How a Texas man was killed by quicksand on the San Antonio River last year Out of 580 deaths in Texas rivers and lakes in the last 5 years, this case is the only one involving quicksand.





EDITOR'S NOTE: The final image in this slideshow is an unedited police photo of Escobedo's body as it was discovered at the scene. It is the clearest evidence of what happened to Escobedo, and the dangers — sometimes hidden — that exist on Texas waterways.

less Jose Rey Escobedo went missing July 7, 2015 around 10 a.m. On July 8, police received a call reporting a light blue car had been parked underneath the San Antonio River Bridge in Goliad County for several days, and on July 11 game wardens found his body stuck in quicksand along the riverbank.The final image in this slideshow is an unedited police photo of Escobedo's body as it was discovered at the scene. It is the clearest evidence of what happened to Escobedo, and the dangers — sometimes hidden — that exist on Texas waterways. Jose Rey Escobedo went missing July 7, 2015 around 10 a.m. On July 8, police received a call reporting a light blue car had been parked underneath the San Antonio River Bridge in Goliad County for several ... more Photo: Goliad County Sheriff's Office Photo: Goliad County Sheriff's Office Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close How a Texas man was killed by quicksand on the San Antonio River last year 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

Records obtained by mySA.com reveal a man died last summer after getting stuck in quicksand on the San Antonio River and drowning in South Texas.

The extremely rare quicksand case, which previously went unreported by news outlets, is the only one of its kind in at least five years in Texas, according to records detailing the 580 deaths that occurred on rivers and lakes in that time period, obtained from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

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Jose Rey Escobedo, who was 50 at the time of his death, was reported missing July 7, 2015 around 10 a.m., two days after he picked up a prescription. On July 8, police received a call reporting a light blue car had been parked underneath the San Antonio River Bridge in Goliad County for several days, according to a Goliad County Sheriff’s Office incident report obtained by mySA.com.

Officials found a blue Mercury sedan parked on the east side of the Highway 239 bridge over the San Antonio River. Inside, authorities found Escobedo's glasses and shoes that were confirmed to be his the next day.

Escobedo’s family told officials the 50-year-old often took to swimming alone in the river.

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“He was known to access the river in the Falls City area, but it is possible he went swimming and did not return to his vehicle,” Lt. Will Johnson, of the Karnes City Police Department, wrote in the incident report.

There was no indication Escobedo had gone fishing or camping just by looking at his vehicle, according to the report, and it didn’t seem he like met someone and left with them, leaving his car behind.

On July 10, three days after Escobedo went missing, a helicopter supplied by the Texas Department of Safety flew from the Highway 239 bridge to the U.S. 59 bridge. Officials found nothing.

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The following day, Game Wardens Kevin Fagg and William Zappe searched the San Antonio River by boat and found Escobedo’s body lodged in quicksand, 350 yards upstream from the bridge where he parked his car.

“He had expired and fallen face-first over the sandy outcropping,” the report said, adding that his body was lodged in the quicksand from his feet to the bottom of his buttocks.

Officials found no evidence of foul play and on July 13, an autopsy ruled his cause of death to be drowning. Escobedo's death was one of 114 to occur across the state in rivers and lakes in 2015.

When Escobedo was reported missing, there was not "a whole lot of rain" that day, said Trevor Boucher, National Weather Service meteorologist, Tuesday. In the days before Escobedo's death was when the area was the wettest, he said.

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"(The) bulk of the rain fell on (July) 1-3 and partially on (July 4), which resulted in the river beginning to peak into (July 4)," Boucher said.

The San Antonio River "got as a high as 8.3 feet on July 4," he said, adding that the first four days of the month saw about 4-5 inches of rain upstream in Bexar and Comal County. Normally, the river hovers around 5 to 6 feet, he said.

On July 7, when Escobedo was reported missing, Goliad County near the river was not "significantly wet," he said.

"With the San Antonio River, it's going to have to go somewhere, and it's going to flow down the river," he said. "It takes time to get down there."

There is little available information on quicksand in Texas— where it is or how many deaths have been associated with the saturated sediment.

“(That’s the) first quicksand question I’ve ever had and I’ve been here a long time,” said Steve Lightfoot, TPWD news manager.

RELATED: Corpse found in San Antonio River near Brackenridge Park on July 4

But research shows humans are typically not dense enough to get fully swallowed up by quicksand, which is a combination of fine sand, clay and salt water, according to National Geographic. Although humans can get stuck in the sand because it liquefies fast, it is possible to escape.

“The way to do it is to wriggle your legs around,” Daniel Bonn, a physics professor at the University of Amsterdam told National Geographic. “This creates a space between the legs and the quicksand through which water can flow down to (loosen) the sand. You can get out using this technique, if you do it slowly and progressively.”

While struggling in quicksand doesn’t make the situation worse as some movies have projected, getting stuck in quicksand near rising waters can be deadly, because when the high tide hits, one could drown, Bonn said.

The only report of Escobedo's death was written by Beeville Bee-Picayune, but had no mention of quicksand or his cause of death.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5