Authorities identify man found near Bexar County tracks, probe Del Rio train link
Authorities identified the man found near Southwest Bexar County tracks as Nereo Aguilar Garcia, 49, while investigators traced a possible Del Rio rail link. The cause of death remains pending.
Authorities identified the man found near railroad tracks in Southwest Bexar County as Nereo Aguilar Garcia, 49, and kept pressing a question that matters in Val Verde County: whether his death was tied to a freight train that began in Del Rio and moved through San Antonio before heading toward other destinations.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office identified Garcia after his body was found around 1:30 p.m. Monday near Pue and Wolf Road. The cause and manner of death remained pending, and investigators had not publicly said exactly how he died. Early reports briefly listed Garcia as 48 years old before the medical examiner’s office confirmed his age as 49.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said investigators believed the body found near the tracks was connected to six people found dead inside a Union Pacific boxcar in Laredo over the weekend. Salazar said a train alarm showed that a railroad car door had opened in San Antonio, and that detail helped push investigators toward the rail corridor that runs through South Texas communities, including Del Rio. He also said that when Garcia was discovered, he had only a Mexican voter registration card.
The train at the center of the investigation was reported to have originated in Del Rio and split in San Antonio, with some boxcars continuing on to Laredo and other destinations, including Houston. Officials said the first alert came after a woman traveling in a boxcar contacted her sister and reported that the railcar was overheating, prompting a call to the San Antonio Police Department. A sensor later triggered near the Southwest Bexar County tracks, leading authorities to Garcia’s body.
Homeland Security Investigations is leading the inquiry into both the Laredo deaths and the body found in Bexar County. Union Pacific said it was working closely with law enforcement. For Val Verde County, the case places the Del Rio rail corridor back under a harsh spotlight, raising questions about freight security, border-linked smuggling routes, and how many more answers investigators will have to piece together before the full path of the train is known.
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