News 8 – Saturday afternoon, Laredo, Texas police made a shocking discovery while performing a random truck inspection at a checkpoint in the border city. Police say 34-year-old Thomas Gray was driving an 18 wheeler employed by Freight Lines when he was asked to step out of his vehicle for an inspection. Gray was ordered to open the back of his truck, at which point the 34-year-old truck driver ran off into a wooded area. Police broke open the lock on the back of the semi-truck, to find 50 dead cows stacked in the refrigerated area.

At first, police say there was nothing out of the ordinary – until they heard a baby crying. With they found next, was like something out of a horror movie. “When we entered the truck, searching for the crying infant, we saw nothing. As we investigated further, it led me to one of the carcasses and I realized the crying was coming from the inside,” said officer Manuel Rodriguez of the Laredo, Texas Police Department.

Officers said they immediately cut open the cow to not only find an infant, but his mother holding him tightly. The cow had been gutted out and lined with a hard plastic shell with air holes drilled through the carcass. Upon inspection, they found 50 animals which contained two people in each one. Laredo police recovered 32 women, 20 children, and 48 men – all illegal immigrants.

As for Thomas Gray, he was recovered in a wooded area hiding in a bush. When Gray was arrested, he refused to give out any information on his involvement in the transport of these illegal immigrants. The details of the transport, police say, are still under investigation. The 80 adults recovered are currently being held in police custody, while the 20 children, all under the age of six, are being cared for at Child Protective Services awaiting foster placement until police can figure out what to do with them.