Arizona: Naming the dead from the desert
It's the job of a forensics team in Arizona to identify the bodies of migrants found in the desert. Anthropologist Robin Reineke describes how she pieces together the sad jigsaw puzzle of personal attributes and belongings.
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There's often an interesting combination of objects. Mostly it is the normal stuff that anyone would take with them on a trip - toothpaste, socks, snacks, water.
But then there are these very personal items - photographs of loved ones, handwritten notes from family members, kids' drawings.
The letters are from the children or wives of those we've found dead, wishing them luck and telling them that they're loved, that they should be very careful on the journey, that the family's prayers are with them, that the family's hopes are with them.
And the photos have been touched and pulled out over and over again, then folded up and put back carefully.
With certain objects, my familiarity with Mexican and Central American cultures helps me <Robin Reineke> to make a guess about where someone came from.
Money
Many migrants carry all the money they have. Before they meet up with their coyote (guide) they are often carrying the payment with them in cash, which is usually more than $2,500.
This is very dangerous. Every year, hundreds of Central American migrants fall prey to criminals, especially drug cartels and gangs.
False Mexican Voter ID card
When false Mexican ID is found with unidentified remains, Robin’s team look at their missing lists from neighbouring countries – in this case, the owner was Honduran.
He would have needed false ID to travel through Mexico, where he would also have been considered an “illegal”. Another reason for the fake ID is that if he had been caught trying to cross into the US, he would only have been deported back to Mexico rather than all the way to Honduras.
SIM cards
These are not uncommon. Migrants often carry them as back-up in case their cell phones get taken.
List of names and numbers
This is one of the most common items found with migrants. The guides often take their cell phones at the start of the journey, so the migrants carry numbers with them instead.
The numbers were key to helping the team identify this individual, who was found in January 2011, about 10-15 months after his death.
Someone from the Mexican consulate called one of the numbers and spoke to a person who knew a man using false ID. He was ultimately identified through a DNA match, thanks to the Argentine Forensic Team, which funds a large number of DNA comparisons for Central Americans.
Prayer card
“Cristo mi piloto” (Jesus is my pilot) with a prayer on the back. For example, many migrants carry prayer cards - small cards with a saint or a holy scene printed on them with an accompanying prayer. A prayer card of the Virgin of Juquila is likely to have belonged to a Oaxacan traveller, since it is there that she is venerated.
Wallet
Since all travellers carry wallets, and many of them are very similar, these rarely help in the identification process.
With certain objects, my familiarity with Mexican and Central American cultures helps me to make a guess about where someone came from.
You can think of it like a puzzle - a puzzle which has a great deal of importance to a lot of people.
Because of the highly decomposed nature of the bodies, the calls I <Robin Reineke> make are never as simple as, "I am sorry to inform you…" Instead, it's the beginning of a process that could take months. It unfolds as a kind of a negotiation between the scientists and the families. Both sides have the same goal - to find the missing person.
But for the scientists, the problem is an unidentified dead body, whereas for the families, the problem is a missing living person. These realities pull them in opposite directions.
And, coming after a long period of not hearing anything, these are months of agony for families. What they have already endured is terrifying. You cannot grieve without a body - without certainty that the person is gone. Every single day that you are living a normal life, you know they could be suffering.