By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office investigators earlier this week recovered the body of a man believed drowned when he tried to cross the border illegally.
Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez told the 830 Times Friday the man whose body was recovered from the Rio Grande Wednesday was the 10th person the sheriff’s office has found dead in the county so far this year.
VVSO Sgt. Shaun Davis and Sgt. Mario Vargas, who recovered the body, said a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter crew patrolling along the Rio Grande spotted the body, which was caught on vegetation near the center of the water course.
Davis said he and Vargas were assisted in their efforts to recover the body by a crew of game wardens from Florida, who were patrolling the river in their boat.
Davis said he and Vargas responded to the scene, located several miles downstream from the Del Rio International Bridge about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The dead man carried a wallet in one of his pockets, Vargas said, but noted no identification was found in the wallet.
“After we recovered the body, we examined it and did not find any obvious signs of foul play,” Davis added.
He added it is believed the man was an immigrant who drowned while attempting to cross the Rio Grande and enter the country illegally.
After the man was recovered from the river and pronounced dead by a justice of the peace, the body was transported to the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office in Laredo, where an autopsy will be performed, Davis said.
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