[00:00:00.000]
[00:00:18.520]
(train running on tracks)
[00:00:21.519]
[00:00:49.500]
(train whistle blows)
[00:00:52.499]
[00:01:29.290]
(men speaking Spanish)
[00:01:31.499]
[00:02:38.504]
(train running on tracks and people shouting)
[00:02:41.899]
[00:02:54.300]
(man speaking Spanish)
[00:02:56.699]
[00:03:40.700]
(train running on tracks)
[00:03:44.199]
[00:04:28.100]
(people speaking Spanish)
[00:04:30.499]
[00:04:34.500]
(pots clanking)
[00:04:37.499]
[00:04:37.900]
(people speaking Spanish)
[00:04:40.499]
[00:06:23.500]
(train running on tracks)
[00:06:26.499]
[00:06:32.500]
(car beeping)
[00:06:36.499]
[00:06:39.500]
Fucking coffee.
[00:06:41.499]
[00:06:47.500]
(radio playing in Spanish)
[00:06:50.499]
[00:07:18.400]
- Good, how are you?
[00:07:18.499]
[00:07:19.200]
- I'm doing great, thank you.
[00:07:20.699]
[00:07:22.000]
Just the three of you?
[00:07:22.999]
[00:07:23.100]
- Yup.
[00:07:24.299]
[00:07:24.300]
(agent speaking away from mic)
[00:07:24.699]
[00:07:24.700]
Yup.
[00:07:25.399]
[00:07:25.500]
- Okay, have a good day.
[00:07:25.999]
[00:07:26.000]
- Thanks
[00:07:26.399]
[00:07:26.400]
- [Agent] Bye Bye.
[00:07:27.699]
[00:07:58.750]
(camera clicks)
[00:07:59.999]
[00:08:04.520]
We're pretty far north at this point.
[00:08:06.399]
[00:08:06.500]
We're close enough that people are getting ready to get picked up
[00:08:09.789]
[00:08:09.800]
and so that's why you're starting to see lots of clothes
[00:08:11.589]
[00:08:11.600]
and other items being left behind.
[00:08:12.999]
[00:08:25.300]
- [Woman] What are the coordinates?
[00:08:26.899]
[00:08:29.900]
31, 37, 18.9 north.
[00:08:32.099]
[00:08:33.200]
111, 20, 18.8.
[00:08:36.899]
[00:08:45.600]
- I mean this, that  is turning into nothing.
[00:08:47.899]
[00:08:51.000]
Totally deteriorating
[00:08:52.499]
[00:08:53.700]
See this?
[00:08:54.399]
[00:08:55.500]
It used to look like that.
[00:08:56.699]
[00:08:57.600]
And that's how quickly the sun will break this stuff down.
[00:09:01.099]
[00:09:01.700]
In 20 years of stuff will all be gone,  it'll be totally erased.
[00:09:05.399]
[00:09:31.500]
(dog barking)
[00:09:34.699]
[00:09:42.200]
(men speaking Spanish)
[00:09:42.699]
[00:10:22.500]
- No.
[00:10:23.099]
[00:10:36.100]
(men speaking Spanish)
[00:10:37.399]
[00:12:08.000]
(men shouting and celebrating)
[00:12:09.699]
[00:12:55.500]
(men speaking Spanish)
[00:12:58.499]
[00:13:21.500]
(people speaking spanish)
[00:13:24.499]
[00:14:39.800]
(train running on tracks)
[00:14:41.699]
[00:14:54.500]
(man speaking Spanish)
[00:14:57.199]
[00:15:44.200]
(train running on tracks)
[00:15:45.599]
[00:15:53.600]
(man speaking Spanish)
[00:15:54.899]
[00:16:14.000]
- [Child] Wow.
[00:16:14.799]
[00:16:16.100]
- [Man] Hey, be good.
[00:16:16.999]
[00:16:17.900]
Matthew.
