Border Patrol finds body in Rio Grande in El Paso County

An investigation is underway after a body was found in the Rio Grande southeast of El Paso near San Elizario, the U.S. Border Patrol said.

El Paso County Sheriff's Office investigators determined that the death was not a homicide, sheriff's spokesman Ray Vaquera said on Wednesday, March 20, without releasing further information.

A Juárez newspaper had reported that the body was potentially that of a possible homicide victim who was dumped into the river.

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A Border Patrol spokesman confirmed that a body had been located on Monday, March 18, in the river and referred questions to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, which is leading the investigation.

El Heraldo de Juárez reported that Mexican law enforcement said that it appeared the body of an unidentified man, who may have been shot in the head, had been dumped into the river where it was recovered by the Border Patrol. It was suspected that the man died n Juárez.

Though often barely an ankle-deep trickle along the El Paso-Juárez border, the Rio Grande is currently flowing with water released from upstream dams earlier this month for irrigation.

Body found in Sunland Park desert

The body in the Rio Grande was the second body found by Border Patrol agents on March 18 on the U.S. side of the border.

Agents found a body in the evening about a mile into the desert off Camino Real Drive from the landfill in Sunland Park, New Mexico, the Sunland Park Fire Department said on the X platform, formerly Twitter. The Sunland Park Fire Department utilizes its all-terrain vehicles for body recoveries in the desert.

The death is under investigation. Information has not been disclosed regarding the deceased person's identity.

The desert outside Sunland Park is a hot zone for the deaths of migrants who perished after crossing the nearby border just west of El Paso.