Times staff, wire reports

The body of late U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia spent about 12 hours in El Paso on Sunday before being sent back to Virginia - its final resting place.

El Paso airport officials confirmed that Scalia's body was transported out of El Paso on a private aircraft at about 6 p.m. Sunday from Atlantic Aviation, a private aviation company that operates at the El Paso International Airport.

Scalia, 79, was found dead Saturday in his room at a resort ranch just south of Marfa, about 195 miles from El Paso, in Presidio County. Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara told a Dallas-area television station on Sunday that the official cause of death will be listed as a heart attack.

A procession of about 20 law-enforcement officers brought the body early Sunday morning to Sunset Funeral Home in Northeast El Paso.

Sunset Funeral Home issued a statement that it would not be releasing "any personal information to the media" out of respect and privacy for Scalia's family and that the funeral home was "handling local preparations and logistics for his return flight to his final resting place."

Funeral home manager Chris Lujan later confirmed that Scalia's body was taken from the funeral home to the El Paso airport Sunday afternoon and was scheduled to be flown to Virginia.

The body, under escort from El Paso police officers and federal officers, arrived at Atlantic Aviation just before 5 p.m. At about 6 p.m., a Sunset Funeral Home hearse with American flags left the aviation facility. Shortly, thereafter, three or four marked police cars stationed in the area left too.

After an airplane was seen taking off, several umarked cars which appeared to be carrying federal agents left Atlantic Aviation.

Officials at Atlantic Aviation declined to comment.

Scalia was found dead at Cibola Creek Ranch, an upscale resort south of Marfa. Scalia was on a hunting trip at the resort. Staff at the far West Texas resort ranch declined to comment or disclose any details.

Kristina Mills, a history teacher at Chapin High School, went to the El Paso funeral home Sunday to pay her respects and brought flowers.

"Recognizing his contribution to serving our country just compelled me to come," she said. "I wanted to do yellow roses because for him dying in Texas. I didn't want his family to have bad memories of Texas."

President Barack Obama ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at the high court, where Scalia served for three decades, and at other federal buildings throughout the nation and U.S. embassies and military installations throughout the world.