AZ AZ - Cowlic Village, HispMale 14-20, UP11162, Cranium in shopping bag hanging from tree, Location known for migrant activity, Feb'13

[Hochman]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

ML13-00537

Reconstruction (Jaw is estimated)

"The cranium was found by a USBP agent in a plastic shopping bag hanging from a tree in a remote desert location known for migrant activity. No other skeletal elements or personal effects were located."

Sex - Male
Race - Hispanic
Location - Cowlic Village, Arizona

Spoiler: Location estimate (Blue dot)

County - Pima County
Age Range - 14 - 20
Estimated Year of Death - 2011-2012
PMI - Years
Condition of Remains - Partial skeleton (Cranium)

Unknown
- Hair
- Eye color
- Height
- Weight
- Clothing

 

[Puzzleworth]

Poor kid. Sounds like he died in the wilderness and someone else found his remains.

 

[AguaFlorida2001]

Based off the circumstances, I'm guessing this was somebody trying to cross into the United States from Latin America. I just can't understand why their cranium was found in a shopping bag hanging from a tree? That sounds a bit more intentional than just finding a body laying in the desert.

Some of these people look a bit like the reconstruction:
Antonio Ramirez-Lopez
Oscar Federico Reyes-Cruz
Enrique Heriberto Marquez-Nataren

 

[ohemgee.kay925]

Based off the circumstances, I'm guessing this was somebody trying to cross into the United States from Latin America. I just can't understand why their cranium was found in a shopping bag hanging from a tree? That sounds a bit more intentional than just finding a body laying in the desert.

Some of these people look a bit like the reconstruction:
Antonio Ramirez-Lopez
Oscar Federico Reyes-Cruz
Enrique Heriberto Marquez-Nataren

I wonder if maybe someone found the cranium and placed it in the hanging bag so that it would be discovered otherwise? Perhaps they were afraid of being considered as someone more involved than just finding it in that area?

 

[aurycore]

He was definitely an undocumented immigrant. the Tohono Odham reservation is an immigrant hotspot and he probably died from getting murdered. there is genuinely no way he would've died from an animal if the cranium was found in a plastic bag, or it could be possible that the remains were tampered with.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Enrique Heriberto Marquez Nataren?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

 

[aurycore]

Enrique Heriberto Marquez Nataren?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

I can see it, but Enrique has smaller eyes while UID has larger ones and a more rounder chin.

 

[aurycore]

he was found right near a highway too, near route 202 and also green valley. Could be that someone probably noticed him and murdered him then put him in a plastic bag, but then again what would've happened with the rest of his remains?

 

[The4TierBridge]

View attachment 631721

he was found right near a highway too, near route 202 and also green valley. Could be that someone probably noticed him and murdered him then put him in a plastic bag, but then again what would've happened with the rest of his remains?

I'd assume the initial death was not suspicious. This is probably a dis-articulated cranium somebody found along the San Miguel corridor, probably from a migrant or less likely from a native who lived on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, who had died many years prior, and then the discoverer put it in a bag for whatever strange reason. COD and manner of death are both undetermined for 13-00537 in the AZ Migrant Death Index. Case Number-based Radius Search

 

[Goecke]

I wonder if the skull was initially found/placed in the bag by an undocumented immigrant who wanted it to be found but was afraid to go to authorities?

 

[aurycore]

I'd assume the initial death was not suspicious. This is probably a dis-articulated cranium somebody found along the San Miguel corridor, probably from a migrant or less likely from a native who lived on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, who had died many years prior, and then the discoverer put it in a bag for whatever strange reason. COD and manner of death are both undetermined for 13-00537 in the AZ Migrant Death Index. Case Number-based Radius Search

Could be either. the Tohono O'odham nation as said is an immigrant hotspot, and alot of UIDS who are likely immigrants are found there or on another reservation in Arizona.

as for the grocery bag something does tell me its foul play. I think I can play into Goecke's theory about how another immigrant put it in a bag for authorities to find out of fear of being sent back, but then again, would that not be considered a crime? (tampering with remains) In general the discoverer could be another migrant, but the thing with the bag is... a tad questionable. It's likely this UID was murdered two years prior, and i guess the body decomposed to the point where it's skeletal, but this is where it gets tricky---it takes a bit of time for a body to decompose, so the perp didn't just put the head back in the bag. Either they waited for the body to be decomposed enough to put it in (unlikely) or put the body in a solution to speed up skeletonization and then put it in the bag.

 

[aurycore]

slight correction: UID was farther from the highway than I initially thought. I guess part of the reservation is pretty mountainous. if so, i think he could've died from falling or sustaining a bad injury, then skeletonized, and someone likely saw his remains and took the skull to put in a bag.

 

[Blurgle]

I can see it, but Enrique has smaller eyes while UID has larger ones and a more rounder chin.

The chin on the reconstruction is basically fake; his jaw bone wasn't in the bag, so they don't know what the deceased's chin looked like in real life. The artist chose a chin at random so they could finish the sketch.

 

[Goecke]

If he was a migrant he could have died from exposure/hyperthermia as well. If he was murdered, I doubt his murderer was the same person who put his skull in the bag- The fact it's JUST a skull (and no mandible, neck vertebrae etc) indicates that his remains were very decomposed, if not entirely skeletal, when his skull was put in the bag IMO.

Taking a skull and putting it in a bag hanging from a tree is probably breaking some sort of law, but whoever did it got away with it. If it was an undocumented immigrant, they might have seen it a safer option than calling the police, even if it's obviously not the perfect option.

 

[aurycore]

The chin on the reconstruction is basically fake; his jaw bone wasn't in the bag, so they don't know what the deceased's chin looked like in real life. The artist chose a chin at random so they could finish the sketch.

right, my apologies for that. I was just going off of what I saw.

 

[aurycore]

If he was a migrant he could have died from exposure/hyperthermia as well. If he was murdered, I doubt his murderer was the same person who put his skull in the bag- The fact it's JUST a skull (and no mandible, neck vertebrae etc) indicates that his remains were very decomposed, if not entirely skeletal, when his skull was put in the bag IMO.

Taking a skull and putting it in a bag hanging from a tree is probably breaking some sort of law, but whoever did it got away with it. If it was an undocumented immigrant, they might have seen it a safer option than calling the police, even if it's obviously not the perfect option.

You do have a point. Maybe he did die of exposure or like the other theory I posed where he could've fallen pretty bad and died because he didn't get treatment (then probably died due to exposure/hyperthermia) but I can see it as more plausible now that an immigrant put it in a bag for the cops to find.