A year later: Agent Martinez’s death still unsolved; reward increased to $50K

A year after the death of El Paso Border Patrol Rogelio Martinez near Van Horn, the FBI admits to ABC-7 no one knows if the agent was killed or if his death was accidental.

Van Horn residents like Nick Tarango are still wondering why the suspicious death of the Border Patrol agent remains unsolved. “Some people still talk about it, you know, after a year,” Tarango said.

ABC-7 spoke with Tarango as he was pumping gas at the station where posters of the deceased Rogelio Martinez are taped to the front door. The only thing on the poster that has changed over the past year is the reward, which now stands at $50,000.

The FBI says on Nov. 18, 2017, Border Patrol Agent Stephen Garland called dispatch to report he and his partner, Martinez, were in a culvert in the Big Bend area, injured. Both were taken to an El Paso hospital. Martinez died the next day. Garland has since recovered from his injuries.

The FBI investigated, but the response they gave three months later, after 650 interviews, remains the same: the case is still open.

A year ago, FBI Special Agent in Charge, Emmerson Buie Jr., held a news conference. “We are investigating this matter as a potential assault on a federal officer. And we’re trying to gather the facts. If the facts support that, then we will pursue it. Legally,” Buie said at the time.

Immediately after Martinez’s death, President Trump called it an attack at the hands of undocumented immigrations, stressing the need for a border wall.

Culbertson County Sheriff, Oscar Carrillo, told news outlets then he believed the two agents fell into the culvert. On the day ABC-7 traveled to Van Horn, Carrillo was unavailable for comment, and has not responded to either our calls or emails.

Martinez’s fiancee questioned Sheriff Carrillo’s theory last year. “I find it very hard that a fall could’ve caused all the damage he suffered,” Ochoa said.

A year later, she too remains silent and has not returned ABC-7’s calls.

The border agent’s death shrouded in mystery has left Van Horn residents just as baffled as they were when Martinez died last year.

“I don’t know, It’s a mystery. We don’t know what happened. Sometimes we talk about it, when we see the pictures in the stores, in the windows and all that stuff,” said Van Horn resident, Gabriela Ortiz.

“A lot of people are wondering, you know. what really happened? And up to right now, nobody knows,” said Tarango.