Crime & Safety
Santa Cruz Man Found Dead in New Mexico
The body of Francisco Pacheco Rivas was found March 14 and identified through fingerprints this week.
A 56-year-old Santa Cruz man traveling from Mexico back to California was found dead on the side of Interstate 10 west of Las Cruces, NM, two weeks ago, the Lac Cruces Sun-News reported this week.
According to the report, Francisco Pacheco Rivas was a caretaker at a home for autistic patients in Santa Cruz.
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How he ended up dead in the desert is a mystery. There was no obvious trauma to the body, the Sun-News reported.
Rivas was driving north from Mexico on Jan. 2 when he got disoriented, a relative reported. When he came across, border patrol agents said he told them he'd "seen the devil," the Sun-News reported. The agents took Rivas to a nearby gas station. From there, he wandered off.
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His body was found nearby more than two months later. Preliminary medical reports indicate he died in mid-February, according to the Sun-News.
Santa Cruz police had no record of Rivas in their files.
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