It tries to name them, then buries unidentified

LUKE TURF

He lies in a white body bag in a 36-degree cooler.

He's about 5 feet 5 inches tall and 29 years old. Before he was found in the desert, his body had been reduced to a skeleton. Authorities don't know who he is, and chances are good he will never be identified.

He is one of 61 suspected illegal immigrants recovered from the Arizona desert in 2003 who haven't been identified.

As the weather heats up, bodies are quickly stacking up alongside last year's total. Since January, authorities in Arizona have recovered 43 bodies, of which 26 are unidentified. All the people are believed to have died while crossing the border illegally.
 
No one knows how many unburied bodies still lie in the desert. As they are found and taken in for autopsies and identification, the cost to taxpayers rises.

Pima County autopsies for 156 border crossers cost taxpayers about $250,000 in 2003.

If the people aren't identified in about six months, the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office will arrange for burial, which for the 49 unidentified people from 2003 will cost the county about $40,000.

The Mexican government or the person's family usually pays for funerals - but not autopsies - of those who are identified. All autopsy bills fall to the county, as do funeral bills for the unidentified.

Seeking identities

"We've gone through everything we can," said Bruce Parks, chief medical examiner in Pima County. "We're working on getting them identified."

Parks analyzes all the information he can gather about the dead, including dental records and personal items found with the bodies. The Mexican Consulate tries to pair descriptions of the dead with those of people presumed missing in the desert.

Like most of the 216 other immigrants whose bodies were found in Arizona during 2003, this John Doe is believed to have died of heat-related illness.

He fits a common description of illegal immigrants. His body was in a remote location, and he had extra clothes and belongings that appeared to be from a Spanish-speaking country. He had a cap that says "Juan J" on the front and "PAN," the initials of a Mexican political party, on the side.

Costly autopsies

Autopsies for dead immigrants cost Pima County an average of $1,650 each, Parks said.

According to the county's contract with a funeral parlor, funerals can cost $400 to $840 each.

The man with the Juan J cap was found on the Tohono O'odham Nation near Big Fields on Nov. 14 and has been in Parks' morgue ever since.

He had no dental work and carried black gym shoes that say 2003 on the side. He likely died in 2002 or 2003, judging by the body's decomposition, said Bruce Anderson, Pima County's forensic medical investigator.

If he's never identified, no one will ever know.

Parks can't even be sure the Juan J cap belongs to this man, because another body was found nearby.

"There were two bodies discovered fairly close together, and all the clothes were scooped up and delivered with one body," he said.

Immigrant smugglers often steal identification from their cargo to keep authorities from tracking down families who could lead them to the smugglers.

This John Doe will likely be buried soon if no family comes forward.

"He's in the process right now to be released as an unknown and buried in the county cemetery," Anderson said.

In Anderson's four years in the county, just once was someone identified after he was buried, thanks to dental records his office holds even after an unidentified person is buried. In that case, a relative came forward with information including dental records, Anderson said.

DNA samples

Pima County is working with a Baylor University professor, Lori Baker, who is building a database of illegal immigrant DNA samples so that if a family member comes forward, the samples can be matched.

"Computers will attempt to compare everything from blue jeans to DNA," Anderson said.

If the man with the Juan J cap isn't identified, a bone fragment will be kept for possible DNA sampling, Anderson said.

DNA tests aren't done on dead illegal immigrants because the tests are expensive, and until the victims' family members step forward, there's no one to match samples with, Baker said.

"Families continue to look for years after an individual is found. They may just not be looking in the right place," Baker said.

Families often don't know where their loved ones crossed the border and may be dealing with the wrong counties, he said.

Pima County has been helpful to the project by gathering bone fragments for DNA samples, Baker said, but her native Texas has not.

"We're still at the beginning of the project," Baker said.

Baker and her husband are applying for private grants to help create the database, which will be available online.

In Tucson, Cheri Ross conducts a similar database, but without DNA and not just for illegal immigrants. Ross said she matches information from missing-persons lists with information from lists of unidentified dead people. Recently her project, The Doe Network, identified a buried John Doe who died in Nevada in 1988.

In Arizona alone there are more than 3,000 missing people and 400 unidentified dead people from the past 20 years, including immigrants, she said.

"It's like emptying a beach with a bucket," Ross said.

No illegal immigrants have been identified in her jurisdiction of the program in Arizona and Nevada.

Juan J's fate

If no leads develop or he isn't identified soon, the man with the Juan J cap will be taken to a plot in Evergreen Cemetery, said Doug Mostyn, funeral director and co-owner of Mountain Shadows, the funeral home that handles funerals for the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office.

"We try to have some clergy available to at least say a prayer or give some kind of respect, but other than that it's not ceremonial," Mostyn said.

If the man in the Juan J cap, who also had a black belt with two rows of holes, isn't soon identified, he'll get a temporary headstone enscribed with the name John Doe and a number.

He'll ride to the cemetery in a hearse and eventually will get a permanent headstone, Mostyn said.

PIMA COUNTY:

The Pima County medical examiner can store up to 70 bodies. Some are skeletal remains and take up less space, said Bruce Parks, Pima County's chief medical examiner. Parks estimated that about half the capacity is filled with illegal immigrants.

Examining the 156 dead border crossers in Pima County cost taxpayers about $250,000 in 2003. If the people aren't identified in about six months, the examiner's office arranges burial, which for the 49 unidentified from 2003 will cost the county about $40,000.

UNIDENTIFIED DEAD IN ARIZONA:
Statewide
 

216 dead in 2003; 61 weren't identified

42 dead so far in 2004; 26 haven't been identified

Pima County

156 dead in Pima County in 2003; 49 not identified

34 dead so far in 2004; 23 not identified

Yuma County

12 dead in Yuma County in 2003; five not identified

Yuma County's 2004 numbers not available from medical examiner

Cochise County

48 dead in Cochise County in 2003; seven not identified

Five dead found so far in 2004; one not identified

SOURCE: Medical examiners' records