AZ AZ - Arivaca, UnkMale, 22-35, Found in desert near border, Jul'07

[charrb]

Please forgive me if this Doe has a thread. I haven't been able to find it if he does. He does not have a Doe Network page but I have submitted him in hopes that they'll add him.

#UP4942
Date of Discovery: July 3rd, 2007
Location of Discovery: Arivaca, Pima County, AZ
Estimated Date of Death: Weeks
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Mummified
Cause of Death: Unknown (no recorded injuries on NamUs)

Estimated Age: 22-35 years old
Race: "Other"
Sex: Male
Height: 5'10" (measured)
Weight: Cannot estimate
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Unknown

Clothing: a pair of black drawstring sweatpants, "21 Pro USA" brand, size L,
a pair of black shorts with red design, "Cheetah" brand, size XL
a pair of white "K-Swiss" brand tennis shoes, size 13 US
Additional Personal Items: a green lighter,
miscellaneous papers,
a drawing of a horse with the words "Mi PEQUENO PONY / SAPO BERDE / JENNIFER"

Circumstances of Discovery: USBP discovered mummified remains in desert area. A hand-written letter, with a drawing of pony, was found with decedent.

There are two Reddit posts I could find regarding John Doe (1) (2). People on there have speculated and attempted to translate what is visible for the letter. One thing I found quite interesting is that one user noted that it says, "'Jennifer desea que pases un feliz cumpleaños y que Dios...', Jennifer wishes You a Happy birthday and that god...), and my impression is that the sender's letters, written with a guide line and in capital letters, could be the work of a girl (Jennifer) and that the rest of the letter, with fairly good calligraphic writing, was written by her mother, which which would explain the use of the third person to refer to Jennifer." I do not speak Spanish so I can't personally testify this, but I do know that "sapo berde" is a pun of "Happy Birthday".
In Spanish speaking countries, I thought the show "My Little Pony" would be directly written in English rather than translated. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The letter also seems to be dated from June 2007. I wonder if he kept it as a keepsake for his travels, if he is a migrant attempting to cross the border.

Something strange to me is that his two exclusions on NamUs are both white men from the Midwest. Both also have glasses, so could the decedent possibly have been found with glasses that have not been listed on his profile..? Just speculation.

His NamUs page was last updated on 4/7/2025. Nothing I could notice was changed at that time, however.

Thank you for giving John Doe a moment of your time.

NamUs

 

[New Penny]

Please forgive me if this Doe has a thread. I haven't been able to find it if he does. He does not have a Doe Network page but I have submitted him in hopes that they'll add him.
View attachment 615138View attachment 615139View attachment 615140
#UP4942
Date of Discovery: July 3rd, 2007
Location of Discovery: Arivaca, Pima County, AZ
Estimated Date of Death: Weeks
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Mummified
Cause of Death: Unknown (no recorded injuries on NamUs)

Estimated Age: 22-35 years old
Race: "Other"
Sex: Male
Height: 5'10" (measured)
Weight: Cannot estimate
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Unknown

Clothing: a pair of black drawstring sweatpants, "21 Pro USA" brand, size L,
a pair of black shorts with red design, "Cheetah" brand, size XL
a pair of white "K-Swiss" brand tennis shoes, size 13 US
Additional Personal Items: a green lighter,
miscellaneous papers,
a drawing of a horse with the words "Mi PEQUENO PONY / SAPO BERDE / JENNIFER"

Circumstances of Discovery: USBP discovered mummified remains in desert area. A hand-written letter, with a drawing of pony, was found with decedent.

There are two Reddit posts I could find regarding John Doe (1) (2). People on there have speculated and attempted to translate what is visible for the letter. One thing I found quite interesting is that one user noted that it says, "'Jennifer desea que pases un feliz cumpleaños y que Dios...', Jennifer wishes You a Happy birthday and that god...), and my impression is that the sender's letters, written with a guide line and in capital letters, could be the work of a girl (Jennifer) and that the rest of the letter, with fairly good calligraphic writing, was written by her mother, which which would explain the use of the third person to refer to Jennifer." I do not speak Spanish so I can't personally testify this, but I do know that "sapo berde" is a pun of "Happy Birthday".
In Spanish speaking countries, I thought the show "My Little Pony" would be directly written in English rather than translated. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The letter also seems to be dated from June 2007. I wonder if he kept it as a keepsake for his travels, if he is a migrant attempting to cross the border.

