Leaked memo suggests border patrol agents could have fallen into culvert

A leaked memo from Customs and Border Protection’s acting commissioner suggests two border patrol agents could have fallen into a culvert in November, according to an article by the El Paso Times.

Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez and his big bend sector partner were responding to activity while on patrol on Interstate 10 near Van Horn. Both were somehow seriously injured and Martinez died at a hospital the next day.

“It wasn’t until recently that I actually went out and saw the sight where he was found,” his fiance, Angie Ochoa, told CNN in November. “But it wasn’t until then that – you know – it made me realize that these stories that are being put out there are not true. They can’t be true.”

An autopsy released by the El Paso Medical Examiner’s Office showed Martinez had head injuries, but gave an undetermined manner of death.

“I did ask if it was possible, you know, that he was hit or attacked by rocks,” Ochoa told CNN. “I was told that there was no evidence of him being attacked by rocks.”​

Quoting a leaked CBP memo, an article by the El Paso Times suggested both of the men fell into a culvert on “a moonless night.”

The article quotes a memo from CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan.

“The evidence also shows that the other agent fell approximately 22 feet away from where Agent Martinez fell, landing on his back and sustaining significant injuries to his back and skull,” McAleenan stated in the memo, as quoted by the article. “His resultant injuries have impaired the agent’s ability to recall the events of the incident,”

A border patrol spokesman confirmed that the document appeared to be a leaked memo, but would not comment to ABC-7.