Nearly 2,000 people have died in Arizona trying to cross the border illegally in the past decade and most of them end up at the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office. The Arizona Daily Star takes you behind the scenes of this annual summer onslaught of identity puzzles.
Crossing the border illegally in the searing summer heat is lethal about 2,000 bodies have been found in Southern Arizona's desert since 2001.
Few carry identification, and the effects of the sun and animals leave many bodies unrecognizable.
Figuring out how they died is the easy part in most cases their internal temperatures rose so high they became delirious, fell unconcious and died. But determining who they were is a difficult, often gruesome task, that has transformed the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office.
There are so many bodies that taxpayers are paying for more staff and an extra storage cooler.
Summer, when the dead arrive daily, pushes the forensic scientists to their limits as they try to solve each mystery, and find answers for families desperate for word of their missing loved ones.
A special section exclusive to the print edition of todays Arizona Daily Star examines how this international calamity strains our community.
Pick up a copy of today's Star at all convenience, drug and grocery stores in the Tucson area or subscribe here.
If you're outside Southern Arizona, order an electronic edition delivered to your in box each day - complete with advertisements and a useful search function.
Html : A decade of death
Crossing the border illegally in the searing summer heat is lethal about 2,000 bodies have been found in Southern Arizona's desert since 2001.
Few carry identification, and the effects of the sun and animals leave many bodies unrecognizable.
Figuring out how they died is the easy part in most cases their internal temperatures rose so high they became delirious, fell unconcious and died. But determining who they were is a difficult, often gruesome task, that has transformed the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office.
There are so many bodies that taxpayers are paying for more staff and an extra storage cooler.
Summer, when the dead arrive daily, pushes the forensic scientists to their limits as they try to solve each mystery, and find answers for families desperate for word of their missing loved ones.
A special section exclusive to the print edition of todays Arizona Daily Star examines how this international calamity strains our community.
Pick up a copy of today's Star at all convenience, drug and grocery stores in the Tucson area or subscribe here.
If you're outside Southern Arizona, order an electronic edition delivered to your in box each day - complete with advertisements and a useful search function.
Html : A decade of death
