By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
The flood of undocumented persons crossing illegally into the United States from Mexico has slowed to a trickle in Val Verde County, and with that decrease has come a corresponding drop in the number of bodies being recovered by the Val Verde Sheriff’s Office.
VVSO Lt. Gina Garcia, who heads the sheriff’s office criminal investigations division, told the 830 Times Friday her office has recovered two bodies and one set of skeletal remains during the first quarter of 2023.
“Here recently, we haven’t had any deceased persons. In January, we had one. In February we had none, and in March, we had two,” Garcia said.
On March 21, Garcia said sheriff’s office investigators responded to an area near the Star Ranch, just over half a mile downstream from the Del Rio International Bridge, where they recovered a body from the Rio Grande.
“The body was that of a male subject, possibly a Mexican national, and an autopsy was requested. The body was sent to the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office in Laredo,” Garcia said.
She said there were no obvious signs of foul play on the body, and the man is believed to have drowned in the Rio Grande while attempting to enter the United States illegally.
Garcia said Border Patrol agents discovered the body while patrolling the river and called the sheriff’s office.
On March 27, sheriff’s office personnel again responded to an area near the Star Ranch after receiving a call about a body in the river. The second body was found about a half-mile farther downstream than the first body recovered in March.
“The deceased person was again a male subject, no identifiers, of an unknown nationality, and the body was again sent for autopsy,” Garcia said.
She said there were no obvious signs of foul play, and the man is believed to have drowned while attempting to cross the river and enter the U.S. illegally.
Garcia said on Jan. 1, sheriff’s office investigators recovered a set of skeletal remains from the Moody Ranch southeast of Del Rio.
The remains were recovered about a mile northwest of the Rio Grande, and it is unknown if the deceased was a man or a woman.
Garcia said in 2022, the sheriff’s office recovered a total of 21 bodies of immigrants.
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