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Body Count in Brooks Co. Surpasses Same Period Last Year

6 years 2 months 1 day ago Thursday, January 25 2018 Jan 25, 2018 January 25, 2018 9:06 PM January 25, 2018 in News

FALFURRIAS – The number of bodies found in Brooks County for the year-to-date more than doubled over the week.

A cold front earlier this year resulted in the death of four people who entered the country illegally. On Sunday, five more were found, all of them on one ranch in Falfurrias.

Two of the men were from Honduras, two from El Salvador and the fifth didn’t have any identification, so his identity will remain unknown unless medical examiners can find a match.

Brooks County Sheriff Urbino "Benny" Martinez said the body count keeps mounting. He points to the cold climate being the main factor for the deaths.

Hunters discovered the five skeletal remains this past weekend.

Martinez received a visit from Mario Aguero on Thursday. Aguero works out of Laredo, but he’s involved in the recovery process of immigrants who died crossing into the country illegally.

He said locating five bodies in one spot is rare. Martinez agreed.

“Recovering bodies since ‘09 to now, that's unusual when you get all five in the proximity versus one. We've had issues where we find them down the same trail, but maybe half a mile from another person, so this is unusual,” said Martinez.

Martinez and Aguero believe the group stuck together to keep warm during a cold snap earlier this year.

It’s difficult to locate the undocumented immigrants when there are various trails, brush and miles of ranchland.

Martinez says his department plays catch up because they can’t actively seek out all the victims.

“It makes it difficult for even (Border Patrol) agents to locate them because they can disappear just that quickly,” said Martinez.

The nearby area was searched for more victims. No more bodies were found.

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