[00:16:18.399]
[00:16:20.700]
You want a big one?
[00:16:21.599]
[00:16:23.700]
It's your choice,
[00:16:24.299]
[00:16:25.800]
- What is my choice?
[00:16:27.799]
[00:16:27.800]
- [Man] This one, these are the best, these are like superhero fans.
[00:16:29.099]
[00:16:30.500]
No?
[00:16:30.899]
[00:16:30.900]
- These, I want these.
[00:16:34.199]
[00:16:34.200]
- [Man] Okay, put 'em on, and what shirt do you want (mumbles)?
[00:16:35.499]
[00:16:37.000]
- Ah, poking blood.
[00:16:37.999]
[00:16:38.500]
Oh, I don't think we have that one.
[00:16:40.799]
[00:16:41.000]
Put this on.
[00:16:43.499]
[00:17:19.200]
All right, let's just take a look.
[00:17:20.399]
[00:17:38.800]
It sucks, some of this stuff is so fragile, so you just don't want to take ...
[00:17:41.389]
[00:17:41.400]
...it out.
[00:17:42.099]
[00:17:57.700]
I think this guy, this was all found together in a wallet
[00:18:02.299]
[00:18:03.300]
which just makes me think that he was afunny dude,
[00:18:05.399]
[00:18:05.500]
like he's got a pretty good sense of humor.
[00:18:07.599]
[00:18:08.100]
I just love the fact that he's got an illegal alien UFO ID in his wallet.
[00:18:11.999]
[00:18:14.600]
You know people like looking at the shoes.
[00:18:17.299]
[00:18:17.800]
This one has come apart and this person has tried to fix it with a
[00:18:20.999]
[00:18:21.100]
with a metal, with a metal rod, kind of speaking to the damage
[00:18:26.289]
[00:18:26.300]
that your shoes can can take during this process.
[00:18:29.099]
[00:18:29.100]
Actually both pairs have been repaired kind of in the field.
[00:18:33.099]
[00:18:34.100]
These shoes were found near some like hyper-fragmented human remains.
[00:18:42.599]
[00:18:42.800]
They weren't close enough to kind of be confident
[00:18:45.489]
[00:18:45.500]
that they're from this some person, but you could kind of,
[00:18:48.699]
[00:18:50.500]
there's a lot of possibility with these things
[00:18:52.189]
[00:18:52.200]
that you'll just never know.
[00:18:53.299]
[00:18:56.600]
Oh cool.
[00:18:57.199]
[00:19:00.800]
But yeah, we've got a thousand backpacks easily.
[00:19:04.199]
[00:19:06.900]
Goofy little drawings, graffiti,
[00:19:08.399]
[00:19:10.600]
Little cholo with baggy pants.
[00:19:12.599]
[00:19:14.000]
What's inside?
[00:19:14.799]
[00:19:15.400]
You look inside this thing, it has got socks, some chonies,
[00:19:27.809]
[00:19:28.100]
Even without people being around you still end up getting kind of
[00:19:30.189]
[00:19:30.200]
up close and personal with people.
[00:19:33.699]
[00:19:37.100]
So this is like Darth Maul underwear and it says
[00:19:40.999]
[00:19:42.600]
penetrating the dark side.
[00:19:43.899]
[00:19:47.200]
That's I think, I'm less creeped out by the fact that this could be
[00:19:52.099]
[00:19:53.500]
the objects from someone who died
[00:19:55.289]
[00:19:55.300]
and more about it feels like invasive sometimes,
[00:19:58.689]
[00:19:58.700]
like it feels like I'm looking at things I'm not supposed
[00:20:01.489]
[00:20:01.500]
to be looking at for this process, but I think that's a part of the work.
[00:20:08.099]
[00:20:08.200]
It's like you can't, if you want to document this stuff,
[00:20:10.389]
[00:20:10.400]
you have to kind of get up close and personal
[00:20:11.889]
[00:20:11.900]
and get into people's business.
