Death was last stop on journey for packed pickup's immigrants

This is what's left of the cab of a 2000 Ford F-250 pickup truck after it crashed into a tree on the side of U.S. Highway 59 between Goliad and Beeville, Texas before 7:00 p.m. Sunday July 22, 2012. Thirteen people died in the accident and the truck was carrying more than 20 people when the accident took place. The truck is currentlly at the Goliad Sheriff's Office in Goliad, Texas. John Davenport/© San Antonio Express-News less This is what's left of the cab of a 2000 Ford F-250 pickup truck after it crashed into a tree on the side of U.S. Highway 59 between Goliad and Beeville, Texas before 7:00 p.m. Sunday July 22, 2012. Thirteen ... more Photo: San Antonio Express-News Photo: San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close Death was last stop on journey for packed pickup's immigrants 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

BERCLAIR — Bloodstained pavement, gashed tree trunks and a twisted barbed-wire fence marked the end of a desperate journey.

On Sunday night, 22 Central Americans and their Mexican-born driver piled into a white Ford F-250 for what would be the last stage on their trip north. They crammed themselves into the truck's cab and lay down in its bed — one atop another — as the vehicle cruised along U.S. 59 between Beeville and Goliad.

By Monday, more than half were dead. Most died at the scene, and the others died at hospitals to which they'd been rushed after the overloaded truck careened off the road and slammed into a large, twin-trunked oak tree.

“It's certainly disturbing when you walk up and see the yellow and blue blankets that you know are covering victims, and realize that there are still five or six bodies in the vehicle because it's so badly damaged that they can't get them out,” Goliad County Judge David Bowman said.

It was the county's deadliest incident in recent memory, said Bowman, who performed the gruesome task of pronouncing 11 people dead at the scene. Three more died at hospitals Sunday and Monday. Among the dead was the driver.

Ten men and three women, two of them juveniles, all believed to be in the country illegally, traveled thousands of miles from Central America to have their lives end on this rural stretch of highway. Nine more were in hospitals across the state Monday evening, including five in San Antonio. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they came from Guatemala and Honduras. Officials said they were still working to identify the victims.

“Some of them are crossing on their own and are crossing the border on their own in very dangerous situations,” said Father Stan DeBoe, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Victoria. “Some die of exposure, and others are left to the elements. And then I would assume much like the group that was in the wreck, they were probably paying people very large amounts to bring them across. They come across in very large groups in dangerous vehicles.”

Berclair is about 40 miles from Victoria, the site of one of the country's deadliest smuggling incidents.

In 2003, 19 immigrants died in a trailer after the driver abandoned them at a truck stop. Trapped inside, they died of asphyxia, dehydration and hyperthermia.

More Information Deadly crashes involving immigrants April 2012 One person was killed and 17 were hospitalized west of La Joya when a Plymouth passenger van rolled over after the driver lost control. Later in the week, nine people were killed and seven hospitalized after a minivan driven by a suspected smuggler fleeing border agents flipped near Palmview in the Rio Grande Valley. February 2011 A suspected immigrant smuggler died in Brooks County when a tire blew out on his pickup and it rolled. At least 10 people were ejected from the vehicle, but survived. August 2011 A Falfurrias woman was killed when an SUV loaded with immigrants crashed into her home while she slept. February 2010 Two immigrants were killed and six injured when their vehicle rolled over during a police pursuit in Jim Wells County. November 2008 Three immigrants were killed near Natalia after their car crashed during a police chase. July 2007 Three people were killed after an SUV packed with 18 immigrants crashed during a police chase on the outskirts of San Antonio. June 2007 Seven people were hospitalized after a pickup packed with 16 people crashed during a police chase on Interstate 10 in Guadalupe County. Express-News Research

The driver, Tyrone Mapletoft Williams, 41, a Jamaican immigrant, was sentenced to life in prison.

In April, nine immigrants were killed near Palmview in the Rio Grande Valley when the van in which they were being smuggled rolled over while fleeing the Border Patrol.

State officials charged a 15-year-old with murder, saying he was the vehicle's driver.

In both cases, ICE agents went on to round up and charge others they alleged were part of the smuggling organizations.

Like many highways in South Texas, U.S. 59 is used by human and drug smugglers, Goliad County sheriff's Capt. Tom Copeland said.

“It is a corridor from Laredo to parts north,” he said. “As far as it being a big smuggling corridor, it's easy access for them.”

The crash shut down U.S. 59 for hours north of Berclair, a ranching and oil town about 100 miles southeast of San Antonio.

DPS Trooper Gerald Bryant said tire failure might have caused the wreck.

The truck, registered to an owner in Houston who said he sold it a couple of months ago, wasn't being pursued, Bryant said.

Two adults and a young boy remained at University Hospital, a spokeswoman said Monday, but their conditions weren't available. Two other men were in critical condition at San Antonio Military Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said.

Most of the passengers were in the truck's bed, which didn't have a shell or any other covering, said Mary Jane Martin, public information officer for emergency management for the city and county of Goliad.

Bryant told the Associated Press that “this is the most people I've seen in any passenger vehicle, and I've been an officer for 38 years.”

The passengers in the truck's bed were “very cramped, lying on top of each other, in any which way they could fit,” Bryant said.

“With human smuggling, that is very common — just to load in as many people as they can,” he said.

Bowman, the county judge, included the victims in a prayer that opened Monday's Commissioners Court meeting.

He said a crisis intervention session was planned Monday night in Goliad to help emergency responders cope with what they saw.

“Any time you go out and you have to handle broken bodies, that can be traumatic for even the most seasoned responder,” he said.

The crash also shook nearby residents.

“It was just shocking for the whole town,” said Norma Jean Garcia, a clerk at the Berclair Country Store, which stayed open late Sunday to serve the law enforcement officers who worked the wreck.

“They had never seen something so ugly,” said Garcia, 51, who gave bottled water to the officers who reopened the highway after midnight.

The tragedy made national news of the town formerly best known as a favorite hunting site of then-President George H.W. Bush and for a supposedly haunted local mansion, said Country Store customer Dela Galindo, 62.

Now it will be known for one of the worst crashes in Texas history, residents said.

“It was horrible, especially since little children were involved,” Galindo said.

emoravec@express-news.net

Twitter: @EvaRuth