A cause of death of a suspected undocumented migrant was revealed Monday following a gruesome discovery made by workers with Arizona Department of Transportation earlier this month of a decomposed male body near a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Cochise County.
Chief Medical Examiner Greg Hess says the cause of death of the body discovered around noon on July 6 in a state of “significant decomposition” has been determined to be hyperthermia. The manner of death is further noted as accident.
But authorities have not yet been able to put a name with the body and they have no leads, Hess told Arizona Daily Independent. Once an identity is confirmed, investigators will be able to notify the man’s next of kin.
Public records show ADOT employees came upon the body while conducting routine work along a fence line on the east side of State Route 90 between Benson and Sierra Vista. USBP agents responded to the scene, as well as personnel from the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Cochise County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).
A report authored by CCSO Deputy Jim Van Sickle noted “no obvious signs of trauma” were visual but that the body was clad in camouflage shirt and pants. Such attire, Van Sickle added, was “consistent with” the type of clothing often worn by migrants who enter the U.S. illegally.
Photographs were taken of the body as well as the surrounding area before the body was released to a local mortuary for transportation to the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner.
No further details are being released at this time.