Questions, Heartache For Family Of Man Found Dead Near Tracks
EL PASO, Texas – More questions and heartache for the family of an El Paso man found dead Wednesday afternoon.
“He was a good guy,” explains Norma Muro.
She says her brother was the guy everyone loved to hang out with and would go to for advice. Not the kind of person anyone thought would die alone, in the desert.
Raul Valles admitted himself to University Medical Center on Friday, after vomiting blood for several weeks.
He was discharged on Sunday. Alert, oriented and officials say determined to get out of the hospital. He was offered a ride home, but declined.
The 47-year-old never made it. Muro says, “It’s been very sad for us. The way he died, it was pretty bad.”
El Paso police say a passerby found Valles’ body in a desert area near railroad tracks in the city’s Lower Valley. Not even 50 feet away is where Valles lived with his parents.
“Ten years ago he started just letting go. He just didn’t care anymore. There were times he would actually just sit there and wander off,” says Muro.
She explains her brother struggled with a drinking problem. His family tried to help, but his battle raged on until the day he died.
“It can be a very frustrating battle because you know this individual needs help but if they’re not willing to accept your help, then you’re caught between a rock and a hard place,” explains Alfonso Chacon.
He works at the El Paso Mental Health Mental Retardation Center. He says education is a family’s best weapon.
Chacon says, “The better the family can understand the symptomology, the better it’s going to be for them to be able to actually help the individual.”
Words for other families, with loved ones battling demons.
As the Valles family plans a funeral, they think back to better times with Raul. A brother, uncle and son.
“He loved music, so his friends would always be here just hanging around with him,” says Muro. Her son tells ABC-7 he liked rock.
El Paso police say foul play was not involved. They’re still investigating the death.
(Original story follows below)
Family have identified the man found dead near railroad tracks in the lower valley as Raul Valles, 47.
A passerby discovered the body around 2 p.m. Wednesday near the 100 blk. of Miller Circle.
Valles’ sister Norma Muro said her brother had admitted himself at University Medical Center on Friday after several weeks of vomiting blood.
“He’s got cirrhosis of the liver, he’s got type 2 diabetes,” Muro told ABC-7. “He’s very, very weak.
Muro said she became concerned after the family didn’t hear from Valles on Sunday. So she called the hospital and was told Valles had been discharged.
His body was found five houses away from where he lived with his mother.
Investigators have yet to determine a cause of death.
They say the body had been there for about two days.