[00:20:13.499]
[00:20:22.500]
(banging on can)
[00:20:24.399]
[00:20:25.900]
(men speaking Spanish)
[00:20:26.299]
[00:21:22.500]
- I never see Immigration over here in Mexico, until today.
[00:21:30.579]
[00:21:30.590]
Now I see them everywhere, everywhere around.
[00:21:34.599]
[00:22:00.600]
(men speaking Spanish)
[00:22:01.399]
[00:25:50.500]
(train whistle blows)
[00:25:57.199]
[00:25:58.200]
(train running on tracks)
[00:26:01.499]
[00:26:07.500]
(man speaking Spanish)
[00:26:09.799]
[00:27:03.800]
- I remember, actually I think I'm standing
[00:27:07.299]
[00:27:08.100]
right where she was.
[00:27:08.999]
[00:27:15.500]
I probably hike this trail a hundred times.
[00:27:19.099]
[00:27:20.200]
We had just decided on a whim to come out here
[00:27:21.989]
[00:27:22.000]
to check on some old migrant sites.
[00:27:23.799]
[00:27:25.400]
And we end up finding the body and which is was,
[00:27:28.899]
[00:27:31.600]
you know, completely unexpected.
[00:27:33.099]
[00:27:36.900]
Someone had a really colorful blanket in their backpack.
[00:27:39.399]
[00:27:39.800]
We ended up using the blanket to cover her up.
[00:27:42.299]
[00:27:43.000]
We sent two people out to bring the sheriff out here
[00:27:45.099]
[00:27:45.600]
and we set with her for about five or six hours.
[00:27:47.799]
[00:27:50.900]
And hopefully, hopefully no one will will take that.
[00:27:58.899]
[00:28:13.800]
We've found human remains before
[00:28:15.599]
[00:28:16.600]
usually fragmented just pieces of bone.
[00:28:19.099]
[00:28:20.200]
But this was the first person that we have found out here
[00:28:23.799]
[00:28:24.100]
who was complete.
[00:28:25.099]
[00:28:41.600]
Her skin has started to blacken and mummify,
[00:28:43.899]
[00:28:44.000]
and the bloating is beginning to obscure some of her physical features.
[00:28:46.999]
[00:28:48.800]
Her striking jet black hair and the ponytail holder
[00:28:51.799]
[00:28:51.900]
wrapped around her wrist hint at the person she once was.
[00:28:55.799]
[00:28:57.000]
High above her turkey vultures circle her corpse.
[00:29:00.199]
[00:29:01.000]
I marvel at how quickly they have arrived on the scene.
[00:29:03.299]
[00:29:05.200]
Her name was Carmita, Marisela Zaguifueas
[00:29:07.499]
[00:29:07.500]
and she was 31 years old when she decided to leave her husband
[00:29:11.589]
[00:29:11.600]
and three children to try to make it the United States.
[00:29:13.899]
[00:29:14.500]
She was abandoned by her smuggler after she became ill
[00:29:16.689]
[00:29:16.700]
and was unable to continue walking.
[00:29:18.099]
[00:29:24.100]
(man speaking Spanish)
[00:29:25.399]
[00:29:25.400]
(dog barking)
[00:29:26.999]
[00:29:50.700]
(people speaking Spanish)
[00:29:51.799]
[00:32:37.500]
(train running on tracks)
[00:32:39.499]
[00:33:23.500]
(people speaking Spanish)
[00:33:25.099]
[00:36:35.300]
- After we found the body of Maricela, I got a Facebook chat
[00:36:38.989]
[00:36:39.000]
from her sister-in-law who basically said, can I call you?
[00:36:41.899]
[00:36:42.400]
We've got a family member who's gone missing in the desert.
[00:36:44.899]
[00:36:53.300]
We'll say the 15-year-old migrants from Ecuador who decided
[00:36:57.489]
[00:36:57.500]
to cross the border to reconnect with his parents in New York.
