Last night I got a late text from the student team members asking if they could put their unopened and left over water in barrels in the morning. Driving anywhere in the vastness of Brooks County takes time, so our last day was our earliest start yet. After a quick breakfast, we packed the van, checked out of the hotel and headed south and east to roads that still hold the legacy of Eddie Canales: life saving water stations.
Beyond Boders Team Members at a Water Station Built by the South Texas Human Rights Center
Beyond Borders Team Members at the Alamo
The team said goodbye to Brooks County and made the long drive back to San Antonio. The ability to leave the situation at the border is a luxury but the transition back home can be tough for some team members. I’ve found spending a few hours in San Antonio being tourists provides them with a bit of buffer as they shift back to the Midwest.
Beyond Boders Team Members at the San Antonio River Walk
Lilly and Chastidy after getting their bags pulled by the TSA
At the airport we weighed our bags and had to do a little rearranging before checking them in. Then in the security screening line, we held our breath as our carryon bags, each with at least one animal bone or antler, made their way through imaging. Chastidy and Lilly had their bags pulled for closer inspection.
We made our flights to DFW and then IND with no problems. We said our goodbyes at baggage claim and headed home to sleep in our own beds. We will continue to post over the next week and hope you continue to take a few minutes each day to read our reflections on this trip.
Chastidy and Makenna playing games at the airport while we wait
When I woke up this morning the first thing I realized was just how tired I was. Not only did my eyelids feel heavy, but my feet and back had begun to ache more than they had the past two days. This wouldn’t normally be a problem for me, I would just put on a comfy pair of socks and go, but given the fact that it was our hottest day (a sunny 86 degrees), adding more layers for comfort really wasn’t the best idea.
It was also the first morning that I didn’t know what to expect. We had known the night before the previous two days what we would generally be doing, but today we had less of a clue. It wasn’t until Don and Ray got to our hotel that we learned that we would be heading out to a ranch where previous recoveries had been made. There were no specific coordinates or locations we were searching at, but Don had done recoveries at some of the surrounding ranches, and this one had not been searched in a while, so we set off.
The back of Don’s uniform.Socks on her way back to the group.
Day 3 of our time in Falfurrias would start about an hour or so from where we were staying, and for the first time, we got to take the minivan out onto the ranch. I’ll be the first to say that I was surprised we got as far as we did without being in one of Ray or Don’s massive trucks, but we managed! The drive along the ranch roads was also filled with interesting things to see, from fences to pipeline trails to even a larger number of nilgai (a type of antelope from India) and deer. The spot we stopped at was quiet (save for the whipping wind that made it hard to hear what anyone was saying): a two-track road with thick brush on one side and a fence line on the other.
Two members of the team searching the surrounding area.
The moment we stopped along the two-track it was time to begin, and we started by just prepping our gear and putting on lots of bug spray and extra sunscreen, both necessary for the type of thick brush we were looking at examining in this heat. Don took off into the brush to look for evidence of people, whether that be tracks or food wrappers or otherwise, and we started by beginning a line search along the grassy area between the two-track and the brush.
A little side note here: line searches are harder than they look… especially if you are acting as an anchor! I offered to be the anchor for our first line searches of the day, which essentially means that I stood at one end (in this instance along the two-track) and set the pace and direction of our walking. The job of the anchor is to make sure that we all stay in a line and an equal distance apart so that the area is thoroughly examined. Sounds simple right? Well, the hard part is how many moving parts there are to it. If I spent all my time looking at the members of my team and making sure that they were all in line and at a good pace, I found that I kept forgetting to check the area I was walking in, and vice versa. I’m also admittedly not the loudest individual, so offering directions loud enough for the entire team to hear was a big challenge for me, but we managed all right in the end (I hope!).
The team during a line search.
Our search didn’t yield much evidence of people, but it did yield a great number of animal bones, namely cow bones and deer antlers. Among these cow bones, we found many vertebrae, femurs, scapulas, and more- all massive in comparison to the human skeletons I am used to seeing in the osteology lab and the anatomy classroom. It was especially interesting to see how they differed from human bones, and how similar some bones were.
Dr. Eriksen with a fused cow radius and ulna.
Dr. Eriksen also quizzed us on what some of the bones were and what side they were from, which was a fun challenge (though it did show me that I have a bit of review to do before taking osteology in the spring).
We found many areas in our searches today that had larger remains of nilgai and cow, and many deer antlers which were especially cool to see. It was also really interesting to hear Ray call out things like “4 point” and “6 point” any time we found them, and I learned that this has to do with the number of tines on a deer’s antlers (either on one antler or in total among the two antlers).
After walking a good ways from the trucks and doing some small searches, the sun was high in the sky and I think we were also feeling more than a bit fatigued, so we began to head back to the trucks. Ray suggested Dairy Queen for ice cream and a late lunch, which was a welcome break from the heat. It wasn’t until later in the evening during our debrief that we learned the real reason we had left in such a hurry: border patrol was actively pursuing a group of migrants not far from us.
After we left the ranch, Dr. Latham took us to the Sacred Heart Cemetary in Falfurrias, and we got to hear a bit of the history behind her work here in Texas searching for unidentified migrants.
Sacred Heart Cemetery.
