Cpl. Estevan Hernandez, the detective in charge of the case, identified the man as Leopoldo Rivera Narvaez Jr., 35, a resident of the Del Rio area.
“The official confirmation of his identity was made during the autopsy. Dr. (Corinne) Stern (the Webb County Medical Examiner) was able to get some fingerprints from him and confirmed his identity,” Hernandez told the 830 Times in an interview.
Hernandez said Stern has not provided him with a verbal statement about the cause and manner of Narvaez’s death.
Narvaez was found dead in a storm drain pipe at the intersection of Andrade and Rubio streets in the south Del Rio neighborhood of San Felipe about 6 p.m. Saturday when a passerby about to flick a cigarette into the drain happened to glance inside.
The passerby called police, and they recovered Narvaez’s body after firefighters removed the heavy metal grate covering the drain.
Hernandez said he believes Narvaez crawled into the drainpipe at the point where it empties into the San Felipe Creek about a tenth of a mile south of the intersection where his body was found.
Narvaez was not wearing any clothing when his body was recovered, and Hernandez said although police searched the area where they believe he entered the drainpipe; no clothing or other personal effects have been found.
Hernandez reiterated today the medical examiner also took note of superficial injuries on Narvaez’s forearms and legs consistent with crawling along a metal pipe.
Hernandez said although a toxicology screen of Narvaez’s blood was requested as part of the autopsy, there is no indication at this point that drugs, alcohol or both played a role in his death.
Hernandez said Narvaez’s next of kin, his parents, were notified of his death, but said Narvaez was not living with them.
“For about the last year or so, he had been, basically, homeless. It’s my understanding that he was estranged from his family by his own choice, due to his behaviors,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said previously he had asked other officers to check their body camera footage for possible recent interactions with Narvaez shortly after the body was found.
Hernandez said today Narvaez had been the victim of an aggravated assault in October 2022.
“He was also incarcerated by the sheriff’s office here for a theft offense and had had been incarcerated from mid-September until he was released on the Wednesday prior to the incident,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said he still has no idea how or why Narvaez shed his clothing and went into the storm drain.
DRPD Capt. Hubert Smith, who heads the police department’s detective division, said, “We’re just waiting for the medical examiner’s report on the toxicology and the final autopsy report.”
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