[00:37:01.599]
[00:37:15.300]
That's not going to stick.
[00:37:16.199]
[00:37:17.800]
Those poles down there.
[00:37:18.699]
[00:37:23.300]
But my hope is that someone will see this and know something remember...
[00:37:28.389]
[00:37:28.400]
...something.
[00:37:29.399]
[00:37:32.800]
I mean everybody's kind of holding their breath that,
[00:37:34.399]
[00:37:35.300]
that he's actually been kidnapped or that he is not able to to call home
[00:37:41.889]
[00:37:41.900]
for whatever reason.
[00:37:42.999]
[00:37:46.800]
And you just, you don't know.
[00:37:48.899]
[00:37:54.300]
(helicopter flying)
[00:37:57.199]
[00:38:06.100]
There's a reason why people are coming to this environment.
[00:38:09.499]
[00:38:09.900]
Border patrol and federal law enforcement funnel people through the desert
[00:38:13.399]
[00:38:15.100]
Those mountains, those are not easy to get over
[00:38:18.199]
[00:38:18.500]
if you are a seasoned hiker with expensive equipment.
[00:38:21.299]
[00:38:22.000]
But to be a 15-year-old kid wearing Air Jordans and you know,
[00:38:24.789]
[00:38:24.800]
carrying one gallon of water in the middle of the summer is.
[00:38:27.899]
[00:38:34.500]
(Border Patrol Agent talks off mic)
[00:38:34.799]
[00:38:43.900]
You know that, we're basically here's Atascosa Peak
[00:38:50.699]
[00:38:52.100]
and we're fairly sure that these kids crossed
[00:38:57.199]
[00:38:59.200]
a couple of days' walk west of Nogales.
[00:39:01.599]
[00:39:02.500]
They talk about getting beyond these mountains.
[00:39:05.499]
[00:39:05.800]
He gets sick on the other side and they leave him basically in a bajada.
[00:39:09.699]
[00:39:09.800]
So like on a on a sort of flat spot just north of these mountains.
[00:39:15.499]
[00:39:42.300]
This is all cow,
[00:39:43.099]
[00:39:44.900]
 - They're all pretty good.
[00:39:45.799]
[00:39:46.400]
- This is a femur, but like human femur is not going to be that dense.
[00:39:51.499]
[00:40:04.200]
One of the worries that we have is that if he got sick and died
[00:40:08.099]
[00:40:09.300]
and he decided that he was going to rest under a shaded area
[00:40:12.989]
[00:40:13.000]
in one of these washes, the monsoons come through here pretty quickly
[00:40:16.789]
[00:40:16.800]
and in the summer potentially can just watch a body completely away.
[00:40:21.499]
[00:40:37.100]
It's like what do you tell the family?
[00:40:38.099]
[00:40:38.400]
It's spent a day digging around in the woods and I didn't find anything.
[00:40:40.799]
[00:40:41.500]
Maybe I didn't look hard enough.
[00:40:42.599]
[00:40:42.600]
Maybe there's one more one more area that we didn't check
[00:40:44.889]
[00:40:44.900]
that which we could have gone through today.
[00:40:46.399]
[00:40:51.600]
That's the hard.
[00:40:52.199]
[00:40:52.200]
I don't know, that's the really hard part.
[00:40:53.199]
[00:40:53.300]
In fact to go back and I'll call them and say
[00:40:54.999]
[00:40:55.700]
we didn't find anything today.
[00:40:56.799]
[00:40:57.300]
We looked but no, no leads.
[00:41:01.999]
[00:41:11.000]
(people speaking Spanish)
[00:41:13.299]
[00:48:28.300]
- What I was doing before you guys came in is basically just making a list
[00:48:32.389]
[00:48:32.400]
of all of the unidentified since he disappeared
[00:48:38.999]
[00:48:39.200]
where we still don't have the anthro report.