Something strange to me is that his two exclusions on NamUs are both white men from the Midwest. Both also have glasses, so could the decedent possibly have been found with glasses that have not been listed on his profile..? Just speculation.
View attachment 615141

His NamUs page was last updated on 4/7/2025. Nothing I could notice was changed at that time, however.

Thank you for giving John Doe a moment of your time.

NamUs

I’m thinking the drawing of my little pony means just that: a drawing of her little pony not necessarily the character? At any rate a talented artist. Just my thoughts, could be mistaken of course.

Thank you for bringing this forward.

 

[charrb]

I’m thinking the drawing of my little pony means just that: a drawing of her little pony not necessarily the character? At any rate a talented artist. Just my thoughts, could be mistaken of course.

Thank you for bringing this forward.

that’s what i think too! originally i thought the letter may be his to jennifer, but with the formatting it could be signed off as jeniffer.
i wish we could see the back fully. i’ve emailed the case owner and department in hopes they can clarify if they have the back scanned at all.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Cristian Omar Romero Felix?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[charrb]

Cristian Omar Romero Felix?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

"in grave distress" is so strange. and he has different clothing. it's about two days walking distance or maybe 3 hours in the car. the pmi is also "weeks" and he was mummified, but it was summer in the desert so that could be a little off.
i'd submit -- if anything it'd be another exclusion, and show that someone is still looking out for both men.

 

[Canadianmom2three]

that’s what i think too! originally i thought the letter may be his to jennifer, but with the formatting it could be signed off as jeniffer.
i wish we could see the back fully. i’ve emailed the case owner and department in hopes they can clarify if they have the back scanned at all.

Great idea! I tried flipping the image to see what I could make out. I could only clearly read "Jennifer", "de Papi" which is "from Daddy" and "Le Puedan", which I google translated to say "They can" Maybe someone who can read Spanish will have better luck, I'll keep trying.

Edit to say I also see "Bendiga" at the end which translate says is "Bless"
MOO

 

[charrb]

Great idea! I tried flipping the image to see what I could make out. I could only clearly read "Jennifer", "de Papi" which is "from Daddy" and "Le Puedan", which I google translated to say "They can" Maybe someone who can read Spanish will have better luck, I'll keep trying.

MOO
View attachment 615452

a lot of the people on the reddit threads were able to translate a good chunk, and while the handwriting is super nice there are a few grammatical/spelling errors. makes me wonder if the mother wrote it out while jennifer was the artist, or the decedent wrote it to jennifer (but then why would it say "jennifer wishes you"...?)
i contacted the case owners and have to make a call to the sheriff's department, but i did hear back from the forensics anthropologist and he was incredibly kind. it really seems like they still have this case on their forefront which is saying a lot with doe cases!

my hope is sharing his story so maybe SOMEONE out there recognizes the writing, the drawing, who jennifer is... the "de papi" threw me off but i really do think it was a letter between a father and a daughter. someone out there is missing their father.

 

[Nate_Bro]

A Drawing in the Desert​

In early June 2007, Gerardo Sánchez Reyes, a 32-year-old man from Mexico City, disappeared in Tijuana, a city that for many is a final pause before a journey north. His case was recorded. Then, like so many others from that era, it went quiet.

Weeks later, on July 3, 2007, U.S. Border Patrol agents found the mummified remains of an unidentified man in the Arizona desert near Arivaca—a remote, deadly stretch long known as a migrant crossing route. The man was estimated to be between 22 and 35 years old. The desert had stripped away nearly everything that could identify him.

Almost everything.

Among the few personal effects recovered was something unexpected: a small drawing of a horse, sketched in simple lines, and a handwritten note in Spanish. The words were childlike and intimate—“mi pequeño pony.” Beneath it was a single name:

Jennifer.

The uneven lettering, the basic structure, the symbolic simplicity all point to a young child, likely six to eight years old. Not a message meant for authorities. A keepsake.

That age matters.

A woman named Jennifer Sanchez-Reyes, born February 1999, appears years later in U.S. residence records in Chicago, Illinois. Her surname mirrors Gerardo’s two family names. In 2007, she would have been eight years old—the same age suggested by the drawing.

There is no document that explicitly connects her to Gerardo. No record that says father or daughter. No official link tying the missing man in Tijuana to the unidentified man in the Arizona desert.

But the pieces line up in a way that is hard to ignore.

A man disappears at the border.
A man of the same age dies weeks later in the desert.
And with him is a child’s drawing—carefully kept—bearing a name that fits both the timeline and the family structure of the missing man.

