Bexar County's medical examiner says the 53 victims in the smuggling case didn't show signs of heart disease, diabetes or other ailments.
The 53 migrants who died from heat exposure after being locked in the back of a tractor-trailer were all healthy and had no underlying conditions that contributed to their deaths, Bexar County 's Chief Medical Examiner Kimberley Molina testified Friday.
Molina was in federal court to testify during the trial of Felipe Orduna-Torres, 29, and Armando Gonzales-Ortega, 54, who are accused of playing roles in the cartel-linked smuggling operation that led to the migrants deaths in San Antonio in 2022. READ ALSO: Testimony: Driver heard screams, banging from trailer filled with migrants Both defendants are charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens causing death or serious bodily injury, and could receive life in prison if convicted. Authorities have linked the men and others to 17 human smuggling incidents that ended when a tractor-trailer carrying more than 60 migrants was abandoned June 27, 2022, on a desolate stretch of Quintana Road in southwest San Antonio. Fifty-three people died in what federal officials have called the deadliest human smuggling incident in the nation's history. Of the deceased, 47 were adults, six were children. Federal officials have said temperatures inside the trailer topped 150 degrees. Previous testimony in the case has indicated organizers were alerted that the refrigeration unit in the tractor-trailer had malfunctioned, and that the driver reported hearing screams and banging coming from the inside of the trailer on the trip from Laredo to San Antonio. As Bexar County medical examiner, Molina's office was tasked with transporting the victims' bodies from the scene and for performing autopsies. Under questioning from federal prosecutor Eric Fuchs on Friday, Molina told the jury that her staff had to utilize an ambulance bus, which can carry 20 bodies at a time, to transport the victims to the medical examiner's office. 'It took two trips,' she told the jury, adding that she and her staff also used other vehicles to move some of the bodies. She said they were at the scene for six hours. When the time came for autopsies, Molina said she asked for help from the medical examiners offices in Austin and Dallas. Molina said all 53 of the victims died from 'hyperthermia attributed to circumstances from being confined in an unventilated trailer.' 'Hyperthermia means someone's body temperature is high or so high or sustained over a long period that the body can no longer compensate,' she told the jury. Molina said there was a component of asphyxia, or a lack of oxygen, found in the victims. Molina ruled the manner of death as homicide for each victim. She said there were no underlying issues such as cancer or diabetes among the victims. Only two had enlarged hearts. She said of the 53 who died, seven made it out of the trailer. Of those seven, two were found dead down the road from where the trailer was abaondoned. Five others were taken to hospitals, where they died from complications of hyperthermia. One of the people who died in the trailer, a 27-year-old woman, was 12 to 14 weeks pregnant, Molina said. Medical examiners found a pregnancy test among her belongings. Defense attorney Edgardo Rafael Baez is representing both defendants.
Armando Gonzales-Ortega Edgardo Rafael Baez Eric Fuchs Felipe Orduna-Torres Bexar County San Antonio Quintana Road Laredo Dallas Austin Hyperthermia
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