[00:48:41.599]
[00:48:42.400]
Now some of these, so this was the list so far.
[00:48:44.999]
[00:48:45.300]
I highly doubt that any of those are going to be somebody
[00:48:47.989]
[00:48:48.000]
that young sure because again, I would have expected
[00:48:50.688]
[00:48:50.700]
to be alerted of that.
[00:48:51.799]
[00:48:52.500]
This is the forensic anthropology report.
[00:48:55.889]
[00:48:55.900]
Being it's a biological profile, the age range, ancestry, stature.
[00:49:00.299]
[00:49:00.700]
So depending on the case, that's kind of, I'll as a quick rule out
[00:49:05.599]
[00:49:05.600]
I'll just move on whenever I see an age range
[00:49:09.599]
[00:49:11.700]
- His mom calls me all the time.
[00:49:12.699]
[00:49:12.700]
She texts me a lot and they're constantly saying, you know,
[00:49:14.889]
[00:49:14.900]
what's going on?
[00:49:15.599]
[00:49:15.600]
I think it would be helpful for them if I could kind of go back
[00:49:19.088]
[00:49:19.100]
with information and say this is sort of typically how these things
[00:49:21.188]
[00:49:21.200]
sort of work.
[00:49:21.688]
[00:49:21.700]
Like this is this is what what what you guys have done so far.
[00:49:24.099]
[00:49:24.600]
This is sort of standard operating procedure and and this is kind of
[00:49:29.389]
[00:49:29.400]
what they could expect to, you know, when they ask like what is going on.
[00:49:33.299]
[00:49:33.400]
- Sure, the reality is that there's so many problems with the databases
[00:49:36.989]
[00:49:37.000]
that exist because we basically can't utilize what's out there
[00:49:40.599]
[00:49:41.200]
because these people are crossing the border and they're undocumented
[00:49:43.889]
[00:49:43.900]
or not considered, you know, viable to go into these databases
[00:49:47.688]
[00:49:47.700]
for a number of reasons, which is really frustrating.
[00:49:50.199]
[00:49:50.900]
So that means that we've got to build and fund our own.
[00:49:53.489]
[00:49:53.500]
And right now we still don't have one that keeps us on top
[00:49:56.989]
[00:49:57.000]
of all the cases.
[00:49:57.899]
[00:49:58.000]
We have to like actually go in and touch the case to update the search.
[00:50:01.599]
[00:50:03.000]
Here's some females, so that wouldn't be a possibility.
[00:50:04.099]
[00:50:11.800]
- At what point do people just kind of say
[00:50:15.899]
[00:50:18.800]
this person is dead.
[00:50:19.599]
[00:50:19.700]
We're never going to know what happened and we just need to
[00:50:21.499]
[00:50:22.300]
do something, we need to have some some sort of closure.
[00:50:25.199]
[00:50:28.000]
- [Woman] As far as families of the missing?
[00:50:29.599]
[00:50:29.600]
- Yeah sort of like, just I mean, do you find that it's
[00:50:33.088]
[00:50:33.100]
is this continuous sort of?
[00:50:34.499]
[00:50:35.300]
- I don't think I've ever talked to a family that has gotten
[00:50:39.088]
[00:50:39.100]
to what you're describing.
[00:50:40.699]
[00:51:02.700]
(People speaking Spanish)
[00:51:05.999]
[00:54:31.000]
(train running on tracks)
[00:54:35.299]
[00:54:59.500]
(people speaking Spanish)
[00:55:02.599]
[00:56:10.500]
(saw motor running)
[00:56:12.799]
[00:57:14.800]
(People speaking Spanish)
[00:57:17.099]
[00:59:26.100]
(water splashing)
[00:59:28.399]
[00:59:35.400]
(man speaking Spanish)
[00:59:36.699]
[00:59:50.200]
- Okay, bye-bye.