She began taking students to Falfurrias in 2013 after being invited by a professor from a different university, and at first the work involved going to the cemetery to look in unmarked plots of land for unidentified migrants who had been buried there in hopes of possibly identifying them. When we got to the cemetery I remember how calm it felt, even with the amount of people there visiting their loved ones. But one of the biggest things I noticed was how different it was from the cemeteries I was used to visiting, and I was really struck by the difference in the cultural view of death and life. For one, the headstones were decorated with beautiful flowers and figurines, and many of the sites had benches for people to sit at and windchimes in the trees. Some had food placed there, and others were decorated for the holidays (many had Christmas decorations still up). In this area, a grave didn’t feel like a somber scene, but rather one to celebrate those who had lived.
Grave marker of Wilmer Guardado.
Dr. Latham showed us a small marker for Wilmer Guardado, a previously unidentified man with a small marker to commemorate his burial, and even that was decorated with beautiful flowers. She brought up that there is still a bit of uncertainty regarding whether or not his family even knows that he’s been identified, and it really put everything into perspective for me. We collectively use the term “migrants” to describe those who cross the border, but they really are people like any of us. People with lives and passions and families, and people who deserve to have identities known and stories told. Dr. Latham has been coming here since 2013, and just knowing all of the work and change that has been done because of people like her and Don and Ray and numerous others shows how important and necessary this work is. I’m really proud to be a part of something greater than myself.
Infrared image of a herd of nilgai seen on Don’s drone.
We ended the day with tacos from Laredo Taco Company and taking out Don’s drone to one of the more heavily wooded areas on the side of the road. It was a nice way to decompress after a long day in the heat, and it was interesting to see how the infrared camera on the drone picked up various wildlife like wild hog, nilgai, and more via heat signature. One thing I didn’t know was that even things like trees and bushes can hold onto heat until early in the morning, and Don even talked about how he had used the drone to locate spots for recovery.
Altogether, today was a day of learning, and a lot of reflection, and I don’t know that I’ve perfectly articulated it all here. Even on days like this where we don’t make a recovery, there is still so much to say. But, what I do know is that I’m excited to head back into the brush tomorrow with the team by my side.
I woke up this morning to the lights turning on in the hotel room instead of my alarm. Somehow, I think we all slept a little later than we expected, but after rotating around each other trying to brush our teeth and get into the bathroom, in no time we were all dressed and on time getting out of the door.
Beyond Borders 2025 Team
From left to right: Dr Latham, Dr Eriksen, Frankey, Lilly, Makenna, Chastidy
After breakfast at the hotel, we made one last quick stop to the room to get our field bags, and water for the day, we realized just how well the fridge in our room worked as our water packs were just about frozen solid! With our semi-frozen water bladders out of the fridge, we had time to check the weather before hopping into the truck (74°F and a bit cloudy all day). Loading up for the drive, we split into two four wheel drive vehicles, and we were off to our first location.
Don filling up the gas tank
I was in the truck with Deputy Don White and other team members were with Paramedic Ray Gregory. On our drive, Don told us stories of his previous experiences in South Texas and told us about the history of some of the ranches in the area, and the history of game hunting in South Texas. Don then made a comment about how he should have topped off his fuel tank… Time to stop for gas!
After arriving at our destination on one of the ranches in south Texas, we got ready to begin searching the area. We were looking for someone who was reported to have been left in an area of the ranch with two ponds, a windmill and under a tree in a field. We were searching in areas of the property based on that information of his last known whereabouts, but because the information was vague, we searched in different areas on the property where Don thought it might be best to look.
Collection of empty bottles and food cans under the trees
We conducted line searches in the long stretches of fields, and searched within tree lines and through thick foliage. In multiple areas we searched, there was a remnant mix of old and new items left, indicating a previous pathway. Don then noticed an active amount of vultures flying and landing overhead so we shifted our search towards them. While searching, we also found multiple sites indicating that people had been there recently. Many of these sites were in areas under the shade of trees and surrounded by thick brush and cacti, hiding them away. We found empty bottles and food cans that were not rusted, as well as a pair of abandoned boots and some other articles of clothing. But we did not find the missing person.
A shoe found under a tree in the field
We encountered various wildlife including spiders and other insects as well as some javelina crossing our path from the truck. After lunch, Ray made sure all of us were still staying hydrated and were ready to continue our search. We got back in the trucks and moved to another area of the ranch to search. We conducted more line searches through the field. But again we did not find him. Don narrowed the search area to an eight mile stretch on this ranch, a large area impossible to search in one day. Uncertain coordinates and vague descriptions are not uncommon, and it shows some of the challenges faced in finding missing people in the Texas Borderlands. But we left knowing we had at least cleared the areas we searched today.
Late afternoon we started our drive back towards town. As I stared out the car window on our way back (with socks laying in my lap) I couldn’t stop thinking about how much walking and searching we had done, and how we searched such a small area compared to the vast amount of land just this one ranch had. Most of the landscape to the novice eye looks exactly the same. I know without the help from everyone on the Beyond Borders team, I would have gotten turned around in minutes. I could not imagine how overwhelming it would be to try to navigate out here alone, while being tired, hungry and thirsty. It’s only the first day, and we can’t wait to get back out tomorrow to continue our search.
Socks barking at cows we encountered
On the drive back, we took a different route, and went through the checkpoint. We stoped for an amazing dinner at the Taqueria Jalisco, and we ended the night with a debriefing meeting where we discussed our progress from the day and assigned new daily roles for tomorrow.
Today, we successfully cleared two separate areas on the ranch as the start of our search. As a team, we feel good about our first day and are ready for whatever comes our way tomorrow!
