Blaine and Kimberly Wolfshol attempted to awaken the young woman when they went to their pasture to check on the cattle at 9 a.m. They called out but their efforts were futile. The illegal immigrant from El Salvador was already dead.
Justice of the Peace Cher Whitlow ordered an autopsy and pronounced her dead at the scene.
Sheriff Robert Bolcik and Chief Deputy Sheldon Wiginton have investigated a total of six similar deaths during their law enforcement careers in South Texas. The similarities between the deaths are harrowing.
“Human smugglers don’t seem to have a problem putting them on the side of the road, but they always seem to put them where they’ll be easily discovered,” Bolcik said. “It’s my guess she died from heat exhaustion.”
The dampened cloth next to the body provided that clue.
Identifying the woman was not difficult. The smuggler left identification and her personal belongings, just as others have done in the previous six deaths Bolcik and Wiginton have investigated.
So far, attempts to contact the El Salvadoran consulate have been in vain. Wiginton has left messages but none have been returned. As far as the officers know, her family still hasn’t been told the bad news.
Little is known of the facts surrounding her journey from South America. Typically, illegal immigrants pay smugglers from $1,000 to $4,000 to sneak them inside the United States.
“She was probably put in some kind of enclosure, the way smugglers sneak in other illegal immigrants,” Bolcik said. “She may have been in the back of a truck with multiple other people or in a trunk. Sometime they are boxed so tightly they can hardly breath.”
Chances are, nobody will ever know for sure.
The coroner said there is no evidence of trauma to her body, no gunshot wounds, no bruises or broken bones.
“We don’t think there was any foul play,” Bolcik said. “When the toxicology reports come back, we’ll know whether she died of heat exhaustion, a disease or some other factor.”
Bolcik said he was confident that once they hear from the consulate, arrangements will be made to get the body back to her home.
“Sometimes an anonymous caller will call back to see if we found the body,” Bolcik says. “What’s really bad, it’s their own people who does it to them. It’s bad.”
A keen eye for detail you have. For what it is worth, I say bravo to you!
Kenda Nelson has been reporting inaccuracies, false and erroneous stories for years. Living in Refugio this person often can not tell north from south, east from west and is unaware of the cardinal rule of small communities; founding family’s names of the area, the list goes on and on.
Some time back I contacted this “reporter” in person to correct blatantly false facts relating to a sector apprehension. As I lay out documented fact after fact this person became visibly uncomfortable and nervous. I will be the first to admit I have that effect on people but this situation was a simple visit to establish a fact based understanding of events. My experience with other reporters was that of a hungry dog at feeding time as I made available such documentation. Always an addendum or correction was printed. In the case of kenda Nelson it was not. This in fact was the key that unlocked my attention to this paper and online forum.
Some time later an associate of mine pointed out an article written by Kenda Nelson as she reported as an eye-witness to the tragic house fire she and her family experienced.
The condemnation of emergency response workers was blatant and totally unsubstantiated. The house fire article all but placed the blame on these people that voluntary risk life and limb.
A review of house fire articles by Kenda Nelson revealed no previous hostility toward any emergency services worker in related articles by Kenda Nelson.
This review established the fact that Kenda Nelson is unable to report accurately or from an unbiased position. Therein revealing for all, the character of this so called reporter, thereby removing all credibility from Kenda Nelson.