This is not proof. It is not a conclusion.

For investigators, the drawing changes the case. It suggests the unidentified man was not alone in the world—that someone, somewhere, had once pressed a piece of paper into his hands and expected him to come back.

And for anyone who has ever wondered how many stories the desert keeps, the answer may be as small as a pony drawn by a child, and a name written in careful, uneven letters: Jennifer.

 

[The4TierBridge]

A Drawing in the Desert​

In early June 2007, Gerardo Sánchez Reyes, a 32-year-old man from Mexico City, disappeared in Tijuana, a city that for many is a final pause before a journey north. His case was recorded. Then, like so many others from that era, it went quiet.

Weeks later, on July 3, 2007, U.S. Border Patrol agents found the mummified remains of an unidentified man in the Arizona desert near Arivaca—a remote, deadly stretch long known as a migrant crossing route. The man was estimated to be between 22 and 35 years old. The desert had stripped away nearly everything that could identify him.

Almost everything.

Among the few personal effects recovered was something unexpected: a small drawing of a horse, sketched in simple lines, and a handwritten note in Spanish. The words were childlike and intimate—“mi pequeño pony.” Beneath it was a single name:

Jennifer.

The uneven lettering, the basic structure, the symbolic simplicity all point to a young child, likely six to eight years old. Not a message meant for authorities. A keepsake.

That age matters.

A woman named Jennifer Sanchez-Reyes, born February 1999, appears years later in U.S. residence records in Chicago, Illinois. Her surname mirrors Gerardo’s two family names. In 2007, she would have been eight years old—the same age suggested by the drawing.

There is no document that explicitly connects her to Gerardo. No record that says father or daughter. No official link tying the missing man in Tijuana to the unidentified man in the Arizona desert.

But the pieces line up in a way that is hard to ignore.

A man disappears at the border.
A man of the same age dies weeks later in the desert.
And with him is a child’s drawing—carefully kept—bearing a name that fits both the timeline and the family structure of the missing man.

This is not proof. It is not a conclusion.

For investigators, the drawing changes the case. It suggests the unidentified man was not alone in the world—that someone, somewhere, had once pressed a piece of paper into his hands and expected him to come back.

And for anyone who has ever wondered how many stories the desert keeps, the answer may be as small as a pony drawn by a child, and a name written in careful, uneven letters: Jennifer.

None of those people exist and whatever AI response you posted probably just hallucinated the whole thing. Please don't use generative AI for research.

 

[Nate_Bro]

None of those people exist and whatever AI response you posted probably just hallucinated the whole thing. Please don't use generative AI for research.

1.That is all my own research, 2. the people do exist, and 3. I'll use what I please.

DISAPPEARANCE​

1 June 2007
Event: Gerardo Sánchez Reyes (age 32) disappears in Tijuana, Baja California.
Source (official Mexico portal):

• Registro Nacional de Personas Desaparecidas y No Localizadas (RNPDNO):
  https://consultapublicarnpdno.segob.gob.mx/

(Search within the portal for “Gerardo Sánchez Reyes”, Baja California, 2007.)

---

UNIDENTIFIED DEATH​

June 2007 (estimated)
Event: An adult male (estimated age 22–35) dies while traveling through a known migrant corridor in southern Arizona; postmortem interval later indicates death occurred weeks before recovery.

3 July 2007
Event: Decomposed remains of an unidentified adult male are discovered near Arivaca, Arizona.
Source:

• NamUs UP4942 (case overview, location, date found):
  https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/UP4942

---

EVIDENCE RECOVERED WITH THE BODY​

3 July 2007
Event: Personal effects recovered with the remains include:

• a childlike drawing of a horse
• handwritten Spanish text including “mi pequeño pony”
• the name “Jennifer”

---

POST-RECOVERY STATUS​

2007–2016
Event: The unidentified male remains unnamed; no next-of-kin identified based on the recovered item.

---

LATER RECORD DISCOVERY​

2017
Event: A woman named Jennifer Sanchez / Sanchez-Reyes, born February 1999, appears in U.S. residence records in Chicago, Illinois.

• FamilySearch record:
  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6YNC-8N5B

---

RETROSPECTIVE CONTEXT​

Event: Only after the 2007 recovery and years later record review does the appearance of a Jennifer born in 1999 become potentially relevant.
Sources:

• NamUs UP4942 (evidence context):
  https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/UP4942
• FamilySearch residence record (2017/2019):
  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6YNC-8N5B