A 33-year-old Mexican woman died at a hospital in Tuscan, Arizona on Saturday while in the custody of U.S. Border Patrol.
The woman, who has not been identified, was found by a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy near Tubac, which is south of Tucson, on Oct. 13. According to a 911 call report, she was passed out at an intersection.
Meredith Mingledorff, a spokeswoman for CBP, told the Tucson Sentinel that “she was taken to a Tucson hospital where she was found to have injuries consistent with severe dehydration.”
The woman received treatment while in border patrol custody but died Saturday morning at 11:44 a.m.
The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner Gregory Hess said the woman died from dehydration and kidney failure linked to her long journey through the desert, The Hill reports.
“The bottom line is she went with kind of profound dehydration and kidney failure, probably due to an extended trek through the desert,” Hess said. “While they were treating her for that, she developed multiple subsequent complications and then she had this extended hospital course.”
The woman is the second person to die in Border Patrol custody within a week in the state of Arizona. Last week, a 49-year-old Mexican man died of a pre-existing heart condition while in Border Patrol custody. He passed away at a Tucson-area hospital after he was detained near Casa Grande, Arizona.