[00:59:51.599]
[01:00:07.400]
(people speaking Spanish)
[01:00:08.199]
[01:01:38.200]
(drums banging)
[01:01:41.499]
[01:02:38.500]
(Latin music playing)
[01:02:41.799]
[01:02:45.800]
(people speaking Spanish)
[01:02:48.099]
[01:02:53.100]
(Latin music playing)
[01:02:55.399]
[01:03:00.700]
(man singing in Spanish)
[01:03:02.099]
[01:04:07.100]
(men speaking Spanish)
[01:04:09.399]
[01:06:04.500]
(Spanish being spoken on radio)
[01:06:06.699]
[01:07:12.700]
(people speaking Spanish)
[01:07:14.999]
[01:08:09.000]
(bell ringing)
[01:08:11.299]
[01:08:21.300]
(people speaking Spanish)
[01:08:22.599]
[01:09:13.300]
- [Man] For many years there has been an immense amount of speculation
[01:09:16.289]
[01:09:16.300]
about what happens to migrant bodies.
[01:09:17.999]
[01:09:19.899]
People would say the bodies that we recover,
[01:09:23.299]
[01:09:23.800]
that's probably a good metric for who's died on here
[01:09:26.199]
[01:09:26.500]
and that was based on nothing.
[01:09:27.799]
[01:09:31.399]
This research is trying to provide really hard scientific data
[01:09:35.089]
[01:09:35.100]
on the decomposition process and one thing that we've been arguing
[01:09:37.888]
[01:09:37.899]
is that a lot of people die out here and they disappear.
[01:09:40.999]
[01:09:42.600]
So part of this work is to demonstrate the numbers of fatalities
[01:09:45.489]
[01:09:45.500]
that we have at the medical examiner's office are low.
[01:09:48.398]
[01:10:22.000]
- [Woman] Put our heads great (speaking off mic).
[01:10:23.499]
[01:10:56.500]
- 99% of the Scavenging is done by vultures.
[01:10:59.699]
[01:11:01.900]
We had one animal that went from fully fleshed and clothed
[01:11:04.189]
[01:11:04.200]
to completely skeletonized with the clothing and the bone spread upwards
[01:11:08.489]
[01:11:08.500]
of something like 35 meters.
[01:11:09.999]
[01:11:13.300]
A day and a half.
[01:11:14.199]
[01:12:04.200]
(wind blowing)
[01:12:06.499]
[01:13:08.500]
(flies buzzing)
[01:13:11.799]
[01:13:44.000]
- [woman] So there's (mumbles) and we have to find out
[01:13:45.029]
[01:13:45.040]
what the green ones are.
[01:13:47.399]
[01:13:48.300]
We tried this.
[01:13:49.599]
[01:13:50.500]
These are on right.
[01:13:52.399]
[01:13:52.400]
We have the half bottles that they use for cups.
[01:13:53.599]
[01:13:57.600]
Near the food bags there's a (speaks Spanish).
[01:13:59.899]
[01:14:02.900]
We got burned water bottles, the melted water bottles for boiling water.
[01:14:07.199]
[01:14:08.500]
- [Woman] Yeah, for boiling water.
[01:14:11.199]
[01:14:13.500]
(man speaking off mic)
[01:14:15.499]
[01:14:15.700]
- [Woman] Yeah, that's for when they're sick.
[01:14:15.969]
[01:14:16.750]
But they're also putting it on (speaking off mic).
[01:14:18.499]
[01:14:27.700]
(man speaking Spanish)
[01:14:28.699]
[01:16:29.500]
(phone rings and people speak Spanish)
[01:16:30.999]
[01:17:13.800]
(people speaking Spanish)
[01:17:13.919]
[01:19:27.920]
(train whistle blows)
[01:19:29.219]
[01:19:31.500]
(train whistle blows and train runs on track)
[01:19:33.519]
[01:19:34.930]
(light music)
[01:19:35.999]